Posted on 03/29/2008 7:47:00 AM PDT by lowbridge
Today, Google has decided to celebrate "Earth Hour" in this way on their main page:
Here is some text to explain their actions:
Google users in the United States will notice today that we "turned the lights out" on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.
On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.
Given our company's commitment to environmental awareness and energy efficiency, we strongly support the Earth Hour campaign, and have darkened our homepage today to help spread awareness of what we hope will be a highly successful global event.
Why did Google choose this specific organization? We believe in doing our part to help combat climate change, and found the Earth Hour initiative to be a timely, important event. Further, we think the "lights out" idea's individual-centered nature is something that millions of people worldwide can participate in.
In short, we really like it. So we did something about it.
How can I get Google to do something similar for my organization or project?
We welcome your ideas on how we can become more socially and environmentally responsible. Although we can't guarantee either a placement on the Google homepage or even a response to every query, we do read every email we receive and welcome your ideas of organizations that you believe we should feature. If you'd like to submit a proposal, please send it to us at proposals@google.com.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/earthhour/
LOL. 404! 404! 404!
I’d stay off the freeways, the goobers that subscribe to this insanity will be driving w/o their lights on. LOL!
Bingo
You enjoy wasting money? Global warming lunacy is just that but wasting energy just for the sake of wasting is just as stupid.
Thank you for pointing this out.
This darkness is courtesy of the spread of global communism, engineered by these transnational corporations like Google.
Look at how low America is falling, with the totalitarian ‘day of silence’ now in almost every American school, and the ‘hour of darkness’ of the communist sympathizer corporations.
Silence and darkness is all we’ll have if we allow the globalization of the world to continue unchallenged.
CFL lights have 1/150-1/200th of the amount of mercury in an old thermometer and actually have a net reduction on mercury in the US because of coal plants. CFLs have unfairly been given a bad rap about from a lot of things from the older versions of them. Warmup time is pretty minimal now, the glow is similar to a regular bulb or brighter, uses 75% less energy, lasts 7-10x as long and is getting near as cheap as regular lightbulbs.
I was a Birthday Party at my cousin who works for Google and so were many (about 30) of her co-workers.
My husband and I were the only conservatives there, needless to say, we made an excuse to leave early.
We laughed so hard on the way home as we were discussing what we heard.
How can people so stupid make sooo much money????
I cynically note that their income prevents them from actually doing real energy-reducing moves.
Tonight, however, between 8 and 9, I will turn on every device I own (including the heater or air conditioner), every light and every appliance that doesn't require monitoring, jump in our two cars and go for a totally unnecessary one-hour ride.
Childish?
No more so that this cynical, hypocritical empty gesture.
And I'll feel much better afterwards.
Oh yes, I almost forgot. Having given up smoking, I'll also buy a pack and smoke for an hour. Let's see... What else can I do? Suggestions?
And I'm not going to turn off any freakin' lights.
Defrost a 30# block of ice; or whatever size your microwave will accept.
Better yet, do it in the oven!
: )
So long as this stupid gesture actually consumes more energy than a normal Saturday night.
I look forward to the morning headlines.
Data Center Electricity Bills Double
By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee
InformationWeek
February 17, 2007
The energy consumed by data center servers, cooling equipment, and related infrastructure more than doubled in the United States and worldwide between 2000 and 2005, according to a new study. A jump in the number of servers--especially lower-end servers costing less than $25,000--accounts for 90% of the additional power consumption, says the study's author, Jonathan Koomey, a consulting professor at Stanford University and a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
REPEAT -- More than 90% of the increased power consumption from 2000 to 2005 went to feed DATA CENTERS!! From a pure energy consumption perspective, the world was much better off before Google was created.
You are, indeed, correct. Every time I hear the word “conserve,” I get a little upset. We are AMERICANS, and there is no reason why we cannot have the energy that we want/need at an affordable cost — let’s get it done. CONSERVATION = DEFEATISM, in my book.
LOL. I better shut down my firm’s data center before I leave today.
Just to make things clear, I am one of those mindless wasters, unapologetically so.
Contrary to your naive musings about legislating "good ideas", Every nanny state controlling twit legislation nationwide started as suggestions and voluntary advice, from the EPA to 55mph, to seatbelts.
I asked them why they ignored Easter and this was there reply:
Thank you for your note about our holiday logo. At Google, we do not celebrate religious
holidays in our homepage doodles. This is mostly a matter of practicality and fairness,
as celebrating one such occasion would lead to the obvious and irrefutable expectation
that we should celebrate all such holidays.
Instead, our logos generally focus on national holidays (U.S. Independence Day or
Bastille Day) or on commonly observed holidays without a concrete religious linkage
(Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Chinese New Year,
and Shichi-go-san). Some of these holidays may have roots in religious beliefs but
have become secular celebrations.
For example, instead of celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Ramadan each
December, we hope to communicate a feeling of joyousness to all of our users, regardless
of their specific beliefs. In this spirit, we observe the season with lighthearted
doodles such as polar bears making snow cone presents for their friends. For an
archive of our more popular logo variations, please visit http://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html
We are committed to celebrating the diversity of our users worldwide and welcome
your suggestions for holidays to celebrate in the future.
Regards,
The Google Team
Tonight, during “Earth Hour”, I will attempt to make my house visible from space.
Every light will be on; and I think I’ll burn some ancient redwood in the fire pit too, just for good measure.
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