Earth Hour March 26 8:30-9:30

[ianmcc]

From the "official" website...
"At 8:30 PM on Saturday 26th March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour and people will commit to actions that go beyond the hour."

Except in my house, where I will turn on every light in the house.

:nut:

[masoncgy]

Hockey's on, forget that noise.

Even if hockey weren't on, I wouldn't do anything different. I don't waste power as it is... I hate paying for it. ;)

[max_boost]

Yes. I'm just going to close up the store for 1 hour. :rofl:

[lellowrx7]

Ultra Music Fest is going down in miami
Thats gonna be a juice waster.
Especially since i know most people like me, that couldnt make it down, have their sound systems cranked and wont be shutting it off for the next couple days

sorry earth :dunno:

[slinkie]

:whocares:
I'm in the land-raping business, suck it liberals. By the time anything drastic happens to the environment ill be long gone. (90% serious)

[msommers]

Originally posted by lellowrx7
Ultra Music Fest is going down in miami
Thats gonna be a juice waster.
Especially since i know most people like me, that couldnt make it down, have their sound systems cranked and wont be shutting it off for the next couple days

sorry earth :dunno:

Definitely post up that link when it's available!

[lellowrx7]

Im not to sure if theres a link
but electric area is broadcasting it all weekend on sirius or xm radio

http://mp.siriuscanada.ca/sirius/ca/servlet/MediaPlayer

sign up for a 7 day trial

then pay and keep it lol so worth the subscription

[thefarnorth]

so when everyone turns there lights back on, wont it cause the power plants to have to work twice as hard to make up for the sudden draw of power?

[lellowrx7]

^^
good point


If we really have an earth day, why cant it be in the summer?
That way we can all go outside and enjoy the day, vs sit inside our gloomy houses and look out at snow :confused:

[derpderp]

i better turn my other computer on

[D'z Nutz]

Flames games have landed on the last 3 Earth Hours.

Fuck.
That.
Shit.

[heinz256]

ya fuck that, I gotta hockey game to watch!

[syritis]

X92.9 said it best.
turning off some CFL bulbs for an hour will not help the planet at all. if you want to help earth book a trip to asia and clean a river.

[Amysicle]

I would like to think having every light on, making some late dinner in the oven, watching the game, doing laundry, vacuuming and charging our toys contributed to this: http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Calgarians+choose+ignore+Earth+Hour+again/4510741/story.html

It's nice to know our efforts haven't been wasted.

[Cos]

Originally posted by thefarnorth
so when everyone turns there lights back on, wont it cause the power plants to have to work twice as hard to make up for the sudden draw of power?



Originally posted by lellowrx7
^^
good point



Yes the ramp up will be significantly more than base load but it will only be temporary. Nothing close to the usage needed over that hour however.

That being said they arent going to just dump the base generation, worse case they may have to free-wheel it which doesnt do shit for the environment anyway.

[lellowrx7]

In theory if everyone were to do this, such a massive power gain, couldnt it "blow a fuse"?
Im not sure the technical term because im sure power plants dont run off fuses haha but something along those lines.

[yellowsnow]

it's been proven that this doesn't affect climate change whatsoever. it's now more of a political outcry now.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by yellowsnow
it's been proven that this doesn't affect climate change whatsoever. it's now more of a political outcry now.

It's not about saving the environment for one whole hour, as someone commented in that Herald link...


"Well people, yes, an hour of turning lights off won't change the world, same as it won't kill you. It was just for awareness, not to save energy necessarily. Just like all those runs for cancer won't cure people of cancer, but they raise awareness and money. It's a SYMBOLIC event."


That being said, I don't participate in runs for cancer either.

[Cos]

Originally posted by lellowrx7
In theory if everyone were to do this, such a massive power gain, couldnt it "blow a fuse"?
Im not sure the technical term because im sure power plants dont run off fuses haha but something along those lines.

Coal can take 48 hours to ramp up, if it was a cold stop (like for a shut down) it could take 5 days if it is large enough to ramp back up. Theoretically if voltage were to spike high enough (a bi-product of load loss) the lines would open or the generators would go into a shutdown mode. A generator with no load and full load amounts of steam can run away. It has been a while since I was in this but I know a few of my classmates work in Network operations for some of the regulatory, transmission and generation companies so if they chime they could answer better than I could.

Overall if all the load dropped off it could be very bad. The impact that housing has though would probably not be enough unless everyone threw their breakers at the same time. Industry would hold enough load I would imagine.

[ianmcc]

I tried my best to turn on all of the lights but my kids ran around behind me turning them off! Oh well we all played chess by candlelight for an hour. A little family time isn't bad.

