Here’s a collection of thoughts, quotes, and of course the result of our WUWT poll on “what did you do for Earth Hour?
First, my own experience: Being keenly aware of it days ahead, even I forgot about it at the appointed time, having been distracted by normal family happenings, so I didn’t remember to turn on all my outdoor lights until 8:50PM. Given other news reports, it seems the novelty has worn off, and many many simply either forgot about it or don’t care.
Pointless symbolism isn’t what it used to be I suppose.
Here’s the newsbytes describing the (non)event worldwide (Thanks to Tom Nelson for many of them):
Toronto only sees 5 per cent power drop for Earth Hour
Is Toronto in the dark when it comes to Earth Hour?
Millions of people from 134 countries — from Delhi, India to Heidelberg, Germany — switched off their lights and televisions for the fifth annual Earth Hour on Saturday night to show their support for action on climate change.
But Toronto only saw a 5 per cent power drop during the event — half of the reduction achieved during Earth Hour in 2010.
The year before that, the city had a 15 per cent drop in megawatts being used.
“Honestly we still think it’s successful, we think it’s a great program,” said Jennifer Link, a spokeswoman for Toronto Hydro, who added that cool temperatures likely had many people using more heat than this time last year.
Earth Hour fans ‘disappointed’ to see so many lights still on
In Toronto, energy use fell by 115 megawatts between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., a drop of about 5 per cent, said Jennifer Link, a spokeswoman for Toronto Hydro.
Last year, the city’s Earth Hour efforts saved 296 megawatts; in 2009, it was 454 megawatts.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Power reported saving 10 megawatts of power, a significant drop from last year’s 18 megawatts.
Toledo pays little attention to Earth Hour
Locally, the Toledo Zoo participated in the event. Facebook responses included “this is so silly”, “there is no way I can close early to participate” “C’mon, on a freezing cold Saturday night?” and “I enjoyed the hour”.
h/t to reader Brad R for this one below:
“Utility provider Enmax reported no noticeable drop in power consumption between 8: 30 p.m. and 9: 30 p.m. Saturday, when residents were asked to participate in Earth Hour by shutting off all nonessential power.”
How Was Your Earth Hour? ~ Philippines
As we drove along Ortigas Avenue, I was freakishly disappointed. Why? Because lights were on and it was Earth Hour.
Inside the car, I thought I wanted to blame the relatively-poor marketing the Earth Hour guys had on this year (You haven’t really noticed the Earth Hour 2011 ads as well right? You know they were there but the campaign wasn’t convincing enough).
My Experience of Earth Hour | My Mind, Thoughts and Feelings
Unfortunately, where I was, it was only us who participated in this event.
My parents slept early and I was left with my two grandchildren, age 6 and 7. I had to explain to them what this was all about.
Being just kids, they were restless. They kept on asking me how long will this last and why was it our neighbors did not do the same thing. I told them that it will only last for one hour and they should be proud to be a part of this worldwide event, to take a stand against climate change.
While we were waiting for the hour to pass, I decided to say the rosary and let them join me.
…Kids have this way of asking questions that any mature person would not dare to ask.
…
Five minutes after the hour had passed, we turned on the lights. They kids were happy.
The Earth Hour has passed. In retrospect, I questioned myself if I can still go beyond.
Tonight, LAX pylons will go green — and then dark — to mark Earth Hour – chicagotribune.com
Earth Hour will come early to Los Angeles International Airport. The ring of 15 100-foot-tall towers near the airport’s entrance will light up a solid green at 7:30 p.m. — an hour before Earth Hour — and remain illuminated for 60 minutes. Then the lights will go out from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., an airport news release says.
[Yeah that’s just what I want from Earth Hour, screwing around with the electricity at one of the worlds busiest airports]
World switches off light as ‘Earth Hour’ begins
“We did hesitate a bit (about calling for Earth Hour in Japan) because there are many without electricity in disaster-hit areas,” said Naoyuki Yamagishi, climate change programme leader for WWF in Japan.
