In Iberia's biggest cities, the motion sensor is helping to keep businesses green without much cost or ado
After two stints living in Seville, during the autumn of 2001 and the spring of 2005, I've long known from firsthand experience that Spain is a poorer country than ours, and that its residents pay a lot closer attention to energy costs -- that laundry is hung on lines when possible even in houses with electric dryers, for example, and that in Cafe de Indias, a chain coffee shop comparable to Starbucks, employees used to give you dirty looks if you tried to plug in your laptop.
But on my most recent visit to the country, a three week trip that took me to Cordoba, Seville, San Sebastian, Barcelona, Valencia, and Ibiza, I was struck and impressed by several inexpensive technological fixes that have made the country greener in ways that impose practically negligible costs.
In the vast majority of tapas bars and restaurants I patronized, and in train stations and other public places too, I'd open bathroom doors to find it dark inside, start to fumble for a light switch, and remember that practically every last light is now triggered by motion sensors, a cheap alternative to the status quo here: leaving the lights on all the time, whether anyone is in the bathroom or not.