Going dark?

i understand what you are saying.... i still realise you are basing you opinion on facts somehow, but, i fail to see how going "dark" for an hour or so, is pointless, (if i rember right), nor that the candle making and using process, generates more waste and is more harmful to the environment than the more efficient modern ways...

Just because its progress doesn't mean its better, or safer....

The energy that would normally getproduced gets produced anyway. So going completely dark makes no savings whasoever. In fact I'd bet in britain people would switch the lights and TV off only to switch the kettle on, so they wouldnt even use less electricity....

When it comes to bulbs vs candle, excluding the fact that bulbs need to be shipped in great quantities (and they're not exactly light), and using coal-produced electricity, we're still talking 20 times lower CO2 emissions for the light bulb for equal amounts of light. Now, there's CFL and LED lighting as well....

So basically not using candles will not change anything, and switching electricsfor candles actually makes things a lot worse.

Insteadof dumb publicity stunts like this earth hour stuff I'd rather see them develop some thorium nuclearpower plants. cancel the olympics and do this instead with the cash.

Nah, cut the thermonuclear plan and get to work on cold fusion theory seriously again.

Actually... I had some really amazing information on alternative power production a while back. Some guy in Vietnam created a whole new type of H2O power generation and has already sold several test models to Japan I believe... I'll see if I can find the info.

Personally I'm still hoping that anti-matter comes through. haha

they already spend too much on fusion. thorium works, it doesnt pollute, there's loads of it, all we need is money to be spent on nuclear technology that isn't based on cold war submarine stuff!

Fusion so far only wastes energy. Every 10 years they tell us it's going to take another 10 years and we're nowhere near something workable.

As to the lightbulb v. candle, if you (a person,not you specifically) are trying to achieve the same level of brightness, sure... Maybe I'm just going to the bathroom, or looking for a shirt in the closet, is all of those lumens from the incandescent bulbs needed every time? Or periodically?

So, often, we use more light then needed for the job....

This, after a quick search, is a quick reply... lol...

1 candle produces 12.57 lumens...
A 100 watt bulb produces 1200 lumens....

So i would need slightly less than 100 candles to produce the same amount of light....

So the lightbulb is definitely more efficient, and less harmful to the environment, in use....

Each of these has some kind of waste... As well as the shipping that you've pointed out....

I would think, that the byproducts from making a candle, is less that making a lightbulb...

Wax and a wick for a candle....

Glass, tungsten, argon gas, the cheap steel for the screw part, and some kind of solder to connect the parts, for a lightbulb....

Is the bulb really better for the environment?

Only if we wish to stay at our comfort level of lighting....

All that from my limited reading, mind you... Quick, and from phone.. lol...

If i go dark, for one hour in the daylight, I use less light, less electricity....

I have now extended the life of my bulb (theoretically), thereby lessening the need for it to be replaced soon...

The energy that would normally getproduced gets produced anyway. So going completely dark makes no savings whasoever.

Sure, the potential energy I mighthave used... But, i did not use the electricity... Thereby allowing it to be available to some else who may need it more (yes, there is no danger atm of 'using all the electricity', but power outages, rolling blackouts, and brownouts still exist)....

I've also saved money, because that little pinwheel on the side of my house isn't turning, costing me... lol... I can buy more efficient l.e.d. or cfl lights,and continue this process...

Just conversing... Exchanging ideas...

Lol....

In fact I'd bet in britain people would switch the lights and TV off only to switch the kettle on, so they wouldnt even use less electricity....

I hope that they would get bored, and go for a walk, weed the garden, take a nap, play a game, [strike]kill some zombies,[/strike] something....

Not only does it save the environment, but maybe will help with our health as well....

Just depends on how things are looked at... lol...

Ren you say it is more cost effective and better for the world to use light bulbs but what about the oil it take to run the power plants and other resources i understand wind and light but if u take all that away is a candle not a better way to go..you have to use other things to make the bulb do you not the glass and the other thing in and on the light itself it all comes from some place, but a candle is all of bees wax sting and both come from the earth and do not harm the planet and the CO2 that it will be given off the planes can use to make new O2. So is it not fair to say in some way the candle is not the better of the two??

Ok I did not read any thing i just put my shout post up on here... if we are looking for any thing new why not look at radio waves to send power I dont know if it can be done but no more wires or power plants, and if we get the sun to make the power and the radio waves to cary it they we can use it in cars as well right... I think thats what they should be looking at just thinking out loud.

A 10 watt coal powered CFL pollutes less than one 13 lumen candle. And it makes more light too. Sorry.

I would think, that the byproducts from making a candle, is less that making a lightbulb...

Except I don't burn 10 lightbulbs a day. All the bulbs in my house I bought 6 years ago. Sure they contain electronics... But as I said they're Rohs compliant, so not so bad after all. And nowadays they keep the electronics separate from the bulbs...

Sure, the potential energy I mighthave used... But, i did not use the electricity... Thereby allowing it to be available to some else who may need it more (yes, there is no danger atm of 'using all the electricity', but power outages, rolling blackouts, and brownouts still exist)....

I've also saved money, because that little pinwheel on the side of my house isn't turning, costing me... lol... I can buy more efficient l.e.d. or cfl lights,and continue this process...

