A lights out mandate for all business that is simple and effective.  "If a business is closed and has no humans inside the lights must be completely turned off at night. Office buildings that have night time cleaning crews are allowed to keep their lights on but only  while cleaning is happening." It seems like such a waste every time I walk past a closed business that leaves their lights for no reason other than to advertise their products or for security. Most businesses have alarm systems, so leaving lights on is unnecessarily redundant and wasteful. Furthermore, I doubt there is enough data to prove that leaving your business lights on reduces night time burglary in any significant way.   I've read many other posts that are suggesting this sort of thing for city and street lights. There are proposals for timed or sensor based lighting systems. However, that is problematic. The safety of drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists would be threatened especially in areas that already have poor lighting.