Earth Hour, when people are asked to turn off their lights for one hour to help raise awareness of climate change. While some embrace the idea, others see it as a pointless waste of time.
 
While it’s true, the power saved by people turning a few lights off is negligible... there are other ways to think about Earth Hour and what can be achieved.
 
If you can commit to turning off the lights in your house for 1 hour, 1 night a year (which lets face it, really is not that much effort)... why don’t you also go just a little step further.
 

1). Just before Earth Hour begins (say, at 8pm)... go around the house and look for any appliances that are on that don’t need to be. Particularly any that have a “standby” mode... Also look for the “Wall Wort” plugs – those black box kind of power cord that feel warm to touch even if the appliance is off (they feel warm because they are using power!). That second TV in the bedroom... microwave, mobile phone chargers and so on. Turn all them off. If you are really into the spirit of things, unplug the fridge/freezer/phone too. Your food will be fine for the hour! - in fact, one way to help keep your fridge more energy efficient is to freeze a couple of plastic bottles of water, and then pop one in the fridge until it defrosts, then switch it for another frozen one and refreze the thawed one. The ice decreases the temperature of the fridge so that the fridge doesn't need to work hard to do it. Or you could even turn the power off at the mains. Think of how much more electricity you are saving by having all these things off. Some of them should probably be off already – as saving power is not only more Eco-friendly, it’s also cheaper on your power bills!
 
2). Do it for more than an hour! Even if you are only keeping your lights off, and not worrying about unplugging appliances, see if you can go for longer than an hour. Keep them off for 2 hours and you’re doing twice as good a job!!!
 
3). When you leave work on a Friday, try and make sure you’ve turned off as many things as you can at work. If you normally leave lights and computers running, think about turning them off as well. Not only will they then be off for Earth hour, but if you aren’t going to be there all weekend, then you are saving all the power that would have been wasted all weekend when nobody is using it!

 
“But there is no point”
 
This is a common argument...that a few thousand people world wide turning their lights off does nothing helpful on a global scale.. and that power companies still produce the same amount of power anyway, and it’s therefore pointless.
 
Personally I think every bit helps. Sure you might think 1% reduction is too small to even bother with, but surely 1% is better than 0%??? Some cities have recorded 10% reductions... that’s a significant amount when you think about it. And this event is still new...the more people get involved the higher percentages of savings are being recorded. And... it’s making people aware of their power use, and aware of how they can do little things to save power. Like turning off standby appliances. Some people are happy to jump in and change their day to day living to make it more "green" - some people need a slow change... having them turn off their lights one day a year is a step... so that after a while it might not seem like a big step to go for 2... or to start thinking about other ways they can reduce power consumption.
 
As for it not affecting power supply...stop and think about how power stations work. They work on supply and demand. They don’t just pump out a particular amount of power and if it’s used, well and good and if it’s not then it disappears into thin air... It costs money to produce power – and they are in the business of making money - they aren’t going to waste money by making more power than people are using.... The demand is measured and supply is generated to meet that. When demand is higher, they make more power, and when demand is lower, they produce less power. Now it’s not an instantaneous process to make more/less power, it does take time to change the amount of power being produced, so you’ll find power stations will use power storage (like a big battery) which can store excess power being generated that isn't being used, so that when there is more demand than is currently being produced, they can use the backup to supply enough power while they raise the output.
 
So if people turn their lights and other things off at 8pm and lets just say that equates to 5% power demand decrease... Do the power stations keep pumping out the same amount of power they normally would? where does that surplus power go? Would power companies waste a resource they charge money for? Doubtful... Would they store it so that it can be used later – seems more likely doesn’t it! So if a power company has a 5% decrease on demand during Earth Hour, and they then store that excess power so that it can be used when demand increased, then it means there is excess in the system they can use as backup when supply is higher than they are producing another time. So the surplus power from Earth Hour wouldn’t be wasted – it would be used later.
 

“I don’t want to sit in the dark!”
 
So... What can you do for Earth Hour if you’re sitting around in the dark with nothing to entertain you?
 
Well Earth Hour just asks for your non-essential lighting to be turned off, so you could watch TV with the lounge light off, but if you want to go further and do stuff that doesn’t involve power (which I recommend), here are some ideas. Personally I think Earth Hour is a great opportunity to budge people off the couch and get them participating in activities and interacting with the family or other people *gasp*
 

• Take the dog for a walk - I’m sure Fido will appreciate the stimulation, you get out in the fresh air and get some exercise and you’re not even home to notice that your telly and lights are off!
• Walk around your neighbourhood and spy on the neighbours – if you don’t have a dog to walk, take yourself on a walk! go see how many people in the neighbourhood have their lights off... smirk to yourself at the people who keep their lights on.... if you see other dark houses, feel a sense of community, knowing that others are participating too.
• Read a book, do some crosswords or play a board game – or some other thing people used to do before we had video games and dozens of TV channels.
• Family time – sit around and reminisce about the past, talk about future plans, sing songs together, wrestle – whatever you like
• Darn some socks – come on… you know you want to! or scrap the darning idea and turn a pair of holey socks into a sock monkey... Or do some embroidery, or start a patchwork quilt... or one of those other million things you keep putting off because you don't have time.
• Take a bath – have a nice relaxing soak in the tub! put some candles around and then you’ll be pampering yourself rather than “roughing it” in the dark.
• Camp out in the back yard – you don’t take your lights and TV camping do you? make a fun night of it with the kids...set up a tent, have a BBQ dinner and pretend you are camping (or actually go out camping for the weekend)
• Take a nap – if your eyes are closed, you’ll appreciate the lack of illumination!
• Spend some “quality time” with a loved one – well, you know... they say pregnancy rates soar after a blackout ;)
• Have a party – not a loud music enhanced party with strobey disco lights obviously, but gather some friends together, bring your solar lights and have a nice BBQ or picnic by the beach, in a park or someone’s backyard.

 
“Don’t candles burn and make carbon dioxide though?”
 
Normal candles are not environmentally friendly options, no... not only do they burn – releasing smoke, but they are made from paraffin – a petroleum product which isn’t eco-friendly. Don’t use candles with metal in the wick – this is sometimes lead (though it is illegal in Australia to sell lead-wicked candles). Also avoid any coloured and scented candles as the additives in these can produce toxins that also aren’t good for the environment (or us).
 
The best candles to use if you are going a candle option are a natural beeswax, soy or vegetable oil based candle to avoid the paraffin issue, and pick ones that are unscented and uncoloured, or ones that use natural additives (such as Essential oils for fragrance).
 
Of course you have other options to burning candles!
 
LED candles are a great alternative to burning candles (both for Earth Hour and in everyday use). You can buy ones that have a wax candle-looking shell and flicker like a real candle. These run off batteries, so they aren’t the perfect renewable solution, but are safer than candles and don’t produce smoke.
 
Solar Lights are (in my opinion) the best option here. Grab some solar garden lights, keep them outside during the day and then bring them inside to use instead of candles for Earth Hour! They offer a more renewable energy to that of LED candles (in that the solar lights will recharge themselves in sunlight and don’t use batteries), though admittedly probably not as pretty)
 
Any more suggestions? - feel free to e-mail me and I can add them here!