“We did hesitate a bit (about calling for Earth Hour in Japan) because there are many without electricity in disaster-hit areas,” said Naoyuki Yamagishi, climate change programme leader for WWF in Japan.
Leo Burnett Chicago Kicks Off the Next Generation of Earth Hour, Activates Global Social Media Campaign Reaching 128 Countries | NEWS.GNOM.ES
“Our goal for Earth Hour 2011 is to reach new, unprecedented heights of social engagement to fuel the single largest act of global participation the world has ever seen,” said Carey Isom, Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy at Arc Worldwide/Leo Burnett Worldwide. “As a HumanKind communications company dedicated to putting a brand’s purpose at the center of everything we do, we are honored to bring awareness and activation to this very special cause.”
…
Earth Hour is the largest mass participation event in human history and was organized by WWF—an election between Earth and global warming, organized the largest mass participation event in human history.Created by Leo Burnett Sydney in 2007 and carried on by Leo Burnett Chicago, Earth Hour was the first time people of all nationalities, race, ace, gender and religion were able to vote on the future of our planet as one global democracy. Now, just five years later, more than one billion people turned off their lights in celebration of Earth Hour.
[Hmm, more like a billion people don’t HAVE electricity:
1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity:
Breaking that down further:
| Region | Millions without electricity |
|---|---|
| South Asia | 706 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 547 |
| East Asia | 224 |
| Other | 101 |
Source: globalissues.org Poverty Facts and Stats]
Dubai, Sharjah Earth Hour saves 249000KW
Yeah but, how much more CO2 did they release organizing the celebration, getting people there, and putting that guy up in the helicopter/airplane/hotair balloon/whatever to get the shot?
To celebrate the worthy cause and encourage participation by residents and businesses in Earth Hour, Dewa, in partnership with Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Emaar and other government departments and local schools and universities and NGOs and private sectors and residents, marked the event with a traditional Arabic heritage village at Emaar’s Burj Plaza in the Downtown district adjacent to the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa.
Over 20 Arabian tents filled with arts and crafts, traditional cooking stations, El Arish hospitality, educational exhibitions, music and many local gifts and souvenirs were enjoyed by over 6,000 people who took part in the fun festivities and Earth Hour celebrations. A family occasion, children were also catered to with their own arts and crafts tents, face-painting, delightful entertainment and a conservation exhibition to educate and inspire their young minds.
Council’s ‘lights out’ weekend branded tokenism (From Oxford Mail)
THIS weekend Oxford City Council will turn off all “non-essential” lights in a bid to tackle global warming.
But Green campaigners say it begs the question: why are lights burning in the first place if they are not needed?
Especially as the authority employs a climate change officer at a cost of £44,000 a year.
THIS weekend Oxford City Council will turn off all “non-essential” lights in a bid to tackle global warming.
But Green campaigners say it begs the question: why are lights burning in the first place if they are not needed?
Especially as the authority employs a climate change officer at a cost of £44,000 a year.
Celebrate good times, climate realists: THIS is what winning looks like
Make no mistake: this is what winning looks like. Of course, most alarmists are never going to come right out and admit that on The Most Important Issue of All Time, they were wrong and we were right. What they’re going to do is just gradually quit talking about it.
YouTube – Earth Hour 2011 Official video
This Earth Hour 2011: 8.30pm, Saturday 26 March, celebrate your action for the planet with the people of world, and add more to your Earth Hour.
YouTube – Earth Hour 2010 Official video
Earth Hour 2010 is set to be the best yet
What Makes Earth Hour Fun? | Real Science
They know the lights will be back on in less than an hour. If they tried Earth Month instead, that would be the end of the global warming religion.
Here is the results of the WUWT poll, as of noon PST, March 27th:
It seems wildly popular to turn on lights, or ignore the whole idea, rather than turn them off, doesn’t it?
