[Reader-list] Earth hour: Green stupidity/Romanticist aesthetics

[Kshmendra Kaul]

Dear Supreet
 
Thank you for this 'illuminating' post.
 
Would appreciate your comments and additions/alterations to the following (not exhaustive list of) steps that would significantly contribute to "Save the Earth':
 
- Nuclear and Hydroelectric Power generation instead of from fossil fuels 
 
- Reduction of number of cars plying on the roads. An excellent idea for metropolises is legislating to allow odd and even digit number plates only on alternate days. 
 
- Encouraging through incentives or penalising tariffs, the usage of smaller cars with better 'mileage'
 
- Encouraging through incentives or penalising tariffs long distance journeys by Train or Vehicles instead of By Air  
 
Interestingly, India is in the bottom half of any tabulation of the per capita greenhouse gas emissions of countries
 
Kshmendra 

--- On Thu, 4/16/09, s|s <supreet.sethi at gmail.com> wrote:

From: s|s <supreet.sethi at gmail.com>
Subject: [Reader-list] Earth hour: Green stupidity/Romanticist aesthetics
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009, 7:52 AM

The green propaganda has been successful. In fact, it has been so
successful, that there is no need for offering facts for getting
certain segment of society to act upon its 'dictate'.

I came to know about Earth hour next day when large black blob on
front-page in a popular news-paper announced that 600 MW electricity
was saved because people switched off their lights and used candles
instead.

While I congratulate all who were part of this experiment for being
sensitive towards 'mother earth'. I must add, it just makes you worst
offenders in robbing its resources by being ludicrously un-informed.

The power that was not consumed, apparently was saved. Important
question is where? Did somebody hire batteries to be charged with the
'saved' power. Because frankly any power which has not being consumed
in a power grid is wasted. Was NTPC or other power companies informed
that you need to produce less power during this time?

On consumption part of the business, using candles is frankly more
polluting than consuming power from grid by order of four times, even
if power is produced using coal. This atleast makes people who
participated in 'Earth hour' worst offenders by not using up
electricity that has already been produced and using candles which
requires transport by trucks, lorries compared to relatively efficient
grids.

Turning off unnecessary switches on day to day is all that is required.


Supreet
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