Earth Hour

[K.C.]

Since its Earth Hour, I've unplugged my laptop and am running off the battery. I hope it lasts an hour.

[Camino LS6]

I thought about taking the wagon out for a spin...

[Oracle of Delphi]

Crank up the Grid, der Borger is powering up his linear amplifier ...

[balthazar]

WTF is 'Earth hour' ?

[Paolino]

WTF is 'Earth hour' ?

An hour in which everyone is supposed to shut all electrical devices, lights, etc.

[Paolino]

Since its Earth Hour, I've unplugged my laptop and am running off the battery. I hope it lasts an hour.

I've thought about that--my question is, shouldn't you discontinue use of your laptop for one hour? Wouldn't plugging your laptop in an hour later require you to use more energy to charge the battery back therefore defeating the purpose of unplugging it?

[balthazar]

Talk about defeating the purpose :

>>"Earth Hour is about more than dimming lights for sixty minutes; it's about making a commitment to reduce energy consumption throughout the year."<<

>>"Join Earth Connect and share your opinions about climate change through blogs, e-mails, and Twitter. The goal is to gather one billion words..."<<

:wacko: :wacko:

Edited March 29, 2009 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

What ever happened to planting a tree?

[K.C.]

I've thought about that--my question is, shouldn't you discontinue use of your laptop for one hour? Wouldn't plugging your laptop in an hour later require you to use more energy to charge the battery back therefore defeating the purpose of unplugging it?

My first post was meant tongue in cheek.

I have made improvements to my home such as geothermal heat and a windmill that has reduced my dependence on the local power provider tremendously. I also did not drive my car at all during Earth Hour, so that saved fossil fuels, and exhaust emissions from being shed into the atmosphere. I think that counts for something.

[K.C.]

What ever happened to planting a tree?

That is for Arbor Day Camino.

For Arbor Day 2008, my kids planted some red oaks on the property. They sure were beautiful this fall.

Now lets all sing Koombaya.

[vonVeezelsnider]

We had every light in the house on.

[daves87rs]

My first post was meant tongue in cheek.

I have made improvements to my home such as geothermal heat and a windmill that has reduced my dependence on the local power provider tremendously. I also did not drive my car at all during Earth Hour, so that saved fossil fuels, and exhaust emissions from being shed into the atmosphere. I think that counts for something.

Oooo..Windmill! I want one of those when we get a house..Maybe a solar panel or too...

[daves87rs]

We had every light in the house on.

[capriceman]

to off set the savings i ran 150 electric heaters from the 50's

[ShadowDog]

I tore into the interior walls of what will be my 18-month old's new bedroom with a Wonderbar and a hammer. That room was the only light on in the house.

We do a great deal of every day energy savings and environmental conservation that seems so common-place to us, we hardly even know that we're significantly less dependent upon things like electricity, fuel and the money needed for them. I'm in the middle of tracking expenses from the previous year that are directly related to the savings we are seeing after:

- changing all lighting to compact fluorescent

- replacing the old oil furnace and wood stove with an energy efficient electric heating furnace and disconnected the power to one of the three elements (worked great all winter as was cheaper than stove oil)

- replaced the old fridge, stove and dish washer with more efficient units; as well as changed to a new front-load washer and dryer (the water use dropped so much that I had to remove the plumbing to an alternate drain that was previously installed to divert flow to a holding tank meant to reuse the water for lawn/gardening use instead of going into the septic field - there wasn't enough water going into the tank to keep the pressure up!)

Since we had to replace 3/4 of these appliances due to age, with how we have them set up, they will pay for themselves over a short period of time in significant energy savings. The goal was to set everything up for efficiency and emergency electrical backup to power everything we could possibly need for those random power outages in rural British Columbia.

I'm no angel when it comes to consumption though; considering the substitute for my love of driving is currently movies on the big screen loud through the amp. If I'm really ambitious, and crazy, I could set up a generator and capacitor to fuel that hobby from my recumbent bicycle. Like hell.

I feel good about taking care of what's been taking care of me all my life.

[ocnblu]

I forgot about it. Yup, part of the Earth Day tradition was to plant a tree. Arbor Day is another opportunity to adhere to tradition (as if any day wasn't a good day to plant a tree).

I have two trees in my backyard that grew wild, they're too close together and they have intertwined themselves, a maple and...something else. I want to cut them down, grind out the stumps, and put in a line of Leland Cypress as a privacy fence, wind break and habitat. I also want to put some sort of tree in the middle of my backyard, something that will stay relatively small.

[Intrepidation]

I was asleep, so I guess I inadvertently did my part by having my computer and lights off.

[Z-06]

I had both my cars and my company truck idling for an hour.

Planting and nurturing tree is so "unglamorous" it is like copying the nature. Turning lights off of a whole fricking city - that is innovative and will have mass following.

