...but just an hour? Once a year? Oh, it's supposed to "raise awareness." I think just about everyone is already aware, thank you Mr. Gore, and we're ready to actually DO SOMETHING.

</rant>

I am not convince it of any good in term of saving energy but I think its a good way to draw attention to the fact that we need to start conserving energy.

But that's just the problem, it draws attention to the need without really addressing the need. I'm just saying it'd be more of a real action if the businesses and government agencies who turned their lights off for the hour just kept them off for the night...and the next...and the next...

I lived on a street with lights every few houses. Leafy suburban paradise, as Neil Steinberg would put it. Everything but the neighbor's house was too far away to walk to, so if anyone is actually on the street at 2AM they're in a car, with headlights. The street lights are sensor-controlled, so it wouldn't be so simple as flipping a switch in the village offices to keep them off for an hour, they'd have to go to the power supply.

Pulling a circuit breaker for an hour is a nice gesture. Ripping the damned poles out of the ground and patching the holes would be more meaningful, in my opinion.