Author Topic: Earth Hour Begins (Read 1388 times)

pioneer · « **on:** March 28, 2009, 06:52:51 PM »

Millions of people worldwide are being urged off lights for an hour, in what is described as the biggest climate change protest ever attempted.

The initiative, Earth Hour, was begun in Sydney two years ago by green campaigners keen to cut energy use.

Correspondents say the aim is to create a huge wave of public pressure to influence a meeting in Copenhagen later this year to seek a new climate treaty.

Critics describe the event as a symbolic and meaningless gesture.

The switch-off is expected to take place in more than 3,400 towns and cities across 88 countries, at 2030 in each local time zone.

Earth Hour was launched in 2007 as a solo event in Sydney, Australia, with more than two million people involved. Last year's event claimed the participation of 370 cities. - BBC

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Ginger · « **Reply #1 on:** March 28, 2009, 07:07:24 PM »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CRs-7lRlPo

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Ginger · « **Reply #2 on:** March 28, 2009, 07:16:45 PM »

Saturday, March 28, is Earth Hour, an annual international event organized by WWF to raise awareness of climate change in which participants switch off all their lights for one hour, beginning at 8:30 p.m. local time.

The first Earth Hour took place in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million million homes and businesses pledged to turn off their lights. The following year, the event went global, with the Golden Gate Bridge, the Coliseum, the Sydney Opera House, and the Coca-Cola billboard in Times Square all going dark. That year, 50 million people in more than 370 cities and towns worldwide switched off their lights.

This year, 2,848 cities, towns, and municipalities are joining the eco-blackout. The eventâ€™s organizers say that they are shooting for 1 billion people to participate.

And during Earth Hour, what will most participants use for illumination? Candles. The Earth Hour website is filled with announcements â€“ from New Zealand to Hong Kong to Serbia â€“ of restaurants hosting candlelit dinners and clubs holding candlelit acoustic concerts, along with lots of tips on what to do at home during the electricity-free hour, which includes taking a candlelit bath or playing board games by candlelight.

All these burning wicks raise the question: Are the emissions from these candles worse for the climate than simply leaving the lights on? After all, candles emit carbon dioxide too.

The answer: It depends on what kind of candles you use, how many of them you burn, and where you get your electricity from.

Most candles are made of paraffin, a heavy hydrocarbon derived from crude oil. Burning a paraffin candle for one hour will release about 10 grams of carbon dioxide.

As Australian blogger Enoch the Red pointed out after last yearâ€™s Earth Hour that an average Australian who tries to replace all the light produced by an incandescent bulb with light cast by parrifin candles will result in about 10 times the greenhouse emissions.

But of course most of us arenâ€™t going to burn 40 candles for every bulb we leave off. The idea here is to make our cities and towns go dark for an hour, not to create a major fire hazard.

So what if you just replace a single paraffin candle with a single bulb? This was the question Zeke Hausfather, the executive vice president of energy science for Climate Culture, an online carbon measurement and reduction utility, tried to answer for the Bright Green Blog.

In an email, Mr. Hausfather noted that emissions vary widely, depending on where you live. In California, which has some of the countryâ€™s lowest emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity, running a 60-watt incandescent bulb for an hour would emit about 24 grams of CO2. In Kansas, which has some of the highest emissions, it would emit almost 60 grams.

Therefore, Hausfather concludes â€œusing a candle instead of an incandescent bulb unambiguously reduces your carbon emissions.â€

But what about more efficient bulbs? After all, if youâ€™re bothering to participate in a global-warming-consciousness-raising event, thereâ€™s a good chance youâ€™ve already swapped out your incandescents for CFLs, right?

Depending on where you live and what wattage bulb you use, lighting a candle instead of a CFL could result in a net increase of CO2 emissions. In California, a CFL will emit about 5 grams per hour. In Kansas, itâ€™s almost 13 grams.

Hausfather provides this handy map. The red areas represent net emission increases for those who burn a candle instead of a CFL. The green areas represent net reduction.

Hausfather points out that, given the low penetration of CFLs and the fact that many commercial buildings will not be replacing the light with anything during the hour, itâ€™s incontrovertible that Earth Hour will result in a net carbon reduction, even with all the candles.

But of course you donâ€™t have to burn paraffin candles. Beeswax and soy candles are mostly carbon-neutral because any carbon they release by burning was only recently absorbed by plants from the atmosphere. The carbon in paraffin, by contrast, has been sitting in the ground for hundreds of millions of years.

Earth Hourâ€™s organizers get this, of course, and they advise people not to burn paraffin candles for the event. For the sake of the climate, letâ€™s hope the participants get it, too.

http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/03/27/does-lighting-candles-for-earth-hour-defeat-the-purpose/

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kiamoy · « **Reply #3 on:** March 29, 2009, 02:07:14 AM »

IF Earth Hour was done, Aircons and refrigerators were included right? I think they use more electricity when turned ON again. (not sure.)

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Brownman · « **Reply #4 on:** March 29, 2009, 02:28:36 AM »

Ops floor lighting were not included basin matulog ang mga agents.

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insurectus · « **Reply #5 on:** March 29, 2009, 09:18:50 PM »

sa opisina ang suga ra man kay kung gi apil pa ang aircon na ambot lang
imperno na ang ka init

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glacier_71 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 30, 2009, 02:50:25 AM »

it's more of an awareness campaign.

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MikeLigalig.com

Author Topic: Earth Hour Begins (Read 1388 times)

pioneer

Earth Hour Begins

Ginger

Re: Earth Hour Begins

Ginger

Does Lighting Candles For Earth Hour Defeat The Purpose?

kiamoy

Re: Earth Hour Begins

Brownman

Re: Earth Hour Begins

insurectus

Re: Earth Hour Begins

glacier_71

Re: Earth Hour Begins