Earth Hour - 1 year after the power-eating ice storm

 52 weeks after "The Ice Storm" and 4+ days without electricity, I wondered what I would see "this evening", Saturday, March 28, 2026?

 I calibrated my camera clock against a time signal from "Heavens-Above.com

The gibbous Moon was high above to brighten the sky - and also serve as a time piece:

 Note the shadows in the lower portion - not a full Moon in eclipse.

 

Let us walk around the building, starting at the West end:

 The left, North-west edge has 3 lighted openings. And the front:

 

The foyer is the brightest and then there are a dozen or so room lights. However, note the silver-blue hue to the building on the right edge. That is caused by lighting up the side stairs:

 I found this so blinding, so glaring that I only managed a couple of the stairs before having to grab the handrail. Solar lights at step level would have been much safer. And if I had wanted to mug anyone this would have been an ideal place to do so. 

 

Next the East side:

 You can see the glare from the lighting around doors - not safe places to be standing search for a key. I did find the motion detectors worked fairly well. However, nobody was alerted to challenge me - so I expect they might not have been a deterrent.

 

And now the North face/Eiger nord Wand:

I think this side is far worse than the opposite south side.

 

I was especially struck by what appear to be a string of lights:

 

- maybe Christmas lights?

So what to make of this: 100 hours with no power last year - equals out the energy wastage this year? Or status quo?

Earth Hour is not about saving energy . it is about being aware of where the energy is going. When I did a demonstration in Montreal about 10 years ago, I think the actual savings was just a couple of percent. The value might appear in a blog I posted at the time.

More to the point is to realize that this building is situated in the Lake Simcoe-Lake Couchiching flood plain. This are will flood soon. Are we

really insured about flood damage? Cars trapped in the garage? People trapped by the weight of water preventing doors from opening and allowing an escape? I don't know. A few years ago the corner of Atherley and Queen Street was under more than 30cm of water following a sudden rain shower and some blocked? drains. #12 bypass and West Street was subject to greater flooding one August day about 10 years ago. That created a very large traffic jam.

I feel we have been granted some time to remedy the problems - are we doing so?

 

WOB