Earth hour

T-Maxx

We honored Earth hour tonight (20:30-21:30) and enjoyed it so much we decided to do it on our own on a more frequent basis! We told stories, made silhouette hand plays, and just enjoyed each others' company in a quiet and relaxing candle lit atmosphere.

Granted, we didn't turn off the central heating, fridges, etc but all the lights, TV's and PC screens were switched off. After all, it's not really about saving energy during the hour itself, but rather about a general awareness of how fragile the eco system is and how limited our resources are.

I do think though that it should have been advertised better.

445279.ie

T-Maxx wrote: »

I do think though that it should have been advertised better.

I agree, didn't know about it until a friend sent a text about 8.45 so they only got about 45 minutes out of me

edwinkane

T-Maxx wrote: »

We honored Earth hour tonight (20:30-21:30) and enjoyed it so much we decided to do it on our own on a more frequent basis! We told stories, made silhouette hand plays, and just enjoyed each others' company in a quiet and relaxing candle lit atmosphere.

Granted, we didn't turn off the central heating, fridges, etc but all the lights, TV's and PC screens were switched off. After all, it's not really about saving energy during the hour itself, but rather about a general awareness of how fragile the eco system is and how limited our resources are.

I do think though that it should have been advertised better.

I'd encourage anyone to permanently turn off tv's. We got rid of ours years ago and the benefits are interesting and unexpected. We found, and find, that we spend much more time talking and enjoying each others company has become the default situation, whereas before watching tv was the default situation.

I can't claim we got rid of our tv for green reasons, but might try to make that more part of the story to get brownie points at some of the more left wing dinner parties we occasionally attend.

Daegerty

there is nothing good on anymore. only thing i watch now is torrents of Top Gear

Pure Sound

It definately wasn't promoted enough in Ireland which shows that in reality our government and media don't give a **** about environmental issues. Consumerism and more spending is what they want not reduced energy use so unfortunately this type of practice will never be a priority here.

Pete M.

Good idea, badly promoted.

Knew about it, but watched football with light on anyway :eek:

And I actually do care, would be frugal enough most of the time, just forgot tbh.

djpbarry

Pete M. wrote: »

And I actually do care, would be frugal enough most of the time...

You’ve touched on something here that I would consider one of my principal gripes with “environmentalism” (or whatever label you want to put on it)...

Far too often, the focus is put on “damage being done”, but the problem is people don’t want to hear about it – gets their backs up. People don’t like to be told that they’re doing wrong and they should change their ways accordingly. Same goes for buying clothes that may have been produced in inhumane conditions (for example) – people don’t like the idea that their actions are indirectly harming someone else (because people are inherently compassionate, in my opinion anyway) and it sets them on the defensive.

However, suppose a different angle is adopted. Take climate change for example – telling people that their massive carbon footprints are putting the welfare of others at risk isn’t going to change anything. However, tell people that reducing their excessive energy use will allow them to pay for an extra couple of pints every week and you might start to get somewhere. Or perhaps an angle more specific to Ireland – reduce your expenditure on energy bills and you might find your massive mortgage a little more manageable. I know this approach is adopted in some cases, but suppose “Earth Hour” was ‘marketed’ in a similar fashion – “turning off all of your electrical appliances for 1 hour will save you €x”. Then post-Earth Hour, translate this into nationwide figures – “the entire country saved €y just by turning off a few appliances for a bit – system demand dropped by z%”.

Sounds like common sense, right? But I find that knowledge of energy “consumption” is pretty poor, and not just in Ireland. For example, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told that a plasma TV is more energy-efficient than a conventional TV (CRT) – “flat screen = low power” seems to be the general consensus.

Of course, there’s also the “anti-green” mindset – tell some people that something will benefit the environment and they’ll immediately rail against it in the interests of the free market (or whatever justification they feel like using). I think opposition to wind turbines is probably the most prominent manifestation of this (in my opinion).

edwinkane

We Need Community wrote: »

It definately wasn't promoted enough in Ireland which shows that in reality our government and media don't give a **** about environmental issues. Consumerism and more spending is what they want not reduced energy use so unfortunately this type of practice will never be a priority here.

Why is it up to the government to promote it? I think the governemnt has enough to do at the moment.

Why does everyone automatically think it's the governments responsibility to do everything?

Pure Sound

edwinkane wrote: »

Why is it up to the government to promote it? I think the governemnt has enough to do at the moment.

Why does everyone automatically think it's the governments responsibility to do everything?

I said the government and the media, if something like this is not promoted the people won't know about it. What you are forgetting is the fact that it was our government that signed up for things like the Kyoto Protocol, Waste Framework directives and general environmental documents that carry a fine if we do not meet targets. Earth day was an easy way for them to promote the importance of reducing energy, the best way of leadership is to practice what you preach which they failed to do on a large scale. I agree with djpbarry though it should be promoted from a financial point of view rather then an environmental one as this is how Irish people tend to measure importance.

djpbarry

edwinkane wrote: »

Why does everyone automatically think it's the governments responsibility to do everything?

In general, I would I agree with that sentiment. However, in this case, I don’t think it would necessarily be a bad idea for The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to promote such an initiative as a means of demonstrating just how much energy the country uses on a day-to-day basis and, more importantly, how much it costs to do so.

Daegerty

djpbarry wrote: »

“turning off all of your electrical appliances for 1 hour will save you €x”. Then post-Earth Hour, translate this into nationwide figures – “the entire country saved €y just by turning off a few appliances for a bit – system demand dropped by z%”.

maybe about 5c, 30 if a lot is being used

minus the wear on the battery of my UPS

djpbarry

Daegerty wrote: »

maybe about 5c, 30 if a lot is being used

It’s obviously not going to be a huge amount over the course of an hour, but that kind of misses the point. If you show people their baseline consumption when everything is turned off and relate this to their typical annual consumption in financial terms, it illustrates, quite plainly, the scope for potential savings that people can make, particularly if , as you say, they typically use a lot of energy.

For example, quite a lot of people will almost automatically put the TV on whenever they’re in the house, even if they’re not really watching it, just to have something on the background. If you show people exactly how much these sort of habits cost them over the course of a year, they may well try and reduce their consumption.

Daegerty wrote: »

minus the wear on the battery of my UPS

Eh?