Thursday, March 20, 2008
EARTHERS BURN
A fine letter to the SMH:
The advice on candles in the Earth Hour supplement may not be as green as you claim. Every standard-sized candle, when burnt completely, releases 15 grams of carbon dioxide whether it is beeswax, soy or paraffin-based. The lady depicted is burning 28 candles, creating more than four times the CO2 supplied by coal power to light one old-fashioned 100-watt bulb for an hour.
Paul Roberts
That’s the problem with my planned Illumination Hour (scheduled for 8pm on March 29, coincidentally). Even the grandest and most excessive power-eating gesture is unlikely to deliver a larger carbon footprint than generated by the average Earther. We’ll have to work hard, people! Further reason from Contrail:
Is there any greater example of green stupidity than Earth Hour?
The whole stunt requires people to turn off efficiently made and distributed energy - electricity - and replace it with alternatives - candles and gas barbecues - that have to be transported by oil-burning ships, trucks and cars to the point where they are to be set fire to in the open air without any means of capturing emissions.
It’s insanity if the aim is to reduce CO2. And what makes it worse is that Fairfax media is behind it 100%. If the same degree of thought is going into its other business decisions, sell your Fairfax shares while you can.
I wonder if it’s possible to buy Fairfax shares with carbon credits.