POLL:Who Is doing Earth Hour In Their Home???

Question

I am !!!

so is my school

the friday before

Answer 1

Honestly.. I have never heard of Earth Hour???  However the best way I save energy each day before i leave my home i unplug every electrical item in my home the only plug outlet that is used is my fridge...     ( :    it saves some energy/money each month.. pass that around..   lol. t

Answer 2

I've never heard of it.  So you're actually going to turn off the breaker, fridge and all?  Why March 29th?  Couldn't we pick a day in the year when such a thing could be more helpful?  And why only once a year?  Why not once a month, or once a week?  Actually, I don't depend on the electric grid like others do, so to me, this would be a useless effort.

Answer 3

I am, I will be turning on all of my lights, taking a nice long hot shower, microwaving a bunch of popcorn and watching a movie on my DVR.  I also plan to make sure my heater or air conditioner is set at the most comfortable temperature.

Answer 4

I am!!!!

Answer 5

I'm sorry it's a joke.

I hope the electric company's, Corning, Ford, GM, Caterpillar all keep their equipment running.

Answer 6

that campaign must be improved, it is really not effective if you will just do that in a single day. why don't you do it now? i will not do that 'Earth hour" thing because i know i can do more.

try to do it now so that your objectives will be more meaningful

good luck on your campaign or what so ever.

Answer 7

What's earth hour. Do we get naked and dance around a bonfire?

Answer 8

I am :]

I signed up a couple weeks ago.

Glad others are doing it too!

Answer 9

No school On friday here(GOOD friday) But I am...

Answer 10

No. This might actually waste energy.

Have any of those promoting this idea heard of the term "spinning reserve"? Have they asked power generation engineers? If they have, have they ignored the advice they got?

You can't turn a thermal power station steam turbine on and off like you would a car engine. Because of thermal stress when warming up you keep the thing hot when it's hot and you have to pass steam through it to do so even if it is not being used. If you let it get cold it takes many hours to get it up to operating temperature. These things run at temperatures like 1000C and more.

The power station operators know that if this idea was taken up by a large majority they would have to keep turbines spinning anyway. That takes steam and producing steam takes coal / oil / uranium.

Did you know that when there is a massively popular TV show on, power station operators start gas turbines (like jet engines) just before the end of the show because they know that when it finishes thousands of people will get up and "put the kettle on", turn on lights in bathroom and bedroom, take hot showers and open refrigerators which then start running soon after?

Gas turbines are less efficient than coal fired turbines, that is why they are only used for load peaks. Less efficient means they use more fuel and produce more carbon dioxide for the same power output.

Meanwhile there is any amount of industrial plant that has to run 24 / 365 and municipal stuff like sewer pumps and water supply pumps which have to run about all the time too.

So more than likely at the end of the "Earth hour" power stations will have to put on extra megawatts to cover for everyone turning the lights back on but they will have to keep their main turbines running anyway.

Outside the power station, sudden changes in load are the absolute bane of power grids and cause all sorts of problems like temporary blackouts, over and under voltages and in extreme cases alternators acting as motors and trying to drive their turbines if the production from one station gets out of phase with the production from another.

This Earth Hour is a diversion from the things that really need to be done. If we really wanted to save energy we could start by legislating that all supermarket freezers and chiller have doors, and that they close the shop no later than 9pm. The lighting in supermarkets uses more power than a long street of houses and the refrigerators and air conditioning use even more. That's only the start of many things that could be done.