Archive for Earth hour
The city of Barcelona and Spanish utility Endesa have been installing smart LED lightning systems that automatically switch themselves off when no one is around. This enables the city to cut by 30 percent its electricity consumption.
I really would like this idea to spread across Europe and even the entire world. Indeed, how many plants are used only to light streets unnecessarily? This would drastically cut costs and would go far beyond the Earth Hour…
Last but not least, this would also improve the night sky quality drastically. As we have seen previoulsy, darker skies would benefit Nature and astronomers alike. Continue reading “Barcelona’s amazing smart lightning idea” »
Earth Hour was a tremendous success as many people participated. Cities turned down the lights of their monuments and the pictures of the event are amazing and totally illustrate how much energy and money we could save.
The Boston Globe proposed a series of 17 great pictures illustrating the phenomenon. Instead of turning down all those lights one hour per year, couldn’t we do this every night after 10 pm or midnight ?
This would make two to three thousand hours and subsequent savings in money and greenhouse gases. Another plus would be darker skies. What do you think ?
Tonight at 8.30 pm local time it will be Earth Hour. This event launched by the WWF is promoting awareness on global warming. Many cities and companies all around the world will participate.
Last year no less than 50 million people switched their lights off for the occasion. This year, the NGO is targeting one billion people as it would send a huge signal to global leaders who will gather in Copenhagen.
The future of the Kyoto Protocol will be discussed in December and we need to show our commitment to avoiding climate change. So let’s switch off our lights !
