Earth doesn’t care about our lights, our electricity
Richard Treadgold | March 27, 2010
(thanks to the Competitive Enterprise Institute)
Viv Hughes, chairman of the Australia-based Carbon Sense Coalition, frequently talks sense about the carbon dioxide “demon”. Today he takes aim at the guilt-easing, yet nonsensical, notion of “Earth Hour”, an increasingly popular expression of opposition to so-called “climate change”. His focus is of course Australia, but that’s not so far from us, is it? Note that we get 70% of our electricity from hydro power, not oil, and, for Penny Wong and rationing, read John Key and the ETS, which will have largely the same effect. I want to say more about the folly of Earth Hour, but first read Viv’s no-nonsense dose of cold reason for these hot, fanciful fears of man-made disaster.
Earth Hour or Blackout Night?
Visit the Carbon Sense web site to download a pdf of this statement – spread it around.
Earth Hour should be renamed “Blackout Night” and be held outdoors, for the whole night, in mid-winter, on the shortest and coldest day of the year – 22 June in the Southern Hemisphere.
All supporters of alternative energy should spend just one night in the cold and the dark, emitting no carbon dioxide from coal, oil, gas, petrol or diesel for lights, TV, hot coffee, barbecues or cars. This will be good practice for the blackouts and shortages to come if Penny Wong’s rationing of carbon products and carbon energy is attempted.
Windmills froze, solar panels deep in snow
Winter nights are usually still and cold, so the candle crew can experience what it was like depending on alternate energy in the recent snowstorms in the Northern Hemisphere when wind turbines froze and solar panels were covered in snow. The back-to-nature brigade can also try living without iron roofs and concrete walls, both of which require coal and emit carbon dioxide during their production.
Green tokenism
To hold a candles-and-champagne party indoors, on the mildest night of the year, for just one hour, shows that the whole thing is green tokenism. Moreover, both candles and champagne emit carbon dioxide. Let the true believers try the real thing in one of the extreme seasons so they can appreciate the great benefits we take for granted when using all of our carbon fuels and foods.
Instead of sneering at human achievements they should salute the people who keep the lights on for the other 364 days of the year.
Our salute will be to turn on every light on our property, and we urge all supporters to do the same.
Australia gets almost 90% of its electricity from hydrocarbon fuels – black coal, brown coal, gas and oil. If the German Greens close their coal and nuclear power they can fall back on gas from Russia, nuclear power from France or hydro from Scandinavia when the lights go out.
Gambling on seabreezes
Australia has no prudent neighbours to bludge on if we gamble our future electricity needs on sunbeams, sea breezes and ceiling insulation. If we attempt the massive cuts in carbon dioxide emissions demanded by the deep greens we will see Australia headed for the Romanian power rationing experience – during the Ceaucescu regime in Romania, each house was limited to ONE 25 watt bulb for all of their light.
All over the world we have aging power stations and an orchestrated campaign by a few warm and well-fed agitators to harass, delay and deter construction of new power facilities.
Such a campaign can only have one result – many “Earth Night” blackouts are assured. So we support “Blackout Night” to prepare our population for the dark days ahead.
Electricity sets us free
At the top of this article you can see a place that celebrates ‘Earth Hour’ every night – Stalinist North Korea. Compare it to free South Korea that keeps its people warm, well-fed and working (with the help of Australian coal).
