A while back Lee Ann sent me the plastic flower above. When enough light shines on its little solar panel, it flaps its petals and shakes its head left and right. When I brought it to work my Irish coworkers asked whether my wife didn't know where I was. Patrick took pity on the droopy flower and offered to place it at the window beside his and John's desks. (Mine was further in and got less light.) The little flower was much happier there and joyously moved its petals up and down.
Not that the sun was out that much, so I became suspicious. I accused Patrick of having fertilized it, or hoked it up to the power grid. I even lifted it up to make sure there where no concealed wires. But I guess there was enough light and friendly thoughts after all ;-)
Now I moved to the new building where I'm next to a large window myself. Patrick and John on their way to the cafeteria have come by and waved at it through the window.
The new building is a smart and environmentally conscious building, but it needs some more training. The toilets flush with rain water collected on the roof, but the lights turn off after fifteen minutes; whether you are done or not.
There are automatic shades that should help regulate the inside temperature depending on the cloud level and elevation of the sun. Over our desks are motion and infrared sensors that regulate light levels.
If you move very little, haunched over your keyboard, the infrared sensor is supposed to sense your presence and leave the light on, even if the motion sensor thinks there is nobody there. That doesn't quite work yet and I have to wave my hands at the ceiling once in a while for the light to come back on.
A person falling asleep at their desk might therefore cause the lights to go out. I have been accused of letting that little flower flap its petals and tricking the motion sensor into thinking someone is moving around, while I am fast asleep at my desk.
As you can see, (sun)light is an important topic here in Ireland and even a plastic flower gets a lot of attention and sparks conversations.
