Turning the light off in public spaces?
 

I just happened to wander into one of the dorm common rooms where people tend to be most hours of the day.

However, it was after 3am, no one was there, and all the lights were on. So, I turned them off. I figure no one will be up before the sun comes up, and if they are, they can find the switches, there is still some glow in the room from the soda machine and the computer terminal.

Does anyone else turn lights off in public places (like restrooms or such)?

I do in restrooms, especially at work. Not really any other places though.

For most of the offices at work (not the cubicles, but offices) they use motion detectors, so if the occupent is gone for any length of time (as are most managers) it turns the light off. Good idea.

I usually go to the mall and randomly turn off lights that I think are unnecessary.

:D

Just kidding. But ya, I'll do it at work and shut off the lights in the boardrooms when no one is in there. I'll even do it for water too...like if someone went to the washroom, and the toilet didn't flush properly so it keeps running, I'll be the one to actually go and jiggle the handle to stop the water from running. I wash my hands after so I don't care.

I was going to note the motion detectors. Many of the newer dorms have these in the common rooms, I wonder how hard it would be to install in the older dorms? There's so much low-hanging fruit here but all the campus eco-groups do are go on hikes and hug trees and think they're cool. :p

Retrofits are incredibly easy. My land lord had one installed in the inside stairway so when you opened the door or came down the stairs it came on for you. It was simply installed in a receptical for a standard switch/outlet.

In my previous job we were constantly changing from a meeting-room to another... The last leaving the meeting room was usually switching off the light. The same when we were leaving the coffee room.

The fun part is that most of these rooms have several doors and it may arrive that two people switches off and on in the same second :) this is a drawback when too many people are eco-conscious ;) May be a sign that a part of the French governmental message is listened.

Denis.