14 DAY TRIAL // Street lamps have existed for almost as long as electrical power plants, but most of them still use standard light bulbs, which means they waste a lot of the light and, by extension, energy.
That is to say, much of their light ends up going skywards, spreading over nearby objects or otherwise dispersing instead of actually lighting the street.
Researchers from Mexico and Taiwan figured this was unacceptable, so they created a bunch of street lamps that use LED lights instead.
These lights shine only over the areas that need that illumination, bringing light waste from 20% to 2%.
They also reduce power consumption by 40 to 60% according to Ching-Cherng Sun of the National Central University in Taiwan.
Wasted light can affect nature. For example, stray light can cause birds in migration to fly off course, and can confuse newly hatched turtles.
The sleeping patterns of other animals can get disturbed as well by artificially lengthened days.
The first LED street lamp prototypes will ship between three and six months from now. Practical applications could go live as early as next year.