Earth Hour

[Displaced]

you're too late :P

also, something id like to bring up which noone apparently has put any thought into:

when everyone suddenly turned on their lights and appliances again after the hour, it was a huge strain on local powergrids and powerstations, who had to actually INCREASE production for the sudden peak.

Any "saves" made during the off hour, were effectively nullified.

[kthx]

im too late, so this "earth hour" already took place? Oh well, turning my AC down to 65 belatedly anyways.

[Galleleo]

I don't think the point of earth hour is to save some energy once a year for an hour. It is to make people aware of it, to get people to think about it, and maybe get those few thousand people around the earth to go like: yeah maybe I should turn the lights of when I go out...

[Pub]

I participated

[gran guerrero]

Earthgate, I was -THERE-

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

you're too late :P

also, something id like to bring up which noone apparently has put any thought into:

when everyone suddenly turned on their lights and appliances again after the hour, it was a huge strain on local powergrids and powerstations, who had to actually INCREASE production for the sudden peak.

Any "saves" made during the off hour, were effectively nullified.

Two things: it'd only make a difference if EVERYONE turned ALL of their things back on at the exact same time, or very close to it. I know I definitely didn't have an alarm clock go off at 9:30 and immediately dart from room to room turning on all the things I own. The "natural" cycle of people randomly turning things on and off wouldn't be any different, I would bet. I'm pretty sure someone would have validated/invalidated this thing by now if it were going to be a huge power draw. It's a little too high-profile to just sneak under the radar.

Secondly, again, this wasn't strictly about "everyone save power for an hour." Moreso, it was about "think about how much you waste electricity." It's true. Everyone I know does it to some extent, and it's pretty ridiculous. If anything, I'd say this was the primary reason--I'm sorry it wasn't spelled out in bold Helvetica for those who can't be bothered to do a little critical thinking. (I'm not talking about you, Disp.)

[raizin]

Earthgate, I was -THERE-

lol i swear 20 minutes ago i just read anal-gate from you




Grangate I was -there-

[project dragon]

Just turn everything off before you go to bed.

Earth hour x 7-8.

[Displaced]

granted, it was more of an excercise in creating awareness than actually "making a difference", i think thats pretty obvious.

i only brought up the whole powergrid issue, because there was some very muted talk over here that the local power companies were whineing about the need to increase production in the 30 minutes around the end of earth hour to actually offset the increased strain in our local grids.

im assuming its more because generally 9:30pm is pretty far off peak time when it comes to consumption & production, hence they had to bump up production from about 9:15pm to 9:45pm to compensate for the possible strain.

I personally think it would've been a more effective message if it had been done during peak hours of consumption rather than during a offpeak time.

[GuruMeditation]

The Earth Hour offices during the great shut off.



Shine bright crystal light display! I also enjoyed the blog post (that I've lost the link for) which said (paraphrasing here):

Be sure to turn off all your lights! But charge up your camera/laptop/cellphone beforehand so you can document how you spent your Earth Hour!

Spend an hour without electricity, but double your usage before so you can document it.

[kthx]

Aren't they using electricity on their computers?

[PaulOakenfold]

Yes! But it was charged up beforehand with the same amount of electricity! That means they contributed absolutely nothing to the hour!

[PaulOakenfold]

granted, it was more of an excercise in creating awareness than actually "making a difference", i think thats pretty obvious.

i only brought up the whole powergrid issue, because there was some very muted talk over here that the local power companies were whineing about the need to increase production in the 30 minutes around the end of earth hour to actually offset the increased strain in our local grids.

im assuming its more because generally 9:30pm is pretty far off peak time when it comes to consumption & production, hence they had to bump up production from about 9:15pm to 9:45pm to compensate for the possible strain.

I personally think it would've been a more effective message if it had been done during peak hours of consumption rather than during a offpeak time.

Ummm, it doesn't really work this way, or else night time would always cause a huge amount of inefficient strain. Your Engineers are newb scrublords.

[DoTheFandango]

how i perceived earth hour during my ritualistic saturday night black out.

2:31:50 AM Sam Marshall: i turned on at least 5 extra appliances
2:31:50 AM Cranberri615 (Autoreply): TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTS FROM 8:30-9:30 FOR BOSTON EARTH HOUR!
2:31:54 AM Sam Marshall: to piss you off
2:31:58 AM Sam Marshall: of set that shit
2:32:02 AM Sam Marshall: you know how i do
2:32:06 AM Sam Marshall: rocking that peace and shit.
2:32:17 AM Sam Marshall: gotta spend as much as you earn, keep the world guessing.
2:32:25 AM Sam Marshall: i cooked an entire pie during earth hour
2:32:28 AM Sam Marshall: it needed to happen
2:32:31 AM Sam Marshall: fuck humanity
2:32:38 AM Sam Marshall: love, sam marshall

[Displaced]

Ummm, it doesn't really work this way, or else night time would always cause a huge amount of inefficient strain. Your Engineers are newb scrublords.

Eh? why? night time = off peak, i.e. less strain on the power grid. There is also a reason why night electricity is cheaper than day electricity.

Why? Because, powerplants dont produce electricity at a constant rate, they shift production every day according to time and time of year. i.e. lunch time = peak time = higher production every day, regardless of time of year.

Holidays, such as christmas eve = peak time = higher production to cope with the millions of people cooking christmas dinner and what have you.

A normal weekday evening at 9:30pm is generally off peak = lower production. Except during earth hour, when it suddenly became a time of peak consumption.

So yeah, don't get all up in my face, I know a thing or two about Power Plants and Generation of power, considering my education allows me to also work at powerstations.