In yet another example of how we’re increasingly turning to dribs-and-drabs conservation to save money and energy, TreeHugger reports on how small towns across Germany are instituting on-call street lighting.

Here’s how it works: street lights are left off by default at night. When someone plans to step out for the evening, he or she calls the number of a mobile phone that’s connected to a control system for the street lights. Voila, lights on! The caller ambles safely and securely down the road, and the lights turn off again automatically after 15 minutes.

Since launching such a system a year-and-a-half ago, the German town of Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz says it’s seen annual savings of about €4,000. A number of other communities experimenting with on-demand lighting — including Rahden, Lemgo and Dorentrup — are seeing similar benefits, according to Dial4Light, a company that provides such on-call systems.

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