Earth Hour: saving 1.5% of Ireland's energy for 1/8766 of the year

[waider]

Someone measured. Of course, this doesn't quite address the reality of the situation: our consumption this year is rising, so a 1.5% reduction for one hour isn't going to make the slightest dent in our consumption for the year. It'd be better if the government devoted more effort to meaningful energy-saving initiatives and alternative power sources (such as ESB's announcement last week that they were planning on a €22bn investment in alternative energy over the next 12 years) than to this showmanship that serves only to make people feel good about themselves because they're "doing something".

Tune in next no-car-day when once again Dublin experiences its worst gridlock of the year.

Comments

[mskala.livejournal.com]

I hope they measured the drop in consumption across a bigger period than just the official hour - because if, for instance, someone was planning to dry their laundry with an electric dryer during the hour and chose to do it a little earlier or later instead, then there's no real saving. The article didn't make clear whether they were measuring just the hour itself or the entire evening; the figure of 12% quoted from NZ did sound like it was just the hour itself.