The Earth Hour of Power
This Saturday night between 8.30 and 9.30pm local time, earnest hippies, browbeaten parents and other folks of conscience will turn off all their lights, sit round a candle and believe they are saving the planet. Or at least appearing to save the planet, which is the same thing to a hippie.
Then, at 9.30 they’ll give up on attempts to roast a marshmallow over a candle and fire up everything in the house again. The power companies understand this stunt, which means that lots of spinning capacity will be ready for the end of Earth Hour and not a drop of oil/coal/wind/nuclear energy will be saved.
Even the WWF admits saving energy isn’t the point. The point is to make a statement about global warming and ‘raise awareness‘. There is apparently a lone guy somewhere out there who hasn’t heard that Gaia has a fevah and the only cure is more cowbell, or something. The chances of this sole soul appearing the very moment people sit in the dark ready to raise his awareness may be slim, but you never know.
UK readers may want to participate in the 2011 Earth Hour just to exercise the choice to turn out the lights before the government takes over the switch for them – or not.
Chez Bayonet will be lit brightly, joining in the counter-protest of Human Achievement Hour, a tradition also celebrated by David Menzies, who lives in Toronto and may cause hippie seizures during the darkathon:
“While everybody else has their lights off I will have every light in my house on,” said Menzies, as he prepared for his second installment in mocking the “phony” Earth Hour movement. He’s also gone a step further. “I have rented four rotating Hollywood movie lights which will light up the sky for miles,” he said. “I don’t need to give you my address because all you need to do is look to the sky.”
take that, Gaia
Other suggested ways to enjoy the life-enhancing benefits of abundant, affordable energy abound – take your pick from the suggestions here.
However you choose to spend Earth Hour, be safe and remember that setting your house ablaze with an errant candle is bad for Gaia.
[ad#insert-large]
Larry Sheldon:
March 26th, 2011 at 1:40 am
I just use every last remnant of the good life as suits me at the moment.
What is left is not going to last much longer.
Lights on in celebration of Human Achievement Hour 2011 tonight! — mooseandsquirrel.ca:
March 26th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
[...] Happy Alpha Proxima Day 20011 Earth Hour is groupthink faggotry Lights ON for Earth Hour Ross McKitrick: Why I Will Leave My Lights On The Earth Hour of Power [...]
WTF:
March 26th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
If you are on time of use or interval metering then Earth Hour is a great time to put your oven on self-clean. Not the wimpy 500′ self clean either. Crank er up! Do your dishes on high heat and dry and use hot water to wash your clothes again too!
Alan Simpson:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
I was at the pub, but the wonders of modern technology made it possible to set several of those timing things to kick in.
Upshot of the exercise, lights, oven, heating.
Let’s hope this year the demand on electricery ™ went up during the greens asshattery.
fred farthing:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
I turned on all my lights and computers in honor of the hippies. I’ll see if I can find some other things to turn on…it’s cold tonight so I also turned up the heat. Think I’ll blog or tweet more to use up servers across the world also.
Red Jeff:
March 27th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
How much did my protest cost me? I lit up every light in my house. Total 31 bulbs@ 100W/bulb OR 3.1KW. They were on for 1hour.
Energy use= 3.1Kw/hr
Cost to generate @ $0.038/Kw/hr= 12 cents, 12 onehundredths of a dollar.
Cost to consumer @ $0.070/Kw/hr= 22cents
Cost including delivery, regulatory charge, debt retirement and HST – Ontario Clean Energy Benefit(a reduction) @ $0.152/Kw/hr= 47cents !!!!
YUP 47 cents for an immigrant Scotsman to piss-off all his Birkenstock wearin’ hairy armpit, tree huggin’ unemployed, tie-dyed Gaiagaga worshipping eco-freak hippies.
There is a God and sometimes he smiles my way!
All the best…. Jeff
What a protest! 18yr old Scotch and 47cent electricity… priceless
Steynerism 441rd « Free Canuckistan!:
March 27th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
[...] THE RISE OF MASS INSANITY– ‘Earth Hour: Why I Will Leave My Lights On’; The Earth Hour of Power; Earth Hour: Come into the Light …. (eddriscoll, dailybayonet, [...]
Anthony Watts:
March 27th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Congratulations on being added to the WUWT blogroll.
Skewer on…
dailybayonet:
March 27th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Excellent work from evil skeptic readers, and a WUWT blogroll place won too.
I’d like to thank the academy… oh wait, wrong plaudit. Thanks Anthony, to everyone that visits to read the snark. Or check out the hotties. Or both.
Brad R:
March 28th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
I put the oven on self-clean, put a load of laundry in the washer and another in the (electric) dryer, plus a load of dishes, plus we already had the electric heat turned on. I checked the electric meter, and from 8:30 to 9:30 we used 11 kWh, almost exactly half a Gore. (A Gore is unit equal to 21.8 kW, the average power consumption of his Nashville estate.)
Our usual average is 2 kW, so I figure we lit up the equivalent of an extra 90 hundred-watt bulbs that hour.
Global Warming Hoax Weekly Round-Up, Mar. 31st 2011 « The Daily Bayonet:
March 31st, 2011 at 11:40 am
[...] Up With That comments on The Daily Bayonet: Congratulations on being added to the WUWT blogroll. Skewer [...]