A new French ordinance has led the way in controlling excessive use of lighting, according to the Irish environmental lobby group, Friends of the Irish Environment.
The Friends are urging the Government here to bring in similar regulations in Ireland.
The regulations require lights inside office buildings to be turned off within an hour of workers leaving premises.
Shop lights must be turned off between 1 am and 7 am. Over the next two years, regulations restricting lighting on billboards will go into effect.
The new regulations are estimated to save France the equivalent of the annual energy consumption of 750,000 households, or €200m per year.
The lobby group says that serious economic savings is only one of three key reasons why new legislation is being enacted in an increasing number of jurisdictions.
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