Late at night a helicopter is flying over the greater Toronto area, puchapuchapuchapucka, announcer says <the national with Peter Mansbridge> camera is panning the GTA where every light, in every building for as far as the eye can see seems to be burning brightly.Presently, airline pilots do not need GPS to find Toronto , they can see it from 400 miles away.
Take a walk through where you live at 4:00 Am and count how many little red eyes are peering out at you from the blackness, count how many clocks are telling you the time. Sure they are only drawing milleamps you say, but they are on 24/7 x365 do the math for the country.
Why is it, we take it for granted that if you get up from the computer without shutting it off, it will power itself down automatically.Wouldn't it be logical to have some sort of motion sensor wired to circuits that control lights, televisions,radios, amplifyers, and the rest that would sense nobody is in the room and after a short delay would turn everything off. It would be useful because we are such spoiled children we can not do it ourseves.Would it make sense to have a button on each of the above devices, that you could press if you wanted to, and it would tell you "yes i am working and it is 4:AM"..one second worth of juice compared to above.
Yes measures must be taken to become efficient in everything that we do and then, commit to alternative energy.
"The second law of thermodynamics says you lose energy with each transformation -- going from coal to electricity to charging a battery loses at each stage."
Yes there are loses with solar and wind to battery or grid to electric car or wherever but you are not seeing the 70 or 80 percent gain, without burning fossil fuels.The solution for "peak oil" and global warming can not come in one fell swoop, but it must begin in the home and workplace and on the roadway by making them as efficient as possible.
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