# Earth hour 8 - 9 pm tonight



## freespirit. (Nov 24, 2004)

Has everyone seen that tonight between 8 - 9pm it is Earth hour , where we are all encouraged to turn un needed lights off in the house - see the link on the google homepage for more info


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## Lorna (Apr 8, 2004)

This idea was floated a few months ago by the BBC.  They were body slammed as completely irresponsible for suggesting this.    Why?  It can bring down the electricity grid, and leave millions without electricity.  Hospitals, police, elderly, disabled and so on,  can literally be left in the dark.

It takes time to power down a power station, and time to power one up.  The companies that generate electricity, spend huge amounts of effort making sure that there is enough electricity, at all times for everyone.  They will look at TV schedules, and work out that during this advert break, 1/2 the population will be making a hot drink, so we need to add a few million watts of extra power for this 2 minute time frame, and then we will need several million watts less electricity during this section of the day.  

The trouble with this idea, is that you have huge drop in demand, follow by a massive rise in demand.  Initially the grid is overloaded, and everything trips out.  They just begin to reset stuff, and then there is a huge demand for electricity an hour later.  

This "protest" is a cheap gimmick, that can cause an awful lot of damage to the electricity infrastructure.  It can take weeks to put the resulting mess right.  So if you join this "protest" don't be surprised, if afterwards, you don't have electricity for a while, while the electricity companies fix all the problems created.

Lorna


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## ♥ cat ♥ (Apr 13, 2003)

I had most of my lights off last night as i was getting ready for most haunted live so the darker the better for it.


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## Libeth (Jul 17, 2007)

My workplace did this on Feb 29th and all unneccesary lights etc were turned off.  

In my point of view (and I am a real greeny / ethical type) there should be no need to have an hour to turn off unnecessary stuff as people shouldnt leave lights etc on when they are not in the room.

If I leave a room for even 1 min I turn the lights off and as for stand by - nothing in my house goes on stand by - it goes off.


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## freespirit. (Nov 24, 2004)

I think it was a good idea to publicise the need for us all to do our 'bit' and turn off unused lights all the time , i'm sure a lot of us are guilty of leaving lights on when were not even in the room , i mean if were settling down to watch a movie inthe lounge , why should our kitchen light remain on ? I think this is a real issue we all need to address .


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## Lorna (Apr 8, 2004)

I am not against turning off lights, walking rather than driving, planting a garden, using an electricity company that uses only renewable sources of energy, and so on.  What I am against is an action that can potentially bring down the electricity grid, and leave many people without electricity, and that can cost an awful lot of money to fix.

So go ahead reduce, reuse, recycle.  Feel free to protest about climate change, but please do it in a responsible way.

Lorna


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## DizziSquirrel (Feb 15, 2005)

Thanks Free & Lorna

Our Local radio station is doing this lights off as well - 
Like most of us I do turn off lights when they are not needed, and I am getting better at turning stuff off thats in "standby"

~Dizzi~


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