on sunday there was a medium-sized power outage for most of the day. the power went out at 11:30, and when i left for work at 11:45, there was already a cop directing traffic at bay & bloor – did not expect that quick of a response!
the cool part was when i was coming home at 5:30. i went around the block to see where the outage ended (avenue), and up to cumberland. cumberland was awesome – all the lights were off (obviously) and i’ve never seen it that dark. everything had an orange cast because it was still dusk, and it looked like it should have been super quiet (there was nobody there except a couple pizza guys), but it was actually pretty loud because all the condos had their backup generators running. the generator for my building was powering some essential stuff – hallway and stairwell lighting, the rfid door system – but it was also powering ALL FOUR ELEVATORS. what a huge waste. i understand people on the top floor would be pretty put out by having to go up and down the stairs the entire way, but i feel like we could have dealt with one or two. i didn’t even realize the elevators had been on until after the power came back…i had been taking the stairs.
related to the generators: i really do not care about anthropogenic global warming or “the environment” very much. it’s true that pollution is a very bad thing (see: los angeles’ air quality, water quality in mainland china, unethical nuclear programs), but the ‘green’ and ‘energy reduction’ and ‘carbon neutral’ buzzwords are just frustrating. what i do care about is resource conservation. petroleum is something that will eventually run out, no matter what. yes, biofuel can be manufactured, but so many steps are involved in the manufacturing process that the idea of ethanol or anything along those lines being “efficient” is hilarious. i’m nowhere near a peakist, but i do think it’s going to be very interesting when it truly hits everyone that fossil fuels are going to start running out – forever – within the next couple generations.
what i’m getting at is how ridiculous it is for dozens of backup generators to be running off of gas, powering elevators so people don’t have to take the stairs. i’m not going to lobby to change this or anything, but it’s representative of ridiculous levels of waste. the same with cars. it’s been a refrain for years and years, but the amount of finite resources being wasted by cars is incredible. i understand that global shipping and transportation (planes, trains, boats, trucks) is so deep-set that it’s laughable to even think of changing it, but the amount of people that drive around ‘just because’ is insane. i’m not concerned that they’re going to kill my unborn children with air cancer, but if i drove around everywhere the fact that i’m just burning up an unreplenishable resource would be eating away at me. another reason i love cycling: keep the bike (and yourself) well-maintained and it will always be a viable method of local transportation.
i know that right now, any form of energy has fossil fuel implications. it would be nice if most electricity came from nuclear (or better, wind/hydro/solar/geo/tidal) sources, but that’s a ways off. what’s cool is that with current technology, fossil fuel is unnecessary (except for the fact that it’s so deeply built into infrastructure): the amount of solar-related energy (photovoltaic, wind, and hydro) that is unharnessed greatly exceeds all of today’s power needs. i’m super glad i live in the generation that i do, science and technology developments are incredibly exciting to me.
note to self: write about protests and petitions. they are ridiculous
