World Wide Power Off

My 14 YO girlchild asked me to tell all you ALL to remember.
So this is from Lauren

Ok guys this is a letter started by me! Lauren!

Just read this and copy this message into other letters and send to other people.

WORLDWIDE BLACKOUT
on saturday 29th there will be a turn off power all over the world from 8 pm to 9pm only one hour
TURN OFF EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO POWER, NO ELECTRICITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REMEMBER THIS SATURDAY NO POWER

THE ICECAPS ARE MELTING!!!!!!

we will drown

all is doomed DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



but seriously this is something interesting to do apparently a huge chunk of ice, the size of a city. broke off the icecaps more are to follow
email your friends to let them know

from Lauren

Bye

I don't have to do the 'Turn off the power for an hour' thing to save the world. The power company (Ergon) does it for me automatically. Usually at least once a week for at least an hour each time, and sometimes they just do it in 10 - 20 minute outages, 6 or so times a day, so you don't notice as much.
If only the rest of you would wake up to yourselves and use Ergon, there's no way the ice caps would melt! .

Think of the poor electricity generators.

They have sufficient units on-line to meet the demand.

Everyone turns off, greatly reducing the demand causing a voltage surge in the power grid.

The suppliers reduce the generating capacity to match the load.

Everyone turns back on creating a demand peak.
The voltage falls as the suppliers struggle to cope, possible brownouts.

What a load of ......... :no:

Just reduce your standing load by being a little more energy efficient all the time.

that won't happen, the surplus electricity pumps the hydro electric water back up into the feeder dams so the enegy will still be there when its needed

Great idea but why limit it to only one night. I do it everyday.

Lighting in my house is kept to minimum all the time. I switch power off the microwave, TV, DVD and stereo every night before going to bed.

DO TRY.

Astrid,

I highly commend your thoughts and suggestion.

Like most others in the bush, we don't wholly depend on the power and subsequently regularly don't know if there is a blackout for a few hours apart from noticing the electronic clocks flashing.

Like Wongo, right now there's only 1 light on in the whole house, the TV turned on and my Mac. (we only have turned on what we need on)

I won't be doing anything differently as to what I always do.

But I don't get this whole thing, :? the fossils etc. have already been burned etc. to turn the turbines so what's been done has been done - the power has been generated and if I don't use it the bloke next door or across town will use it - it's already been generated so :shrug: It's like when they had that farce on TV last year about how to cut emissions etc. on Ch 10. They said to drink less milk so that the cows make less methane. The milks already on the shelves at Coles! :?

Not denying global warming etc., but I think this whole thing of turning a light out is a little hard to believe. Flame me, tar me or throw a :brick: at me but I think some elments of this Global warming have been hijacked by the lefties.

No offence to your daughter at all Astrid. :no: :U

Always only had turned on what I need no more. :2tsup:

accept the message in the spirit it was given.
no need to crush 14yo idealism.
The world will soon do it for you.

Astrid

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astrid

WORLDWIDE BLACKOUT
on saturday 29th there will be a turn off power all over the world from 8 pm to 9pm only one hour
TURN OFF EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO POWER, NO ELECTRICITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REMEMBER THIS SATURDAY NO POWER

THE ICECAPS ARE MELTING!!!!!!

we will drown

all is doomed DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

Lauren

personally I think "earth hour" is a complete and utter farce

it will have absolutely ZERO impact, I wouldn't mind betting that it's overall impact will be NEGATIVE

• if you're on wind power, turning the lights off will have ZILCH impact
• if you're on nuclear power (much of Japan and Europe), again ZILCH
• if you're on hydro (well it takes at 10–15 minutes to get a hydro generator up to speed and about the same time to turn if it off so you might "save" about 30 mins of water which would probably spill over the dam anyway, so again ZILCH
• if you're coal fired, like most of Australia, given it takes something like 16 hours to turn a coal generating plant off and up to 36 hours to restart it the operators will leave it running flat out.
• AND all those candles that will make people feel warm and fizzy will just add to the CO2 load

and I haven't even started ranting


ian

The power off is only about awareness of the issue, it is not intended to have any physical effect. Also, we need idealists as much as we need pragmatists, probably more.

Stick to your guns Lauren :2tsup:

:2tsup: for your enthusiasm Lauren but don't stop with this. Read carefully what others have written, consider the responses and take the messages back to school and suggest to you teacher that maybe it would be a great subject for some further research and debate.

I think you will find that those who treat electrical appliances like Wongo has suggested probably achieve far more than people give them recognition for. Along this line, I think you will be surprised how much action a debate to this end will cause amoungst your classmates. Exploring and researching a subject like this to an end often causes people to act more responsibly without even realising it.