[Schwa]

How much does residential even contribute anyway? I would think that most electricity usage is commercial and industrial.

[arian_ma]

It's not about the amount of power 1 hour of lights off saves, it's about getting the message across.

[Zephyr]

This reminds me of those gas protests. Let's all not buy gas this one date, yet we will all fill up the day before. Yeah, that will show them!

How about stop buying plastic bottle drinks and use reusable containers, or car pool, stuff like that actually helps.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by arian_ma
It's not about the amount of power 1 hour of lights off saves, it's about getting the message across.

What message?

That it would be better if we all sit in the dark?

[Schwa]

I agree it's about conservation, but conserving electricity in this manner is misdirected effort.

Plastic water bottles would be an excellent start, or even getting more people recycling their papers and plastics when there is no monetary incentive.

[Sugarphreak]

....

[The_Rural_Juror]

I was nearing a breakthrough on a cure for cancer when some idiot pulled the plug on my lab at 8:30.

[Amysicle]

I can't believe Beyond didn't remind me to turn on all my lights and bake a cake this year at this time.

[n1zm0]

Half the lights in superstore went out and everyone was complaining, then a lady on the intercom said it was earth day hour, there was literally a 'ohh yeeeah' from everyone in unison at the produce section.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by ianmcc
I tried my best to turn on all of the lights but my kids ran around behind me turning them off! Oh well we all played chess by candlelight for an hour. A little family time isn't bad.

funny thing is (not to single you out), the single best thing people can do to reduce their environmental impact/energy consumption is to not have kids...

[sputnik]

I turned off all my lights and drove around in my car for an hour.

[ZMan2k2]

I turned off everything in the house, then sat in my truck idleing in the driveway listening to the Flames game.:D

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Kijho]

I did 8 fuckin hours for earth hour... while I was asleep. :rofl:

[ianmcc]

Originally posted by J-hop


funny thing is (not to single you out), the single best thing people can do to reduce their environmental impact/energy consumption is to not have kids...

Funny thing-I agree with you.
Love my kids but I think the "environmentally friendly" thing to do is to stop at two kids as we did.
My wife comes from a family of 13-WTF? The vagina isn't a clown car and how the hell can you justify that many kids?

[desi112]

rebels.

[arian_ma]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
I remembered :D

Every light in the house was on in addition to several appliances... as I looked out at the hillside of homes across from mine I spotted at least 10 others that were much brighter than normal too, lol.

I use way less than half the power of a regular house the same size as mine for the 8759 other hours during the year; so all the eco-trendy hipsters who want to turn out their lights for an hour and try to claim credit for being environmentally aware can stew in anger while I do my best to light up the neighborhood.
I understand not caring about earth hour and not turning lights off, but what idea could compel you to go above and beyond usual usage and turn on all your lights? That just sounds like you're working extra hard to be a dumbass...no? Is the message that earth hour is trying to convey a terrible one or something? Even if the idea is not polished 100%, it's not like they're saying something ridiculous?

[JRSC00LUDE]

I'm happy to say that our local utility has reported that usage during earth hour was UP over 5% from the same time last year.

[Unknown303]

Yup it looks like Alberta system load dipped a little during the hour but really nothnig major at all.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f237/Unknown303/load.jpg

[Amysicle]

Originally posted by arian_ma
I understand not caring about earth hour and not turning lights off, but what idea could compel you to go above and beyond usual usage and turn on all your lights? That just sounds like you're working extra hard to be a dumbass...no? Is the message that earth hour is trying to convey a terrible one or something? Even if the idea is not polished 100%, it's not like they're saying something ridiculous? Human Achievement Hour (http://cei.org/hah)

Leave your lights on to express your appreciation for the inventions and innovations that make today the best time to be alive and the recognition that future solutions require individual freedom not government coercion.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[codetrap]

Originally posted by arian_ma

I understand not caring about earth hour and not turning lights off, but what idea could compel you to go above and beyond usual usage and turn on all your lights? That just sounds like you're working extra hard to be a dumbass...no? Is the message that earth hour is trying to convey a terrible one or something? Even if the idea is not polished 100%, it's not like they're saying something ridiculous?

And just what message is that? Let's all hold hands in the dark and the cold and sing kumbaya?

Nah, if you really want to make a difference, do like Sugarphreak, or many others on the board who actually do something EVERY SINGLE DAY... instead of one hour a year..

[J-hop]

But sugarphreak all your hard work and doing stuff that actually matters isn't as cool as picking one hour out of one day a year to turn your lights off and then go brag on twitter/FB about how environmentally friendly you are because you lasted a whole hour without using electricity