"The power stations producing this power don't get switched off, and if they did, it would take far more energy to get them going again than would be saved in the hour of down time."
"To some degree power stations increase output in response to load and decrease it when load lessens. They can add or subtract generators at need."

In Australia, most power is produced from stations that burn coal.

If Everybody cut their usage all the time, it would be a useful saving (I first started using CFLs 20 years ago...) but for JUST ONE HOUR, the COAL HAS ALREADY BEEN BURNT to produce the steam to run the turbines that will spin for that hour BEFORE that hour starts... so the burnt coal and the CO2 are 'wasted'... :-)

It's just a stunt, but if it gets enough people thinking and doing something about it, it will be worth it in the long run...




Talking about 'waste' - was reading the lid of a tofu box tonight - it says "Finest ingredients, wastefully prepared"....

I'm not making this up you know.... :-)