{"id":4483,"date":"2019-03-30T13:34:02","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T13:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=4483"},"modified":"2019-03-30T13:34:02","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T13:34:02","slug":"ill-keep-my-lights-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2019\/03\/30\/ill-keep-my-lights-on\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ll keep my lights on"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today between 20:30 and 21:30 local time millions\u00a0of individuals and businesses will switch off the lights to encourage the fight against climate change. Since 2007, when Sydney became dark for one hour, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) managed to spread Earth Hour all over the world. Now every year it engages as many as 7,000 cities all over the world.<\/p>\n

Together we\u2019ll speak up for wildlife and forests. We\u2019ll show our support for rivers and oceans. And we\u2019ll rally around crucial actions needed to curb climate change.\u00a0<\/i>These claims from the\u00a0WWF\u2019s official website<\/a>\u00a0indeed\u00a0sound noble. But is Earth Hour really going to solve the problem?<\/p>\n

\"BIG
Earth Hour 2016 in London. Source: https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/earthhour_global\/25289617343\/.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Less CO2?<\/b><\/p>\n

In principle,\u00a0fewer lights should translate to a decrease in electricity generation. However,\u00a0the process of\u00a0electricity\u00a0production and transmission is far from simple<\/a>. Power system operators need time to adjust the level of production, as we cannot just switch the production off and on whenever we wish. Therefore, Earth Hour can contribute to the\u00a0increase<\/i>\u00a0of CO2 emissions. At 21:30, when thousands of people suddenly switch their lights on, coal and gas stations might have to balance out the rapid\u00a0downward movement of demand.<\/p>\n

Blackouts<\/b><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Janusz Bialek<\/a>,\u00a0the\u00a0expert on power system operation, Earth Hour poses a risk of a total \u201cfrequency collapse\u201d. If really everyone followed WWF\u2019s recommendations, we\u2019d face a blackout. Nowadays in developed countries blackouts are extremely rare, but when they happen, the consequences can be dangerous, as\u00a0the society relies on the constant energy supply.<\/p>\n

Bialek claims that if indeed everyone switched off electricity at the same time, and then switched it on at the same time,\u00a0not even the best system operator would manage to control it. While national grids must be prepared for sudden increases and decreases of demand, an event of such a magnitude (equivalent to dozens of power stations) is beyond their\u00a0power (pun intended).<\/p>\n

Cosy killers<\/b><\/p>\n

WWF suggests replacing electrical light by candles. While cosy and romantic, candles emit CO2 as well: in fact, more CO2 than modern, efficient light bulbs. They also pose significant fire risk, so are banned in places like student halls.<\/p>\n

We also shouldn\u2019t forget about billions of people for whom\u00a0candles\u00a0or wood fire are often the only sources of light and heat. The fumes they generate\u00a0kill about two million people each year<\/a>. Do we really want to\u00a0negate the progress we\u2019ve made over centuries?<\/p>\n

\"desk-1148994_1920\"
Pretty, but how efficient or necessary?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A selfish act<\/b><\/p>\n

One can claim that Earth Hour is more about the change of the mindset rather than any measurable decreases in CO2 emissions. And this, in my opinion, is why we should stop complying to WWF\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n

Earth Hour gives us this amazing feeling of having done something \u201cgood\u201d for the environment. We switched off the lights for one hour (probably while\u00a0still charging our laptop though, or driving around\u00a0the town), so we\u2019re done for now with any lifestyle changes. We won\u2019t consider reducing meat and dairy consumption, ditching the car or even changing the bulbs to more efficient ones.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep the lights on\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Since you\u2019re reading this post, you\u2019re privileged to be able to take advantage\u00a0of\u00a0one of\u00a0the greatest achievements of humanity: electricity. Also, since you\u2019re reading my blog, hopefully you\u2019re aware of the importance of the fight against climate change.<\/p>\n

I encourage you to spend one hour today between 20:30 and 21:30 thinking about possible ways YOU can make a difference when it comes to protecting the Earth. With the lights on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(First published: https:\/\/paularowinska.wordpress.com\/2019\/03\/30\/ill-keep-my-lights-on\/. Source of the featured image: https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/earthhour_global\/3392948705.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today between 20:30 and 21:30 local time millions\u00a0of individuals and businesses will switch off the lights to encourage the fight against climate change. Since 2007, when Sydney became dark for one hour, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) managed to spread Earth Hour all over the world. Now every year it engages as many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1026,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272456,117,53,379,268,179710,3203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-272456","category-climate-change","category-events","category-global-warming","category-life","category-life-in-london","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1026"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4484,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483\/revisions\/4484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}