However, in one country, North Korea, Earth hour was once again a stunning success:
Night-time satellite photo of North and South Korea. Note the single light for “Dear Leader”. Image from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
I drove around without my car’s headlights on for an hour.
We lost power @ur momisugly 4:50 PM and just fired up the generator powering the entire house. When PG&E restored the power again around 8:00 PM we kept the lights on from then til bedtime. Odd that the power went out as it did but we celebrated none the less thanks to the generator backup.
I live in Amsterdam. But neither I nor the people at the pub were aware that we had to turn off the lights for one hour last Saturday night.
I was going to answer the poll, but it was such a non-interesting thing, I forgot.
Sorry to report that I couldn’t participate in the anti-Earth Hour festivities. I was camping with my sons, so I really had no lights to turn on. However, the Earth Hour alarm that I had set on my cell (complete with rechargeable battery) did go off. So, had I been home, my lights would have been turned on.
Also, what camping trip wouldn’t be complete without a carbon-burning campfire? We had two at our campsite all day Saturday, and a massive camp-wide one Saturday night.
According to the
Toronto Star:
“The lights were going full tilt in the living room and front hall Saturday night at the home of Jed Goldberg, president of Earth Day Canada.”
No wonder the Canadians ignored Earth Hour when the head honcho ignored it as well.
Oh shoot ! I forgot about it.
I was going cook a tri-tip roast in the electric rotisserie, turn on the 100W incandescent front porch light, turn on both TV’s, and iron my dress shirts. But instead, all I did was fall asleep with the`TV on.
Try it again next year!
I enjoyed the Earth with my lights on with my hour. I also enjoyed not caring about what a bunch children and zealots think.
Freedom. Embrace it. Enjoy it.
Hysteria. Reject it. Ignore it.
Recently I installed three solar tube round skylights in my kitchen. [They’re great, BTW – I never need any lights in the daytime].
Each 14″ tube has two 30 watt fluorescents [125 watt equivalent each] mounted in the tubes, with a plastic dome on the roof to catch the sunlight. When the fluorescents are on, the domes stand out extremely brightly. It’s almost embarassing. Everyone around can see them shining brightly on the roof. They know we’re home, for sure.
So I kept them on for the EH, plus my front and side yard lights [I live on a corner].
To be honest, I’m not sure if the neighbors even noticed. They all had their lights on, too.☺
We went about as we always do, being grateful for being born here and now with all the advantages we have. I too conserve as a matter of course, and have my entire adult life. But I don’t appreciate being told I have to by a green hypocrite.
Stephen Brown, Bless you for caring for your extended family! I’ve a friend who does the same, saying that a relatively small sum of money to us goes a long way in Africa.
I live about 5 miles from a PG&E hydro electrical facility, and per the folks who checked out the stability of my old power pole last year (after they put a new transformer on it after a nasty storm knocked the old one out) my electrical power comes from the Camino substation that is connected to the hydro facility. Since my electrical energy at night comes from a carbon neutral source (we generate about 60% of our yearly electrical needs from a small PV system) I thought I’d contemplate a few items that have been on my mind while watching favorite doomsday film- “The Day After Tomorrow” for Earth Hour.
Items I contemplated:
1) Now that PG&E no longer collects “accurate” rainfall data at the weather station for my area does that mean that the 150 year record of temperatures for Placerville will no longer be made/accurate/traceable to a like geographical location?
http://www.mtdemocrat.com/opinion/please-bring-back-the-rainfall-contest/
Editor’s note — The Mountain Democrat based its Rainfall Contest on statistics supplied by the local office of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. PG&E no longer will assist us in compiling accurate rainfall statistics. We’ll review the matter for next year if we can find a reliable statistician.
2) Should I burn, chip and mulch, take to the dump or ? this years downed trees- two big oaks, lots of oak limbs. What would be the most carbon neutral way to deal with this material. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) could provide no input to the question a year ago- they indicated that they are going to study the issue and publish a paper……………..
