Actually it is a very serious topic relating to human biology:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=light+exposure+breast+ca...

I would give a big upvote to Philips Hue Bulbs if I could. When those are too expensive nightlights are fine with me.

Asking politely doesn't seem to have changed behaviour. Now people are doing the research to try to force change.

Dudes! What's going on here? I feel you. I live close to the commons and at night when you walk across it,the lights from the shop signs are so bright when you want some darkness around you. I've even wanted to complain to the local council about it. The light is really 'noisy' so I totally understand where this issue is coming from.

But really, how many column inches can one read about concerning its costs and what nots? It sounds like another new case for the IoT, the Internet of Things. But dudes?!?

I think you might be mistaking HN for reddit. Have a look at the guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).

hah, i'm with you. i thought the same thing reading the article. if there was anything new or interesting in it, it was way too longwinded for me to dig through and find it.

Well, percent of GDP spent on light has remained steady for 300 years at .72; that was buried rather far in.

The article also mentioned Jevons’ paradox, which is something I didn't know had a name.