# Earth Hour



## travertine (Aug 10, 2010)

Hi. Just wondering if any energy will actually be saved between 8.30 and 9.30 this coming Saturday during Earth Hour. Does DEWA shut down some of their generators in anticipation or is that simply impractical? Maybe the same amount of oil/gas will be consumed anyway and all that really happens is some people get a warm satisfied feeling as they sit in darkness while CO2 emissions remain the same.


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## AnjulaMalshan (Jul 17, 2013)

Yeah That's True. As it doing on Internationally UAE also doing the Same


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## Jumeirah Jim (Jan 24, 2011)

my building management usually sends out an A4 notice to each of the 2,000-3,000 apartments asking us to do our bit for the earth by turning unnecessary lights for an hour. 

I'm not sure this compensates for their use of 2,000-3,000 sheets of A4 paper plus the energy/toner for all that printing but I suppose it's a start....


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

Is it not Sunday night? My game of golf has been cancelled because they want to turn the floodlights off.


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## Zexotic (Sep 3, 2011)

The kind of people who get satisfaction from this are probably the same people who buy the 0.5AED "environment friendly" bags from carrefour only to drive back home in their hummers consuming tons of fuel. The earth hour is more of an educational thing rather than something that provides satisfaction.


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## londonmandan (Jul 23, 2013)

Zexotic said:


> The kind of people who get satisfaction from this are probably the same people who buy the 0.5AED "environment friendly" bags from carrefour only to drive back home in their hummers consuming tons of fuel. The earth hour is more of an educational thing rather than something that provides satisfaction.


The same kind of people that probably shared the Kony video on Facebook to be hip and thought that it would make a difference :lol:


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

Gavtek said:


> Is it not Sunday night? My game of golf has been cancelled because they want to turn the floodlights off.


It's definitely Saturday evening.


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## Robbo5265 (Oct 23, 2012)

BedouGirl said:


> It's definitely Saturday evening.


its the Dubai World Cup and you would get poor odds if you bet on the lights being turned off for an hour!


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

Robbo5265 said:


> its the Dubai World Cup and you would get poor odds if you bet on the lights being turned off for an hour!


It was last year too. If I remember rightly, they did something there but can't remember what it was.


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## Robbo5265 (Oct 23, 2012)

BedouGirl said:


> It was last year too. If I remember rightly, they did something there but can't remember what it was.


i am going so will report back back if i notice anything


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Robbo5265 said:


> i am going so will report back back if i notice anything


Hi,
Even if you notice it on the night - will you still remember it by the morning?

Cheers
Steve


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## Robbo5265 (Oct 23, 2012)

Stevesolar said:


> Hi, Even if you notice it on the night - will you still remember it by the morning? Cheers Steve


good point, i may have to record it if i can remember at the time!


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## Edino (Sep 22, 2013)

Zexotic said:


> The kind of people who get satisfaction from this are probably the same people who buy the 0.5AED "environment friendly" bags from carrefour only to drive back home in their hummers consuming tons of fuel. satisfaction.


There are lots of people that do genuinely care, and for these people considering the environment is part of their life style. Unfortunately, in this part of the world, for the masses, eco-education is lacking big time. Earthhour is just one, but a great initiative to reach these uneducated people.


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

Edino said:


> Earthhour is just one, but a great initiative to reach these uneducated people.


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## JonGard (Aug 18, 2013)

In our hotel we'll be turning the lights off and having tea-lights everywhere.

The music and TVs will be staying on though


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## travertine (Aug 10, 2010)

Hi. Thanks for the replies. Earth Hour has come and gone, the Dubai government announced that many activities took place in support of it but there seems to be complete silence about the amount of real CO2 emissions that were saved. I remain deeply sceptical about the true energy savings that are encouraged and implied. Do we have an electrical engineer here that can shed some light on the technicalities of load management for power generation. Maybe as I suspect you simply can't drastically reduce generation for an hour and then revert back to the previous level. And then there is the other issue of so much demand at one time.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all behind reduced CO2 emissions. See the latest report from the UN for some cheerful news about the impacts of climate change. And I agree with the approach of encouraging consumers to switch to energy efficient bulbs and the Dubai government's bold initiative to outlaw incandescent bulbs. But unless they provide an effective mechanism for the recovery and recycling of the new bulbs (some of which contain mercury) we might simply be swapping one problem for another. Abu Dhabi reportedly is addressing this issue thankfully. When can we expect a unified approach?


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

travertine said:


> When can we expect a unified approach?


When you attach a Guinness Word Record to the event.


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## Zexotic (Sep 3, 2011)

So earth hour was observed DURING the festival of lights at Emaar. Wonderful!

Although I'm a tad bit confused..


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

We tunred our lights off five minutes beforehand and watched what effect Earth Hour had on the surrounding area .......

Not a singlellight went out. The Mrina was still lit up like a Christmas Tree and none of the buildings visible from our place went dark.

Not really surprised as probably nobody knows how to use a light switch.


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## xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxStewartC (Mar 3, 2012)

twowheelsgood said:


> We tunred our lights off five minutes beforehand and watched what effect Earth Hour had on the surrounding area .......
> 
> Not a singlellight went out. The Mrina was still lit up like a Christmas Tree and none of the buildings visible from our place went dark.
> 
> Not really surprised as probably nobody knows how to use a light switch.


Even worse at my place. Many lights were actually switched on during the hour, and mine was the only dark place. The couple with three Porsches oppoiste made sure their garage was lit up, as usual, so everyone could admire their motors.


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## IzzyBella (Mar 11, 2013)

I fell asleep (accidentally) and then woke up part way through, yelled at Philyand to go turn everything off (we had a belated Earth Hour) and we watched as most others ignored it. To be fair, I like to type in the dark so I'm on my bed typing without lights. Do I get special brownie points?


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## Robbo5265 (Oct 23, 2012)

Drove down SZR at 9pm and all the shops ( which were closed) lining both sides of the road still had all the lights and Neon signs blazing away!


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## IzzyBella (Mar 11, 2013)

Robbo5265 said:


> Drove down SZR at 9pm and all the shops ( which were closed) lining both sides of the road still had all the lights and Neon signs blazing away!


Did you turn your headlights off?


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## Robbo5265 (Oct 23, 2012)

IzzyBella said:


> Did you turn your headlights off?


no but i dimmed the interior


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

But unless they provide an effective mechanism for the recovery and recycling of the new bulbs (some of which contain mercury) we might simply be swapping one problem for another. Abu Dhabi reportedly is addressing this issue thankfully. When can we expect a unified approach?[/QUOTE]

I've been wondering about that too.


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