3) If an electrical utility is operating a set of generating plants to provide X Million Kwh of energy to their customers at time points 1, 2, 3 and at time point 4 their demand drops by 10%, for say 55 to 60 minutes, what actions do they take to manage the load and will any less carbon dioxide be released from the generating plants with a temporary load reduction?
4) Why does the concept of capacity factor bother me so much when it comes to wind and solar generation ratings vs when compared to say a hydro, coal or natural gas fired generation facility?
I have actually read all the posts since my initial post earlier today. I appreciate that everyone kept it civil and responded to my concerns. I now understand better why many of you despise Earth Hour so much.
It doesn’t mean I agree with it, and it won’t change my stance from being a skeptic to less or more of one.
There were a few specific comments I thought I should respond to. Unfortunately I cannot respond to all of them 🙁
To the person concerned about my safety because the main breaker was off and what is there was a fire. Thankfully our smoke alarms run on batteries, so we were safe 🙂
To the person insinuating that I was a warmist because I didn’t hump my wife under the blanket I suppose I should let you know that we have a healthy sex life even if we didn’t spent Earth Hour banging like rabbits
To the person asking if we turned out lights off because of the neighbours, the answer is ‘no’. I took a quick peak down the block and all the lights were on at pretty much every hour.
Anyway, thanks for responding and making it apparent why there is so much animosity towards this event. I guess I have some work to do on the skeptic scale 🙁
ian
Texas ERCOT Load by Hour,
Sat 3/19 19:00-23:00 compared with Sat 3/26/2011 19:00-23:00
DateHrMidTxt, AvgTop3Hrs, Total, Chg MW prev Hr, Ratio
03/19 19:30, 34890, 33421, – 757, 0.958
03/19 20:30, 34890, 34134, 713, 0.978 Prev week
03/19 21:30, 34890, 33053, -1081, 0.947 Prev Week
03/19 22:30, 34890, 31292, -1761, 0.897
03/26 19:30, 38696, 36094, -1309, 0.933
03/26 20:30, 38696, 36249, 155, 0.937 EH first 30 min
03/26 21:30, 38696, 34784, -1464, 0.899 EH second 30 min
03/26 22:30, 38696, 32653, -2131, 0.844
There is a bigger electrical load drop during and after Earth Hour,
but it started from a 2673 MW higher load than the previous week.
It’s not the Earth Hour, its just the weather.
http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/html/20110319_actual_loads_of_weather_zones
I turn a light off in a room if Im not using it anyway, so the Earth Hour idea is moot.
That being said, I celebrated it by playing a video game.
To be fair, I did have the lights dimmed a bit, to maximize the colour on my television.
Does that count?
We did this one year, at the behest of a roommate. He turned off all the lights and lit oil lamps. We were sneezing black soot for a week.
I didn’t even know there was an Earth Hour 2011. Woops. And to think of all the carbon emissions I could have saved by turning off all of my lights and lighting a few candles manufactured and shipped from China… Dagnabit!
Out with friends Saturday night as usual. We always turn off the lights when we’re out – saves on the utility bill, you know.
Hope the neighbors didn’t think it had anything to do with earth hour. I doubt it, though, because no one I know around here has ever mentioned it and I never saw anything about it on TV or local newspaper.
A complete non-event here in the US midsouth
The lead is scientifically illiterate; you can’t “save” megawatts. That’s an instantaneous power level. Energy used is in megawatt-hours.
Stephen Brown says:
March 27, 2011 at 2:40 pm
About the Zambian caretaker: check out the site LUTW.org . Their idea of using a small generator or solar panel to charge up a car battery, then running white LEDs off of that, has saved thousands of families in UDCs the expense of kerosene and/or candles, etc., and vastly improved indoor air quality, and so on The expense is comparatively minor, but the benefits are immense (children able to study schoolbooks after sunset is one.)
