cross-posted from Samuel Dennis's blog
In this series I’m adopting the language used by the global warming enthusiasts in an attempt to communicate on level ground.
This Saturday, we’re supposed to turn off all our lights for an hour to “join [WWF] in taking a step towards living more sustainably”.
But what is the real effect on the environment of switching off our lights and burning candles instead?
Modern candles are generally made from parrafin wax - ie, oil. They burn inefficiently, putting out most of their energy as heat, while producing a little bit of light as well. On the other hand, most of New Zealand’s electricity generation is from renewable sources (hydro), so produces very low carbon emissions.
So what are you doing if you huddle over candles this Saturday?
- Depending on how many candles & lights you use, you may actually increase your carbon emissions (unless you make your own candles from tallow of course (a renewable biofuel), so the die-hard hippies are ok. But they probably have earth hour every night anyway).
- Inhaling smoke, damaging your lungs (again no change for the die-hard hippies if they’re on the weed anyway). Smoke inhalation is a major health problem in the third world, and is one of the reasons we use electric light...
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not everyone uses candles when they turn off their lights.
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