Lights Off ... To Save Your Life

Don’t bet the farm on coal-futures. While carbon sequestration R&D is the big bucks favorite of politicians in the U.S., Germany is turning the problem of emissions from coal-fired powerplants on its head.

According to Lester Brown, president of Earth Policy Institute and author of Book, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, coal use in Germany has dropped 37 percent since 1990; in the United Kingdom it has fallen by 43 percent.

So why is the U.S. holding tight to its coal industry? Worldwide, solar cell production is doubling every two years, making it the world’s fastest growing energy source. If the U.S. ever got serious about investing REAL money in solar, it might double every 18 months, or every year.

Coal-fired powerplants are used for generating electricity. However, says Brown, electricity used for lighting around the world can be cut by 65 percent through efficiency improvements like switching from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents.

Turning out the lights of LA (and other mega-cities) at 10 PM, and turning off the “ghost” appliances, computers and other electronics that continue to draw electricity when not in active use, would largely eliminate the need to use coal.

Turning out the lights at 10 PM is not such a radical idea. According to Bent Formby and T. S. Wiley, authors of Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival, keeping lights on at night during the winter months puts a great amount of stress on the bio-body of humans, and may be the underlying cause of many modern day diseases.