Rising Tide Reading

Reading Rising Tide's campaign to get the town centre's shops and offices to switch off unnecessary lights at night is now under way.

Worst Lit Building Competition
During the past few months, we have changed the direction of our campaign. Instead of surveying shopping centres and industrial estates, we have been running a worst (as in most wastefully) lit building competition. We have been inviting the residents of Reading to send us photographs of overlit buildings at night. Each month after selecting the winning entry, we have arranged a photo opportunity with the local press (Reading Post, Reading Chronical) to present the building's facilities manager with a prize. Previous winners have included the Apex Plaza building next to Reading Central railway station. Click here to see previous entries.

Now that the clocks have gone back, the scope for wasting energy from unnecessary lighting has increased. Many's the time we walked past offices late in the evening with all lights on and nobody there. They're left on because it's an open plan office and it's no one's responsibility, or because of the cleaners, or the convenience of the security guards, or because one person is working late. It's unnecessary and it's wasteful. With a bit of investment in movement sensors and the odd desk lamp, most could be avoided.