Saturday’s first celebration of “Earth Hour” was, I guess, interesting for those who observed it. We in the Stoutcat household were otherwise occupied celebrating Human Achievement Hour, which meant that some lights were on, soft music composed over a hundred years ago was playing with crystal clarity, and a savory supper of non-local comestibles and beverages was being consumed with gusto.
Those who sat in the dark (many of whom actually burned candles, which to my mind sort of negates the whole idea of “Sitting in the Dark”) may have had a pleasant experience; and I freely admit, there are some really impressive photos (but again, isn’t that using power of a sort?) showing the lights dimming in larger urban areas; but did the whole imposture accomplish anything — like actually saving any power?
Let’s take a look, via Watt’s Up With That?, at actual usage charts from the state of California (an area which I think we can all agree has more than its share of folks likely to have celebrated Sit in the Dark Hour), both during the powered-down time, and for the same time period the very next day. What do we see?
Saturday, 3/28: Earth Hour day (see gray shading for the actual usage for the 8:30-9:30 time frame)
Sunday, 3/29, the day after “Sit in the Dark” Hour (see gray shading for the actual usage for the 8:30-9:30 time frame):
As Russ Steel, at the always interesting Watt’s Up With That? said:
There you have it, scientific data showing that the Earth Hour was a total bust in California. If you look close, you can see a little bump up above the forecast demand, which tracked very closely with actual power consumed prior to the witching hour 8:30 to 9:30. But, it is clear that power consumption did not drop, it stayed up. Maybe all those protesters forgot to turn off the lights.
I can’t wait to see what kind of feel-good boondoggle they’ll try to foist on us next…
Stoutcat
Grand Rants 
[…] Here. […]
Great work
ROTFLMAO…and btw my house was lit up with 2 tvs going and the computer and the outside lights. Typical Saturday night, oh and I went to a movie so I contributed there as well.
The point was not to save power during that time. It was to draw awareness to the problem.
Well, Dean, it certainly did that. But not in a good way.
Oh, yeah. This is why my ancestors came to the USA from Ireland in the 1860s, so that their great-grandchildren could live in the same era as they. I do so want to party like it’s 1870.
Dean Garver wrote:
The point was not to save power during that time. It was to draw awareness to the problem.
Reply:
What exactly is the “problem”? Is sitting in the light an immoral act?
Dean,
Nice bit of short-term historical revisionism.
Actually, the point WAS to save power by getting people to turn off their lights. When nobody paid attention to The Cause (other than mocking it or protesting it by turning all the lights on), you change your tune.
The “awareness” you drew was awareness of the ineffectuality of your movement.
I drew attention to the ‘problem’ by turning every light in my house on.
I am now “aware” that North Korea is the all time winner of the Earth Hour Super-Bowl of Oppressed People.
Ever see the satellite picture showing the Korean peninsula where there are NO lights in N. Korea and S. Korea is all lit up?
Anyone truly serious about the whole idiotic Earth Hour idea should move to North Korea to get the real deal, not just play dress-up with Earth Hour here in the states while burning candles and producing more pollution than the light bulbs! Idiots!
I turned on all my lights because I thought that with my neighbors lights turned off, I could see my house on Google Earth! Now, Dean, I am now aware and I feel so touch-feely, like you.
Susan, I’ve been at the North Korean border and they have whiney liberal earth hour every night, all night.
This is funny,
Because as an electrician, I know what uses the most electricity in your house, and it’s not what you think it is. Unless you are running an awful lot of those quartz shop lights, the lights in your house draw almost nothing especially if you really think green and have switched them all to those corkscrew flourescents. Turning them off makes only a miniscule difference in your electricity usage.
Wanna really cut back on the useage? Turn off the computer, at the wall, not the power button, take cold showers, and shop on a daily basis so you can throw out the fridge, and cook over fire, either wood or gas, and you can leave all the lights on and still see a huge savings.
[…] “Earth Hour” last week would have been a big hit all over the state wouldn’t you? Maybe a bunch of gatherings of people with candles singing kumbaya, give peace a chance, or just tha…? Ehh, well not so much according to these CAISO Power Graph. Californians really do share something […]
I ran out of house lights and appliances to turn on, so I went outside with all my flashlights, and lit up the neighborhood 🙂
David, thanks for doing your part! 🙂
Also, thanks for your service, it is truly appreciated.
We did our yearly shakedown tuneup run of our AC units. What we do every year, this time we chose earth hour to ‘hit it’.
I turn my lights off for 8 hours a night, 365 days a year, and I get no credit for that “sacrifice”. I say screw the druids who would place themselves as our benefactors.
I’m going to go urinate, and not flush… for global warming! I’m calling it ‘stinky bathroom hour’.
we should have more concepts for earth hour…for example: no car on the roads or no fox news for an hour!
sorry guys we had a power outage at my house in rural Pa at that time. does it count if I was burning dead dinosaurs in the generator to take a hot shower, syrf the net and watch a dvd?
[…] Sitting In the Dark: Did It Help? Saturday’s first celebration of “Earth Hour” was, I guess, interesting for those who observed it. […] […]
This is just one more example of the silliness of the leftist liberals who believe we should all be living in caves except for them. Obama is their ring leader and Pelosi and Reid are his clowns.