You are undoubtedly aware of this cyber action relayed by the highest "ecological" authorities in France, moreover even N. Hulot got down to it this morning ... MSN, Spam, forums all means were good to get the "message" across ... Le Monde.fr has even just relayed see here.
As a reminder, the action "five minutes of respite for the planet" was launched by the Alliance for the planet, and consists in encouraging as many people as possible to cut their electricity on Thursday 1er February, between 19 h 55 and 20 hours.
The goal?
In line with the end of the meeting in Paris of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Alliance for the Planet intends "Draw the attention of citizens, media and decision-makers to the waste of energy and the urgency to take action". "This will show presidential candidates that climate change is a subject that must weigh in the political debate," she said.
Or is the inconsistency of this action?
If the bottom of this action seems interesting to us, the method, it is completely unsuitable!
Many "green" actions often lack reflection and finality, but this is particularly incoherent in our eyes, and this for various reasons, some are technological, others ideological.
The ideological reasons:
- This action will have no impact on the environment and the planet. On the contrary, its impact risks being negative (see technological reason 2 below).
- Why just 5 break minutes? And why just before the TV Journal and not during?
- Why electricity? An action such as “my car in the garage” or “I don't refuel for a week” would have had a much more interesting impact on the greenhouse effect (see technological reason 1 below)… and on our energy dependencies.
Technological reasons:
- French electricity is one of the "cleanest" in Europe in terms of Greenhouse Effect. Numbers? 90 gr / kwh in France on average against 600 in Germany
- Any technician (and the "ecologists" have them in their ranks…) knows that the current distribution network is complex and very difficult to balance (it is necessary that what goes in equal to what goes out permanently). In other words: a strong almost instantaneous drop in power could have very important consequences and this at 2 levels: the generators (nuclear power plants if the drop is really strong) and network balancing (overvoltage at 19 p.m. and undervoltage at 55 p.m.) .
- If the action is widely followed, say 500 households (the number of signatures of the Ecological Pact) then the reason mentioned in the previous point will imply 000 things:
a) it may not restart (blackout like early November)
b) it may damage some of your electrical devices (the most sensitive) when restarting or during the "cut" if you leave them on. - Do you think the deterioration of these devices is good for the environment?
What can we expect from this action?
That it be enough to be detectable by EdF and RTE and that it makes people aware of their dependence but that it is not followed enough to create dysfunctions or deteriorations ...
What to do then?
There would still be several points to be discussed, but it is better to stop there. A "good" thing about this action (which we obviously do not want because it would be tantamount to terrorism) would perhaps be that it creates a blackout and that it really raises awareness (5 min. It's fun ) a greater part of the population due to their severe energy dependence?
But to conclude what to say if not to be vigilant this Thursday evening and to unplug (plug) between 19:45 pm and 20:15 pm all your household appliances in order to "protect" them. And why not take the opportunity not to turn them back on for the evening and find less “electrifying” activities?