Keep up the crusade,
Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astrid

accept the message in the spirit it was given.
no need to crush 14yo idealism.
The world will soon do it for you.

Astrid

---

Astrid

I applaud the idealism

I just wish it were directed towards something of substance rather than empty gestures


ian

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Groggy

The power off is only about awareness of the issue, it is not intended to have any physical effect. Also, we need idealists as much as we need pragmatists, probably more.

Stick to your guns Lauren :2tsup:

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Thank you Groggy,
some of have our brains switched on:rolleyes:

Astrid

I certainly didn’t intent to discourage little Lauren. What she tries to do is good and it shows she has a good heart and she cares.

BUT

She needs to take it to the next step. Put what she believes into practise.

Try this

Have showers for no longer than 10 minutes
Turn the lights off when not needed
Turn the computer off at night
Turn the hifi off at night
Try not to use hair dryer
Use iPod less
Use mobile phone less
Etc

My 2 girls are 6 and 2 and they are well trained. :2tsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astrid

accept the message in the spirit it was given.
no need to crush 14yo idealism.
The world will soon do it for you.

Astrid

---

Astrid, I wasn't posting with that in mind, as I wrote. It's good that kids are aware of things. I agree with what Ian wrote and so too to what Groggy wrote. :2tsup: But I think people are being led to believe it will make a difference :no:, to raise awareness - then that's good, :yes:

I love it: we had an email recently from the Union at the university encouraging people to get involved, and berating the university itself for not being more proactive about it (any stick to beat the mean university administration). They quoted a figure from last year's power out in Sydney, where apparently the hour of lights out, if continued for a year, would save something like the emissions from 48000 cars for a year.

Of course, if Sydney actually turned out their lights for an entire year, that might be worthwhile. On the other hand, if you take the greenhouse gas emissions saved in that hour, that equates to a whole 5 cars. (I can't remember the exact figures, but these are close)

Sorry, but I see it as a pretty fruitless gesture.

If all that lighting equates to such a few vehicles, perhaps they'd be better targeting something worthwhile (like vehicles). (Same thing applies to changing everyone's lightbulbs to the more expensive, less versatile power savers. I use them where appropriate, but they don't suit all my lighting requirements. Bureaucracy gone mad).

Don't get me started on plastic bags. How much worse the actual packaging of the items I carry home in those bags. And just ensure they are bio-degradable - I had one in my backyard, and it was breaking down very quickly, so where is the problem.

(And yes - it is BIO-degradable, not just degradable like so many people mistakenly call it - many many things are degradable, but we want the right mechanism (ie breaking down in the environment). I can degrade a plastic bag quite successfully with fire, and that means it is also degradable, but doesn't mean it will break down in the trash!)

I'm not against environmental initiatives, I've put a few into place myself at work, that have been picked up by the whole university, but put the effort into something that will actually achieve a decent outcome. I'm not intending to step on idealism, but the same effort more directed could have significantly more impact for no additional effort.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astrid

WORLDWIDE BLACKOUT
on saturday 29th there will be a turn off power all over the world from 8 pm to 9pm only one hour
TURN OFF EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO POWER, NO ELECTRICITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

And miss St Kilda spank Carltank... Dont think so:rolleyes:

If I can open up a can of worms

It has been suggested that this whole global warming thing is a farce
The earth has natural progressions
the ice age
the stone age
now this heating up of the earth
In a decade or so things will swing the other way

Not necessary my opinion but I thought I would mention it

I'm sorry but I don't understand the messages about it won't save energy:?

When I studied Electronic/Electrical Engineering there were laws about the conservation of energy. Energy in = Energy out.

Apart from the inefficiencies of the power stations, where do you think the difference in energy goes - up the smoke stacks?

Numbers about firing up coal stations etc - are those opposing the action suggesting that the amount of coal burnt in a power station is identical when there is less load on the generators as when there is when there is a full load?

People who are soley committed to their share prices without any scientific background or concern about the future of our planet can hardly expect their personal greed and selfish ideas to be taken seriously in this argument. We want sound scientific arguments, not ignorant right wing political backslapping.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nev25

In a decade or so things will swing the other way

---

The global cycle is a little longer than a decade, 10,000 years might see a difference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nev25

If I can open up a can of worms

It has been suggested that this whole global warming thing is a farce
The earth has natural progressions
the ice age
the stone age
now this heating up of the earth
In a decade or so things will swing the other way

Not necessary my opinion but I thought I would mention it

---

Well you still should try to save energy regardless. Electricitys got to come from something else.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wongo

Well you still should try to save energy regardless. Electricitys got to come from something else.

