Earth Hour arrives every year towards the end of March. Celebrities like Yoko Ono, Stephen Fry and Cate Blanchett endorse it and trendy Anglican dioceses, having mislaid the Creeds, exhort their faithful to submit themselves unquestioningly to the replacement eco-dogma.
This is enough to put off any normal person but, for those still tempted to turn off their lights tomorrow and ignite a few high toxicity candles, there is this:
Hypothetically, switching off the lights for an hour would cut CO2 emissions from power plants around the world. But, even if everyone in the entire world cut all residential lighting, and this translated entirely into CO2 reduction, it would be the equivalent of China pausing its CO2 emissions for less than four minutes.
In fact, Earth Hour will cause emissions to increase: As the United Kingdom’s National Grid operators have found, a small decline in electricity consumption does not translate into less energy being pumped into the grid, and therefore will not reduce emissions. Moreover, during Earth Hour, any significant drop in electricity demand will entail a reduction in CO2 emissions during the hour, but it will be offset by the surge from firing up coal or gas stations to restore electricity supplies afterward.
And the cozy candles that many participants will light, which seem so natural and environmentally friendly, are still fossil fuels — and almost 100 times less efficient than incandescent light bulbs. Using one candle for each switched-off bulb cancels out even the theoretical CO2 reduction; using two candles means that you emit more CO2.
Of course, all we non-politically-correct “dinosaurs”will be turning on as many lights and electrically powered items as possible during “Earth Hour”. Someone’s got to keep the”base-load”figure steady.
The candles are particularly ironic here in Vancouver, where the electricity is 100% hydro, and thus produces no greenhouse gases. Thus Earth Hour burns way more deep-Earth carbon than normal hours.
But I like candles – they’re romantic.
Not quite true. According to BC Hydro, in the Lower Mainland the figure is 85%, with the rest coming from burning methane. However, I agree with the central point.
You’re right, Gordon, for the last 10 years BC Hydro has been scavenging methane from the Burns Bog dump and using it to generate power. I just learned that. But that too produces no net greenhouse has, because it does not pump deep-earth carbon into the atmosphere.
BC Hydro also trades power with Alberta. Alberta’s coal-burning generators cannot be ramped up and down, so during the night BC Hydro “buys” some of their power for cheap (because Hydro can turn down the valves on their dams). Then BC Hydro “sells” hydro power to Alberta at peak times the next day (at a profit over the night-time buy).