I live in a city of ~one million and all I see at night is skyscrapers lit up like they are all working the nightshift. All the lights inside are ON. Then as you say all those advertising signs outside businesses are illuminated all night every night. I wonder if their networks and computers and are ON too. It's madness.
O.T.
Hi
I live in a country where we lack electricity, we have on average less than 6 hours a day of commercial electricity. I am generous, it is my country after all. I have learned from this , that energy has a cost and that it must be used with parsimony ... So , yes .. We must try to save as much as we can but .. it is not turning all the lights off that would be the solution, at least the way our societies are currently structured... Networks of all kind must ...work, and so must some people, for us to enjoy, what we have come to call civilization which at this point, is global and a 365/24/7 endeavor. That means, lights, everywhere, almost all the time...
I believe that the solution lies in using alternative sources of energy. It is sobering to realize that most of the energy we use is derived from ICE engines, those that are limited by the Carnot Cycle , thus are at best 30% efficient (again I am generous). Put simply
at least, 70% of all the energy the World produces is wasted as heat... . Energy discussions are clouded by politics and inertia, i-e much is invested in the old ways... Doing it differently rattle, even threatens people with considerable means... We'll see...
Peace.