Mother Jones

DIM-WITTED

Why don’t office buildings go dark at night?
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HAVE YOU EVER looked up at a glowing city skyline and wondered, even though it’s pretty and all, why so many offices stay lit up all night long?

It’s hardly an idle question. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, commercial buildings account for nearly a fifth of America’s energy use. A sizable portion of that energy—up to 43 percent for office buildings—goes toward lighting. That generates a collective bill of upward of $27.3 billion a year. In 2015,

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