rumrunner

Earth Hour



Google users in the United Kingdom will notice today that we "turned the lights out" on the Google.co.uk homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.
On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.
Given our company's commitment to environmental awareness and energy efficiency, we strongly support the Earth Hour campaign, and have darkened our homepage today to help spread awareness of what we hope will be a highly successful global event.
How green can you be? The UK's carbon footprint is over 500 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Individuals account for 45% of this. Calculate your carbon footprint and find out how you can reduce it by turning off unused lights and other carbon-reducing actions.

Why did Google choose this specific organization?
We believe in doing our part to help combat climate change, and found the Earth Hour initiative to be a timely, important event. Further, we think the "lights out" idea's individual-centered nature is something that millions of people worldwide can participate in. In short, we really like it. So we did something about it.
How can I get Google to do something similar for my organization or project?
We welcome your ideas on how we can become more socially and environmentally responsible. Although we can't guarantee either a placement on the Google homepage or even a response to every query, we do read every email we receive and welcome your ideas of organizations that you believe we should feature. If you'd like to submit a proposal, please send it to us at proposals@google.com.

©2008 Google

What happens if everyone turns off ai exactly 8pm ,does this have the same effect as an inductive load opened quickly ,or will it be ok as its mainly resistive,i cant quite get my head arround it ,all that juice flowing and then ,no where to go exept back to the generator,with no resistance in the circuit the current flow must be massive
put me rite shake ,if im wrong
atvbitwww

Shakey

Hi Rum, why would there be no resistance in the circuit? the lamps would simply stop drawing current from the genny, so the genny will stop producing it!

assuming the whole world was run off one power station:

every one turns off at once, curent DRAW form the genrator drops to zero, terminal voltage will start to rise, AVR senses it, reduces exitation current to generator field, output stabilises (this is happening all the time anyway)

at the same time, because of no load on the genny, it will start to speed up, so Hz will rise (F=np/60), speed control unit will sense this, adjust power to prime mover to stabilise at 50Hz (and again this is happening all the time)

and of course, when everyone switches back on, AVR and speed controller will sense the drop in Hz and output V and respond accordingly

BUT

of course the world is not run off one power station

and your average multi-magawatt power station will see this as nothing more than a fly landing on an elephants back

rumrunner

ok i got that clear now ,i didnt understand it ,and once again shakey you gave such a wonderfull clear consise answer ,that i do now!
thanks shakey

Cirrus

Well, we are turning the lights off in ours for the hour. As long as I can see to get to the beer fridge I am happy!

wayne

ermm did you take the lamp out of the fridge first otherwise youll be cheating ? ive done my bit for the world cos i recycle& use low energy lamps and ive told chairman mao to stop building power stations and leave the tibetans alone

Cirrus