Cities warned to tone down excessive lighting

Legislation was put in place in 2013 in an attempt to curb unnecessary lighting in cities, under which shop fronts and windows were to put their lights out by 1am and offices one hour after the close of business.

In Bordeaux alone, 70% of sites have not been conforming to the legislation, while Grenoble, Limoges, Marseille and Saint-Etienne are also failing to step up. Lille, Nantes, Strasbourg and Toulouse are doing better, with Paris somewhere in the middle.

Public light emissions doubled in the last 25 years. Environments have told communes that they could save between 25% and 75% of their energy budgets by economising.

The association is appealing to environment minister Nicolas Hulot to put pressure on government representatives and corporations to enforce the legislation.

The concern is not purely environmental. Excessive night time lighting disturbs the biological processes of humans and animals alike.