Why are the street lamps on Interstate 15 so tall?

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1. By drillmaker

   Sept. 1, 2009

   12:44 p.m.

   Flag

   I would say 8
   1 field supervisor,1 department foreman, 1 pulley operator,2 to remove and replace the bulb, 2 to watch the progress and a flag person for traffic control.

2. By alexanderh

   Sept. 1, 2009

   1:09 p.m.

   Flag

   Your article didn't mention the obvious -- the further from the light source you get less brightness/illumination. To make up for it you have to use more powerful lights, more energy etc. [=more light pollution, but in Vegas that's just a drop in the bucket].

   Even though you use less light bulbs & poles... "more efficient -- nine or 10 times more by one measure" -- what measure? It's hard to imagine such a magical 10 fold improvement.

3. By shtstirrer

   Sept. 2, 2009

   1:51 p.m.

   Flag

   i have to agree with alexanderh

   the amount of electromagnetic radiation (light) received from a source decreases inversely as the distance from the source - squared (i.e. E ~ 1/r^2)

   in plain english this means that at any given point you might get x watts, but at twice the distance from the same source, the amount of energy received is a QUARTER, or x/4 watts

   so to get the same level of illumination as a conventional street lamp, you need a more powerful light source for a taller lamp like that found on I-15

   the notion of efficiency is ambiguous and misleading. there are a number of ways of measuring efficiency. cost of materials used to construct a network of lamps, cost of maintenance, cost of running the lamps, etc. etc.

4. By dodgerchuck

   Sept. 3, 2009

   10:33 p.m.

   Flag

   the lite bulb has 2 want 2 change

5. By Doc_Holliday

   Sept. 5, 2009

   10:08 a.m.

   Flag

   Now we have people whining about light pollution...in Vegas of all places. MOVE AWAY TOOLS!!

6. By TheU

   Sept. 7, 2009

   2:13 p.m.

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   And the award goes to................. dodgerchuck