Turn Off The Lights

(A Disraeli Club Report)
It was a wet and windy Tuesday last week when we met at the Disraeli for our after-work martini. As Pierre shook the rain from his coat he asked, "Did you hear the announcement about the new nuclear plants?”
"No, I didn't," Alice said. "What did they decide?”
"They are going to spend 40 billion on nuclear generation.”
“So our electricity rates are going up – again?” I asked.
“About 5 percent a year,” Pierre said.
"Five percent!" Geraldine exclaimed. "They can't do that to me. How, in heaven's name, can anyone justify that kind of an increase?"
"Well, they need more generation – and then there is distribution on top of that," I said.
"Yes, and if I know North Bay Hydro, they will blame it all on Hydro One - or whatever they are calling themselves today," Frederick said. The restructuring of the old Ontario Hydro into generation and distribution companies has not changed the public perception of that old monopoly. "I haven't heard about an increase yet, but I guess it will be coming." Frederick lives in East Ferris and gets his electricity directly from Hydro One. "At least I will only have to pay for the power I use, not for the power you in the city waste," he said with a glint in his eye that I recognized as an opening gambit for today's discussion.
"What do you mean, Frederick?" Geraldine asked.
"Well, take all those public buildings that burn power 24 hours a day whether anyone is in them or not."
"If you're talking about leaving the lights on, we don't," Alice replied. "All the lights go off as soon as the cleaners finish working." Alice is a lawyer who works for the Federal Government in their fancy offices downtown.
"Sure, the lights go off, but the air conditioning runs, the heat isn't turned down . . ."
"Wait a minute," Jonathan interrupted, "You know very well that it would cost more to stop and start the air conditioners and heaters than it does to leave them on."
"Well, that's what my maintenance people tell me. They claim it would cost more to install switches on the streetlights than you would save by turning the lights off. Personally, I don't believe that."
"I agree with you, Frederick," Pierre said as he signalled Nickolas the bartender for another round of martinis. We drink martinis on Tuesday. "There is absolutely no reason to have street lights burning all night."
"I thought they left them on to stop crime," Geraldine said.
"No, that's not so," Pierre replied. "Remember how all the schools used to leave the classroom lights on at Halloween? Somebody figured it out that if vandals wanted to be out at night, they would have to see where they were walking, what they were doing. If they turned on a flashlight, the police could see them as easy as could be!"
"Gee, I never thought of that," Jonathan said. "So how come we haven't figured that out for street lights?"
"That's a little different," I said. "You have people out walking on the streets who aren't criminals."
"At three o'clock in the morning?" Frederick asked with a grin.
"Well," I said.
"Look, William, how many times did you ever need the streetlights after one in the morning?" Frederick asked.
"Other than the one time . . . not very often," I admitted.
"And you could have used a flashlight then, too, I'll bet."
"Except he was in no condition to be questioned by the police, if I remember the occasion," my friend Alice said, referring to the night we held a stag and doe party for Jonathon and his former wife, Maria. I thought she had forgotten that by now.
"Would turning off the street lights really make a difference?" Geraldine asked Frederick.
Frederick paused while Nicholas topped up our glasses from the pre-mixed jug of martini’s he makes for us. "It might make a big difference. I am not talking just about our town, but all across the country. Think of how much electricity Toronto uses at night. The power generators could cut back on their costs because of reduced demand, and in the case of the fossil fuel fired operations, that could mean a big savings."
"As well as reducing pollution," Pierre added.
"Right. The wear and tear on equipment would be another saving. Perhaps with some conservation like this, Ontario Power Generation could cut back on all their expansion plans – instead of increasing their debt load."
"Most of that comes from those darn nuclear plants," Jonathon muttered.
"Well, I agree that if there was a better way to produce power, I would be against them too. But there just is no way we can meet the demand for electric power any other way," Pierre said.
"How about solar power?" Geraldine asked.
"Have you not noticed how little sun we've had this last spring?" Alice asked. "All we've had is rain, rain, rain. No, we are in an area where we cannot take advantage of sun, wind or the tides."
"So the answer has to be cut back on consumption," I said. "I suppose every little bit helps. Like those new lights bulbs they have out . . ."
"Sure, but did you check out the prices?" Geraldine asked. "The very people who need to save on their hydro costs can't afford to buy them!"
"I agree," Pierre said, as if any of his investors had trouble paying their hydro bills. "But there are lots of ways of saving better insulation, keeping doors closed, turning down the heat a few degrees, turning off lights."
Just then Nickolas the bartender arrived with a fesh dish of mixed nuts I do not know how he does it, but Nickolas can pick up the thread of a conversation anywhere in the room and then add something to the chat as he wanders by. "You know I heard a gentleman talking about his hydro bill the other day. He related how he had done all the insulation improvements that hydro recommends, but his bill did not decrease. He lives in the country and the hydro people told him that he was unlikely to save any money because he was in a 'billing block'.”
"What's that?" Frederick asked.
"Well, apparently hydro averages the usage costs over a service area and everyone pays for their hydro based on the rate for that area, not on what they use. So it did not help insulating his house. In fact, the gentleman will never get his money back!" As usual, Nickolas then left us with another piece to the puzzle that might extend our visit to the Disraeli by a few more thirsty minutes.
"You know, I had heard something like that before, but I never believed it," Alice said. "I'm going to check the legality of that with Hydro. A person could pay more for his electricity just by having neighbours who are heavy users. It could be an infringement of rights.”
“There's got to be some way we can reduce the amount of electric power we use!" Pierre said.
"Right. Turn off those street lights at one a.m., or sooner, if it's a really cold night," Frederick said.
"What has the temperature got do with it?" Alice asked.
After we all explained, in exaggerated detail, how the current flowing through the lines meets resistance and gives off heat, loses its efficiency and generally is very wasteful, Alice suggested that the city should hire an Energy Auditor. This was met with an equal barrage of comments about increasing costs to save money a typical response of our government.
There was a bar shaking crack of thunder from the storm outside and the power failed. In the total darkness of the Disraeli, we heard only one voice. Frederick said, "Did somebody up there hear me and turn off the lights?"