Lets show our love of the planet and turn the lights out at one of the lowest energy usage times of the day.

I am sure it would have been an even greater success if they had planned it for 2am.

I think the greatest question is what impact did this little event have on energy production. From what I remember of power generation, the plants go to minimal production in the evening because there is far less strain on the system after the sun goes down.

I wonder what effect it actually had on the station and whether they were able to lower output or if they were already at the lowest setting when it happened.

A power plant cannot be turned “off”. It has run at a certain output level constantly, and if more is needed then other generators are spun up.

Kind of like your lawnmower without a starter. If you want power from it, it must running. If you shut it off, it will take some work to get it going again. If your lawnmower is running at idle becuase it does not need to work to cut the grass, turning the headlights on or off is not going to make any difference. The mower is running and producing pollution regardless of whether the headlights are on or off, so the pollution output could be exactly the same.

It is probably a regional result, whether a plant took a generator to idle because of this or not. Or if the generator that went to idle at 8-9pm was turned back on to capacity from 9-10 when it was normally set to idle (which would make the lights out pointless).

Probably not. You’d probably have to go to a film house to find them, and you are not interested in those prices. Believe me.

PAR-64’s. Still: the biggest bang for your buck in the market.

Watching all this “Klieg light” jazz in the ’sphere lately makes me think about half-seriously that I might have a market in Earth Hour designs next year.

I forgot. I was going to do something, honest. It would have involved electric heaters and about 4 houses worth of lights turned on in my place simultaneously.

Hey you know if we all get together and boycott X gas company prices will go down!!!

Did anybody in this asinine scheme ever think to ask the power company how long it would take to get back online after the voltage spike from removing so much of the load all at once? Ah, who cares they’re all a bunch of greedy capitalists and it *probably* would have been fine, anyhow . . .

The entire US 11:18 PM Eastern

East Coast US 8:44 PM Eastern Time

The YouTube video is faked. Thanks Jeremy Piven.

High-efficiency lighting and nuclear power will do more to reduce greenhouse gasses than idiots like that ever will.

When we drove home the house was lit up like a damned Christmas tree in the middle of our field. That usually annoys me, since I prefer the place to be less conspicuous after dark.

Then I got home and remembered all this “Earth Hour” nonsense.

I feel better now.

Next year, I’m renting Klieg lights, I swear.