Even if I had to pay apound per kwh it'd be cheaper than candles. Also the energy that is produced but unused is paidfor by the customer through a higher rate per kwh. doesn't matter how fast your ancient meter is spinning

I have now extended the life of my bulb (theoretically), thereby lessening the need for it to be replaced soon...

so it would take you 25 years to have a light bulb live an extra day. I'm not convinced the benefits outweigh the costs.

I must've missed the memo on this one. I'm not exactly sure what is happening or what's supposed to be happening, but I know two little boys who would be in my bed tonight if it weren't for their Lightening McQueen night light. Granted, if it were necessary they'd live without it.

Also, I don't like those fluorescent light bulbs. For many reasons. I'd rather use a candle than those.

I wonder what would happen if we suddenly had to use candles for light all the time. How many buildings would burn to the ground in the first month? No deep thought there, just day dreaming.

I actually just bought a bunch of light bulbs.. People probably thought I was being ridiculous..

Ren you say it is more cost effective and better for the world to use light bulbs but what about the oil it take to run the power plants and other resources

The examples I've used use the most environmentally damaging electricity generation (coal) and ignore the transport/infrastructure/manhours necessary for candle production/distribution.

candle is all of bees wax sting

Some of them are made out of bees wax. Most are not though.

come from the earth

All the materials we have accessto comefrom the earth. Especially coal. Wheteher it'scoal,bee's wax or some other source of carbon, you take it in solid form and put it in the air. Have Imentionned bees emit CO2? Bees emit CO2.

is it not fair to say in some way the candle is not the better of the two

No matter how you look at it the candle is by far a lot worse than the light bulb.

... Just to confirm, because I don't see much context... are we talking about earth hour?

Anyway, I don't think it's so much about explicitly trying to save power as trying to raise AWARENESS of power.

You won't see too many people do the math to see whether bulbs or candles or whatever are better.

However, if you choose to participate, you WILL realize how much power everything around you uses. Especially if you, say, refuse to (actively) use anything that consumes electricity.

Oh, no computer to go on TOTJO. No TV to distract yourself. Oh, and no cell phone. ... and no lights. ... and... not a whole hell of a lot, actually. Reading a book by candlelight?


Hopefully, we'll also make people more concious of the power they use - and, potentially, conserve it in the future.

ren wrote: A 10 watt coal powered CFL pollutes less than one 13 lumen candle. And it makes more light too. Sorry.

In use, yes....

Already constructed, ready to use, yes....

However, in the production of each, and reverse engineering both items, the bulb requires more effort, making it less efficient....



Paraffin, the main ingredient in wax candles, does come from bees wax, and plants too... But mostly from crude oil as a by-product, or water, before it found a use...

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4965651_how-paraffin-wax-made.html

kriel wrote: ... Just to confirm, because I don't see much context... are we talking about earth hour?

Anyway, I don't think it's so much about explicitly trying to save power as trying to raise AWARENESS of power.

You won't see too many people do the math to see whether bulbs or candles or whatever are better.

However, if you choose to participate, you WILL realize how much power everything around you uses. Especially if you, say, refuse to (actively) use anything that consumes electricity.

Oh, no computer to go on TOTJO. No TV to distract yourself. Oh, and no cell phone. ... and no lights. ... and... not a whole hell of a lot, actually. Reading a book by candlelight?


Hopefully, we'll also make people more concious of the power they use - and, potentially, conserve it in the future.

Yea, this started in shout earlier...

I have trouble keeping up in the shout as i browse by phone...

So i started the thread... lol...

Just talking... lol...

Reliah wrote: I wonder what would happen if we suddenly had to use candles for light all the time. How many buildings would burn to the ground in the first month? No deep thought there, just day dreaming.

I actually just bought a bunch of light bulbs.. People probably thought I was being ridiculous..

:laugh:

That's funny...both paragraphs.

Kinda funny...it was about 93F (about 34C for my non-US Jedi) at my house yesterday. I didn't want to have to turn the A/C on so I turned off all the lights, closed the blinds and used the curtains to shade the windows. I did this throughout the whole house.

Prior to that though, we left all the window screens open during the night to cool the house down as far as we could. It only got to 75F (24C). Practically the whole day I was out doing yard work and replacing dead plants. The house eventually got up to 87F (31C) but no A/C, and no light bulbs were used.

I totally forgot about the Earth Hour or going dark yesterday...that was the funny part.

I went dark for no reason other than to avoid starting my A/C sooner than I wanted. Luckily, the next two days are supposed to be in the mid-70'sF (mid-21'sC) so I'll have a break for another 48 hours.

Its more an awareness campaign then any effort to save power. I know most people have lights on in almost every room in the evenings around where I live, but I prefer lower levels of light... and think burning candles is a fire risk (have a cat), pollutant, wax goes everywhere and can blow out.

Solution;

We've got ten little $2 outdoor solar garden lights which I put out in the sun everyday. When the sun sets I bring them in and put them around the house in different spots like staircase, bathrooms etc and so in the evening the only power I'm using is the TV, computer, phone, fridge and two outdoor lights for security. Its a lot like having candles in the old days I guess, and they last until about midnight with an average charge. Still need to use normal lights from time to time like at the beginning and end of cooking. Its a bit weird I guess but I like it.

the bulb requires more effort, making it less efficient....

No. I single bulb lasts many years. A candle does not. the man hours required to create candle light compared to electric light are somuch greater than just taking the human pollution into account discredits candles as a viable source of light. even thousands of years ago they'd use oil lamps.