[loki]

to off set the savings i ran 150 electric heaters from the 50's

any fires from those fabric insulated wires? LOL

[Drew Dowdell]

What ever happened to planting a tree?

I thought you already do that already.

On that note though.... I hadn't realized it, but Albert and I do "Earth Hour" regularly. Every few weeks we have a "no electricity" night were we have dinner, dessert, and relax at home by candle light only. It started from a long power outage and it's romantic and fun.

[Satty]

I think most of the lights in the house were out last night. I dunno, I was in and out of consciousness yesterday.

As for planting a tree, I'm going to wait for this year's Reforest the Ozarks event, $10 for a native sapling, everyone wins. Last year all they had left were White Oak, I got one for the front yard. I'd like to get a couple of Cherry Blossoms for the back yard, they were sold out last year.

[Intrepidation]

We have a small yard that at one point had five trees.

[Camino LS6]

Oldsmoboi: Yes, I do plant trees as part of my living. However, I remember participating in the very first Earth Day at my elementary school, we planted a tree and made the evening news. :AH-HA_wink:

Thus my comment.

Ocn: be careful with those Leylands, they don't take well to snow load.

[ocnblu]

Yeah, they're fast-growers. I bought 3 for my mom prolly 8 years ago, they were 2 feet tall when we planted them, now they're like 25 feet tall and fat. Come to think of it, I think she goes out there with a long stick and knocks the snow off of them if she thinks it's getting too heavy.

What other kind of soft-needle evergreens would be fast growers and suitable as privacy, besides those Leylands? I need something hardy.

I think Dogwoods are pretty slow growers, so not sure if I want to plant a pair of those for the center of the back yard, or just get two more ornamental pears, like I put in the front yard. It has grown pretty fast.

[Cremazie]

We had every light in the house on.

Funny you said that because Earth Hour 2008 Calgary's Power use went up from that same day the week before!!

Its all your fault!!

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Lets see... i think i was on the phone, with all the lights on, frying steak (electric burners) while i also had 2 computers on.

I think the TV was off though.

Edited March 29, 2009 by Teh Ricer Civic!

[Intrepidation]

I want my future house to be basically nestled in the woods, with a long driveway to get to the road. When I delivered, I once went to a house that was like this. It had a long driveway that went through woods, there was a small stream that ran under a bridge, and then a clearing for the house and yard. That is my dream house.

[balthazar]

I'm not aware anyone has ever done a study on this: just the right amount & placement of trees by a house could strike a near-perfect balance between windbreak & warming sunlight in winter & cooling shade in summer. Moisture control is another factor: too many trees keep things damp, often requiring dehumidifiers (electricity hogs), while less allow more breeze/sun to dry things up. Seems to be a relatively simple thing to do a quick study of a property over the course of a year, then make recommendations from an energy standpoint.

I have a wooded lot- plenty of summer shade & winter windbreak. Faces north, too, so A/C usage is not much.

In the winter, my wood stove cranks on free firewood. Right now I have Winter '09 & '10's wood stacked out back, and I have a line on Winter '11s wood, too

[Oracle of Delphi]

I want my future house to be basically nestled in the woods, with a long driveway to get to the road. When I delivered, I once went to a house that was like this. It had a long driveway that went through woods, there was a small stream that ran under a bridge, and then a clearing for the house and yard. That is my dream house.

What no gate?

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

I'm not aware anyone has ever done a study on this: just the right amount & placement of trees by a house could strike a near-perfect balance between windbreak & warming sunlight in winter & cooling shade in summer. Moisture control is another factor: too many trees keep things damp, often requiring dehumidifiers (electricity hogs), while less allow more breeze/sun to dry things up. Seems to be a relatively simple thing to do a quick study of a property over the course of a year, then make recommendations from an energy standpoint.

I have a wooded lot- plenty of summer shade & winter windbreak. Faces north, too, so A/C usage is not much.

In the winter, my wood stove cranks on free firewood. Right now I have Winter '09 & '10's wood stacked out back, and I have a line on Winter '11s wood, too

provided the trees roots dont slowly destroy the foundation that is.

[balthazar]

>>"provided the trees roots dont slowly destroy the foundation that is."<<

1. they don't have to be that close, and

2. I've yet to see tree roots damage a foundation. Pipes, of course,

but not a block or poured foundation. An old stone foundation, maybe.

[Intrepidation]

>>"provided the trees roots dont slowly destroy the foundation that is."<<

1. they don't have to be that close, and

2. I've yet to see tree roots damage a foundation. Pipes, of course,

but not a block or poured foundation. An old stone foundation, maybe.

There was a home show on TV I saw a while back about homes. This $600k house in California was having major foundation issues because a tree's roots were cracking the foundation in multiple places. I don't remember the show though, but I have seen it.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Ive seen/heard of many foundations destroyed by tree roots.

Its pretty amazing how much damage those roots can cause to concrete!