---

:brava

I wonder what energy has been spent with this thread running given we've had 24 replies and 10 members viewing it?

A bit of of a paradox isn't it?

Then there's the TVCs, p/ads to advertise it - the ink used to print the newspaper, the trees cut down to make the pulp... it's like a snowball racing down the mountain.

:think:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wongo

Try this

Have showers for no longer than 10 minutes
Turn the lights off when not needed
Turn the computer off at night
Turn the hifi off at night
Try not to use hair dryer
Use iPod less
Use mobile phone less
Etc

---

if i do all this: does that i mean i will save enough money off the power bill to buy a jet or two:?:p:cool:

seriously...i need to cut down on my electricity uses. like right now, i could turn off my light because i dont need to read the keys when i'm typing:rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waldo

I wonder what energy has been spent with this thread running given we've had 24 replies and 10 members viewing it?

A bit of of a paradox isn't it?

---

Not if it caused one person to think about the unrequired lights or TV's that were currently on in their home and they got up and turned them off. After all we were here on the forum already, we did not log on to look for this thread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ss_11000

if i do all this: does that i mean i will save enough money off the power bill to buy a jet or two:?:p:cool:

seriously...i need to cut down on my electricity uses. like right now, i could turn off my light because i dont need to read the keys when i'm typing:rolleyes:

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Son what am I trying to tell you here.

Don't use more than you need to

NOT

Don't use at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuart

Sorry, but I see it as a pretty fruitless gesture.

If all that lighting equates to such a few vehicles, perhaps they'd be better targeting something worthwhile (like vehicles). (Same thing applies to changing everyone's lightbulbs to the more expensive, less versatile power savers. I use them where appropriate, but they don't suit all my lighting requirements. Bureaucracy gone mad).

I'm not intending to step on idealism, but the same effort more directed could have significantly more impact for no additional effort.

---

Refer to groggys post.

Astrid

:aro-u:

So, okay we're aware of it now.

Can I have my lights on now? Should go see the neighbour across the fence, he's out there right now working in the garden with all his flood lights on it in the whole yard, like he does every night all night (weird bloke that bloke, a bit :screwy: and see if he's happy for me to run the thicknesser or 10HB on saturday night. :D

I'm quite harmless really. :U

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wongo

Son what am I trying to tell you here.

Don't use more than you need to

NOT

Don't use at all.

---

of course.:2tsup:

Thats my boy:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waldo

:aro-u:

Should go see the neighbour across the fence, he's out there right now working in the garden with all his flood lights on it in the whole yard, like he does every night all night
I'm quite harmless really. :U

---

Have you been watching "rear window" again?
Astrid:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astrid

Refer to groggys post.

Astrid

---

We both wrote at the same time - mine just took me longer to type.

I'm turning off Mac now, the lounge light turned off automatically. Neighbour's place is lit up like a Christmas tree.

:yawn:

G'night.

I`ll do my bit and turn the hot tub off for an hour

Lauren & Astrid :2tsup:

Its a top idea but the ones who use power the most are business, large corporations & Government & councils look at any City or major town at night.

Office blocks a blaze with neon signs, office lighting on when no-one is there. Shops with electrical gear such as TV's sound systems running 24/7. Schools demanding airconditioning & heating, banks of class room computers. :doh:

Where as we spend approx 7 out of 24 hours at home using appliances. The biggest general home power supply usage comes from Washing machines, Fridges, Dish washers, stoves.

Walk around the school look at wasted power there and ask why??????

I realize Lauren is only 14
But I'm confused as to what is trying to be achieved

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nev25

I realize Lauren is only 14
But I'm confused as to what is trying to be achieved

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Electrical heat reduction :2tsup:

Nev,

The idea is that the developed world reduces the amount of electricity used for 1 hour, to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released in making the electricity

Last weeks promotion was good. A 32-metre light globe-shaped hotair balloon burned so much gas and emitted so much carbon dioxide - that its estimated to be the equilavent of turning off 10,000 light bulbs

What I can't figure out is the scary idea that with global warming the sea level will rise and everyone who lives near the coast (sorry SilentC) will have to grow web feet.

Water is the opposite of most things in terms of expansion/contraction and cooling/heating. How many of us filled a plastic bottle with water and put the lid on before chucking it in the freezer - only to find that when it froze the bottle burst. Water that freezes takes up more space as ice. So if you put ice cubes in a glass and fill the glass with a drink when the ice melts the drink doesn't overflow.

As ice melts it takes up less space, so why wouldn't you think sea levels would fall...

Curiously,
Adam