We had every light on in the house, the dryer running, the washer running (with it being non-peak rates on Saturday, this was the time to do it), one son on a computer, and one son watching the Maple Leafs reach the inevitable conclusion of their season, and the Christmas lights all blazing. Since I reflexively turn off lights when nobody is in the room, I had to keep restraining myself, but kept myself distracted with WUWT in front of the electric fire on full blast. It was like revisiting the 60s, when lights were on all the time.
Tonight we’ re back in the normal semi-gloom to keep the skyrocketing energy bills (thanks to the province’s Liberal government’s infatuation with ‘green’ energy) under what little control we have.
I like the idea of calling this endeavour Human Achievement Hour. The McKitrick essay is on my door at the university.
Stephen;
Just rechecked the lutw.org site. They now have home individual setups available, complete. Check the site’s ‘Products’ tab, and you can email them: c.shultz@lutw.org for details and pricing (which I don’t know). Or 403-206-5004 if you want to discuss the specific situation and get advice.
Oops, typo: 403-266-5004 . That’s the Mountain Time Zone, EDT -2hrs.
Truthfully, I don’t see this as a sceptic issue, but more of a groupthink issue.
I don’t like sports. I don’t understand why anyone would give five minutes of their day to bother finding out the score in a child’s game played by two teams of players they’ve never met, much less actually spend hours watching said games. I find the mentality of such behaviour questionable, at best, and quite possibly indicative of a deep-seated neurosis at worst. Not many men share my view, but some do. Of these, there is a subset whose condemnation of sports, and whose occasional attempts to have them banned or curtailed, ignite in me a strong desire to go out and watch a football game, even if I don’t know what’s happening on the field.
That’s because while I have no regard at all for sports, I have less regard for anyone who tries to curtail the activities of others, or who tries to force others to conform to a particular way of thought.
I don’t know how old you are, but you may remember Leo Buscaglia from the ’80s. He was the “Love Guru” whose message was to go out and hug people. Naturally, not everyone wanted to be hugged. What did he tell his followers to do when that happened? He told them to say to themselves, “Well, that’s too bad for them. Now they’ll never know what a nice person I am.” In other words, in their quest to spread love, his followers were to condemn anyone who didn’t bow to the party line.
Same here. If people wanted to shut off their lights for some symbolic act, I wouldn’t consider it any more, or less, significant than people who light Christmas trees in December, hang a Mezzuzot on the door frame, or wear special underwear. But when these people start condemning everyone else who doesn’t follow their custom — then it becomes a matter of significance to me.
As a matter of routine, I hereby confess that I am an old retired bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate, with minimal qualifications and only half a mind.
Re Ian, Mar 27 2011, 1.51pm.
Congratulations for coming up with provocative questions!
All religious car stickers and notices of that sort, and gestures like Earth Hour, in whatever circumstances, are intended to make a point. If I believe the point is nonsense, am I not entitled to seek to advertise my distaste in much the same way that the stickers and gestures do? Moreover, and evidently in common with many contributors, if I believe the point is contrary to the public interest, am I not under some sort of duty to protest?
So this is the answer to Ian’s primary question. Earth Hour is seen to be a (Ya-boo confrontation style) gesture in favour of a nonsense, and many have felt bound to protest. And maybe the more strategic will have being playing the numbers game: attempting to establish that more people objected than agreed.
For myself, I forgot about the whole thing, which was remiss of me. I should have turned all the lights on and fought off the protestations of the Missus who, quite rightly, would object to the useless waste of money.
“Stephen Brown says:
March 27, 2011 at 2:40 pm”
Well said that man.
It was just a normal Saturday night for me this EH, like almost every other Saturday night.
…I turned off the same damn lights that I always do (the ones that my wife seems to leave on in empty rooms).
I’ve turned into my Dad….
Dang, to be honest, I have never heard of Earth Hour. I read hours a day on the internet and watch plenty of cable news. And notta clue that there was such a thing. Then I had to go to WUWT and find there is something this foolish going on. Dang you, you climate skeptic you, for promoting this. You shall not be forgiven. At least until this post passes onto page two of the blog anyway.