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Nothing left for tomorrow!

Picture the scene � its Sunday afternoon and there�s an open box of Milk Tray on the table and Billy Cotton is on the wireless. Although I�ve already eaten quite enough, thank you very much, I really really really want another chocolate, probably because there�s one of those lime barrels still left. �Well, if yow et it now, there wo� be none left fer termorrer� speaks the voice of maternal wisdom from the settee.

Yes, but termorrer never comes, does it; and besides, some bugger might et it after I�ve gone to bed. So � one more lime barrel and feeling sick all the way through the afternoon film. There you go; the human condition in grainy black & white flashback.

Yesterday�s newspaper tells me of a report from the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS: �Sustainable Energy Security: Strategic Risks and Opportunities for Business�) that claims that the price of crude oil could more than double by 2013, and that �peak oil� is upon us. The ISS is concerned that not enough is being done � or has been done - to prepare for the catastrophic changes in the way that we live and the ways that we use and manage energy resources.

Meanwhile, the lighting industry is looking forward to the implementation of the new Part L: Building regulations with all of the enthusiasm as a trip to the dentist. Part L is being tightened up � quite rightly � but the design community is still finding plenty to argue about. For example, a recent article by my good friend Nick Hoggett (SLL Newsletter. Vol3.Issue4) condemns the use of prescriptive criteria based on installed lighting load, arguing correctly that good lighting design can deliver even better energy savings than those required by Part L. But, Nick � there�s a problem with your argument, and it�s in that bit about �good lighting design�.

I�m reminded of Simeon Stylites. You remember Simeon � he was the guy who escaped the troubles of the world by living his life on the top of a column in the foothills of a mountain. It�s certainly one way to do it � the problem is, you only have to look over the edge of your little platform to see the rest of the world running around and getting it just as wrong as they ever did.

No: if this is a time for zealotry, then we have to welcome all the prescriptive limitations of Part L / BREEAM  / CoSH / LEED and the rest, and then show that good lighting design can still function. Now that�s a neat trick.

Published: 13-07-10 by John Bullock