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Earth Hour: SA saved 400MW
- Thread starter Nod
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- earth hour power
arf9999
MyBroadband Member
We didn't save anything. We just reduced consumption of power. It's not like the power stations reduced output.
Anyway MW indicates power and not energy. So it is a pretty meaningless statement to say that we "saved" xxx MW.
Anyway MW indicates power and not energy. So it is a pretty meaningless statement to say that we "saved" xxx MW.
Kloofvreter
Honorary Master
+1. It's not like a battery.
Yes, and all those candles producing so much more carbon anyway?
400MW (about 1.2% of total demand) x 1 hour = 400Mwh = 400 000 Kwh x 60c = R240 000 worth of electricity.
Copper thieves make more meaningful contributions to electricity saving when they nick cables.
Beyond the awareness part, earth hour is a useless, empty gesture.
400MW (about 1.2% of total demand) x 1 hour = 400Mwh = 400 000 Kwh x 60c = R240 000 worth of electricity.
Copper thieves make more meaningful contributions to electricity saving when they nick cables.
Beyond the awareness part, earth hour is a useless, empty gesture.
medicnick83
Paramedic
I agree but even with that said, well done SA!
Something is better than nothing, now let's try do that EVERYDAY!
SteveO
Expert Member
yes,lets switch off our lights for an hour to save 400MW of power that IS BEING GENERATED that no one will use.....nice 
earth hour was silly, we should have made it that we turned off and then switched on our lights for like 10 mins at 30 second intervals then took a vid from space....THAT would have been awesome
lol
earth hour was silly, we should have made it that we turned off and then switched on our lights for like 10 mins at 30 second intervals then took a vid from space....THAT would have been awesome
lolCadavre777
Expert Member
Great idea to spread awareness, but it was poorly thought out. IMO they should have focused on suggesting alternative power sources, some info about how much co2 is emmited in one hour, and how much damage it can do.
Unfortunately a lot of people will see that one hour as the insignificant yearly price they had to pay for pollution, and go back to gas guzzling ways. Now saving up co2 to fuel gas chambers built for idiots is a cause I would gladly support
Unfortunately a lot of people will see that one hour as the insignificant yearly price they had to pay for pollution, and go back to gas guzzling ways. Now saving up co2 to fuel gas chambers built for idiots is a cause I would gladly support
B2048
Well-Known Member
I switch of all my lights between 10 at night till 6 the next morning 
I was glad to participate - wish I had seen more of my neighbours switching off their lights too!
B.
I was glad to participate - wish I had seen more of my neighbours switching off their lights too!
B.
Kloon
Expert Member
I think its actualy a waste, a powerplant can't save energy by putting it away. And like some others just said we didnt save anything we just reduced usage, infact the public only reduced usage. Power plants was still running at same production levels as always. So if you took part in this you actualy let a lot of leccy go to waste. Bloody hippies.
There are no forthcoming incentives for making households less grid dependent...
For instance, if this government makes alternative energy equipment fully tax deductible and provide financing support structures over say 5 years, I would reduce my carbon footprint.....but right now .. i cant afford it..... because tax man takes 40% of my earnings..
For instance, if this government makes alternative energy equipment fully tax deductible and provide financing support structures over say 5 years, I would reduce my carbon footprint.....but right now .. i cant afford it..... because tax man takes 40% of my earnings..
OK, I'm not a electric engineer, but surely the power plants reduce output when there is less of a demand. They can't just generate energy that goes nowhere. I'm just thinking of the alternator in my car. It always turns, it's just the amount of energy required to turn it that differs. If you run electric aircon, your fuel consumption is still higher that not using it. Even if you run some power hungry accessories off your car, your fuel consumption increases since it gets harder for the engine to turn the alternator.
I'm just thinking they need to burn less coal to turn the generators at the same speed when there is less of a demand.
Edit: I remember playing with a hand crank dynamo at school. It was very easy to get going, but got harder to turn the more load you put on the circuit.
I'm just thinking they need to burn less coal to turn the generators at the same speed when there is less of a demand.
Edit: I remember playing with a hand crank dynamo at school. It was very easy to get going, but got harder to turn the more load you put on the circuit.
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I was away for 3 weeks once. Only had one automatic light that went on. For that whole month, I saved less than 10% of my total bill of the previous month. More than 75% of my bill is property tax, so saving anything through the saving of electricity is not going to make much of an impact. There is just not an incentive to spend thousands to save 10% of by bill.
Where the power goes
Nope, you can't just tell people to shovel less coal into the furnaces for an hour. The amount of effort it would take to reduce the output power of a power station, not to mention the paperwork to go with it, would be so vast that it would take too long to implement.
Instead, the power that doesn't get used gets dissipated as heat at substation heat sinks or could be used to pump water to a higher altitude for generating power again at a later stage. Although this is also highly unlikely to be done just for an hour's worth of power being saved.
Everybody is forgetting that earth hour was NOT ABOUT SAVING POWER...
Nope, you can't just tell people to shovel less coal into the furnaces for an hour. The amount of effort it would take to reduce the output power of a power station, not to mention the paperwork to go with it, would be so vast that it would take too long to implement.
Instead, the power that doesn't get used gets dissipated as heat at substation heat sinks or could be used to pump water to a higher altitude for generating power again at a later stage. Although this is also highly unlikely to be done just for an hour's worth of power being saved.
Everybody is forgetting that earth hour was NOT ABOUT SAVING POWER...
Dont the generators need to be in sync to the grid (50hz)? So if you give the generator more power, it will spin too fast and produce > 50hz AC power? I know that the generators need to be in sync, both frequency and phase angle, else they can't be connected to the same grid.
Paulr
Senior Member
I also feel that while Earth Hour was a nice gesture, it was only that.
There are so many things that can be done and won't have a huge economic impact that will have tangible results. That should be boosted. If one person saves 1kwh per month, its not much. If a billion people worldwide does it, it becomes huge.
And Earth Hour also only really focussed on electricity and its generation. There are much bigger culprits out there in terms of pollution - those things should also be brought into focus.
I hope that Earth Hour is just the start of some great things to come. Its growth in popularity has been great - now that momentum must be turned into something that will produce practical results.
There are so many things that can be done and won't have a huge economic impact that will have tangible results. That should be boosted. If one person saves 1kwh per month, its not much. If a billion people worldwide does it, it becomes huge.
And Earth Hour also only really focussed on electricity and its generation. There are much bigger culprits out there in terms of pollution - those things should also be brought into focus.
I hope that Earth Hour is just the start of some great things to come. Its growth in popularity has been great - now that momentum must be turned into something that will produce practical results.