So the general public thinks they're doing the world a favour by reducing electical demand for one hour.

I wonder what kind of a headache this produces in those who run the power grid? What do they have to do to cope with the sudden inrush when all the greenies flip their switches back on?

Get real. How about Earth day? Next year: Earth week!

I am not sure you are being fair using the term 'general public' because I fall into the general public (as does everyone) and I think Earth Hour is idiocy.

Actually it would be amusing...no correct that it would not be amusing I don't know what it would be, if Earth Hour managed to crash the grid.

I consulted with my resident expert on these things, my wife.:) She says that Earth Hour starts at 8:30pm in whatever Time Zone you are in.....so it is staggered around the world and across the continent, fortunately.

It is still going to be a huge surge on each portion of the grid when a lot of things get turned on almost at the same time, not to mention that the grid will have to go to low power mode while this is going on. I would love to get some input from the guys who run the power stations/grid.

Can't help but wonder what the greenies would do if the power companies announced that they were going to go one-up on them and shut the power down for one hour.....

....dancing in the streets or screaming bloody murder?????

most electric comes from steam powered generators, a power company can't shut the steam off for just one hour. Think of the old steam locomotive waiting at the station for one hour, you can't stop shoveling the coal or you loose the head of steam. It's even dumber when you think of shutting the solar panels or the windmills down for a hour to save energy.