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Earth Hour is everyone on board?

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by priusunlimited, Mar 17, 2009.

  1. priusunlimited

    priusunlimited New Member

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    I did this last year and altho its only an hour ... it just makes you feel like we are all doing something at the same time united you know? Anyone else in?>
     
  2. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Not me. My house uses 100% wind power. Keeping it lit demonstrates that we can have all the clean energy we want, if we pay for it.

    Feeling like we're doing something tends to discharge the sense of urgency, and may do more harm than the good done by advertising the problem. The problem is already well-advertised. We need to turn urgency into action, not feelings.
     
  3. priusunlimited

    priusunlimited New Member

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    100% Wind Power.... what made you go wind Vs. Solar?
     
  4. PA Prius

    PA Prius Active Member

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    We are in. I marked this in my calendar a few days ago.

    PA P
     
  5. JSH

    JSH Senior Member

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    What is the point of "Earth Hour"? According to wikipedia: "Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF, held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change."

    So you want me to turn off non-essential lights and electrical appliances for an hour. Why? I would have to turn something on so I could then turn it off. I don't have "non-essential lights" in my house. If I'm using a light I turn it on. If not it stays off. Same with appliances.

    Again the point is?
     
  6. priusunlimited

    priusunlimited New Member

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    I turn everything off TV, Computer.. everything. Hang out with the kids in the dark light some candles ... they enjoy it... between soccer , tee ball and school its not like we can do it all the time. Its just awerness its not "save the world hour".
     
  7. JSH

    JSH Senior Member

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    So at 8:30pm on Saturday 28-March I should switch off the 9w CFL I use for reading and sit in the dark? If I do I'm "Voting Earth" if I don't I'm "Voting Global Warming".

    Sorry. It sounds a bit too much like the "Let's stick it to big oil and not buy gas on X day" schemes.

    EDIT: Awareness is a 24 hour / 365 day a year thing.
     
  8. priusunlimited

    priusunlimited New Member

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    Maybe I shouldve made a whos not going to do Earth Hour thread .. haha
     
  9. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    It's not a turbine in our yard. A few of the local utilities offer a 100% wind option. Much cheaper to sign up for that, even at $0.18 per kW-hr, than to spend some $20,000 on a rooftop Solar PV system. If the net cost is ever low enough that we can make a profit after a few years by selling excess power we will go Solar.
     
  10. Fraser

    Fraser New Member

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    I'm very much in favor of wind and solar power, preferably initiated on the residential/commercial level (a long way to go technically before that is widely available), rather than through power companies, although our local -- and private -- power company is strong on individual responsibility to lower/modify electrical usage. I'm very much not in favor of gimmicks like Earth Day and Earth Hour, which make people feel good about themselves but do little to actually accomplish something. Put an effort toward meaningful goals.
     
  11. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    I suppose the edit could have been made from the get go (the less harsh post), but ... better late than never, I always say :cool: And I suppose we could all claim that "blah blah (add your own awareness day here) awareness day should be a 24 hour / 365 day a year thing" ... and never have any awareness days (cancer, aids, POW/MIA's RedCross donations etc), from that spin.

    Personally we'll be generating nearly 7kw hours during the peak of the day, and by 8:30PM we'll still have surplus backfed onto the grid, so all of you checking out this thread, you go ahead and turn on a couple L.E.D. lights and charge it back to me :D
     
  12. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Lite some candles, grab the wife, and have some tantric sex.

    We'll probably just talk for the remaining 59.5 minutes.
     
  13. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    "You see Oblio, the point is, there is no point"!

    Harry Nilsson "The Point" 1971
     
  14. Bill Merchant

    Bill Merchant absit invidia

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    You can argue that it's pointless, but I disagree. Many, many people don't equate using electric lights, or washing machines, or Jacuzzi tubs with global climate change. They also think something global can't be changed by personal action. And businesses just turn on the lights and keep them on, without thinking.

    We're a fairly sophisticated group here on PriusChat, so we're a lot more attuned to energy use and waste than most people. I think it's great that the Las Vegas strip is going to go dark, that the flood lights on the Eiffel Tower will be turned off, that the monuments in Washington D.C. will sit in the dark for an hour, if it makes people aware that electric energy is connected to climate change and to them.

    In my spare time, I'm the Chairman of the Hamlet of Beavercreek, a rural community south of Portland, Oregon. We were the first community in Oregon to pass a resolution to adopt Earth Hour 2009. We're talking it up in the community, and passed out CFLs at our February Community Meeting to drive home the point that even little steps, like swapping a 60W incandescent bulb out for an equally bright CFL, can save you money and save megawatts of power for our community over the life of the bulb if we all take this small step.

    Businesses have been very receptive. Turning out the lights on their signs saves power, money, and shows the community that they participate. Sure, turning out lights and non-essential appliances from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on March 28 won't be a big deal for any one person, but as a world-wide action, it's significant. Particularly if it gets people to think.

    Earthhourus.org
    Earth Hour US - Hamlet of Beavercreek
     
  15. slickQUICKprius

    slickQUICKprius I'm awesome!

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    I'm going to be driving during that time... oh well, I'll just do it with my headlights off
     
  16. tripp

    tripp Which it's a 'ybrid, ain't it?

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    Damn Tony, you've got stamina!
     
  17. zenMachine

    zenMachine Just another Onionhead

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    No stamina points for this man...

    Suburban Philadelphia ice cream shop owner Bob Gerenser, 56, believes global warming is based on faulty science and calls Earth Hour "nonsense."

    The resident of New Hope, Pa., and owner of Gerenser's Exotic Ice Cream planned to illuminate his store with extra theatrical lighting.

    "I'm going to get everyone I know in my neighborhood to turn on every light they possibly can to waste as much electricity as possible to underline the absurdity of this action ... by being absurd," he said.

    The Associated Press: Lights out in 84 countries for Earth Hour 2009
     
  18. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    Re: No stamina points for this man...

    You know I am going to turn EVERY light in my house ON!

    When the rest of you sons of bitches invest in at minimum a 2kW Solar system for your home, these little farts in the face gestures are just plain stupid!!!

    I have had a 7.5 kW system on line since August '04....

    Where the hell are the rest of you?????
     
  19. zenMachine

    zenMachine Just another Onionhead

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    Re: No stamina points for this man...

    Hehe, the very fact that you'll know WHEN to turn on all your lights is the point of this exercise. Namely, awareness... :)
     
  20. priusunlimited

    priusunlimited New Member

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    Re: No stamina points for this man...


    Well said ....

    To the people who are so negative about something that #1 isnt harming anyone and #2 isnt intruding on anyone .... Believe it or not there are people out there that think owning a Prius is stupid also ......