quote:

Originally posted by c-mal Well, apart from the asshat criminals who ruin everything, I see no problem with living in a "Dark city" if it entails that businesses, while closed, will turn off all their lights to conserve. They can advertise the other 16 or so hours of the day just fine. It's not like they have an advantage by advertising at night, since every business does it, just as they all do during the day. Plus, in the late hours of the night, most of the demographic they're advertising to are either asleep or too wasted to care/remember at that point in time.

Its the asshat criminals im worried about. Thats why your insurance goes down the better lit u are at night.

As for advertising, for the pennies it costs to keep your sign on all night, the advertising you get from it is priceless. Especially when youve already paid thousands for that sign and the permits in the first place. Youve obviously never owned a store or restaurant.

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quote:

Originally posted by jester Everything in this country is illegal.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery…" Winston Churchill

‎"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law" - Winston Churchill

quote:

Originally posted by Jayx1 As for advertising, for the pennies it costs to keep your sign on all night, the advertising you get from it is priceless. Especially when youve already paid thousands for that sign and the permits in the first place. Youve obviously never owned a store or restaurant.

I really doubt it's pennies they're dealing with, but I'll take your word for it, since you seem to have more experience with this topic.

quote:

Originally posted by c-mal I really doubt it's pennies they're dealing with, but I'll take your word for it, since you seem to have more experience with this topic.

it doesnt cost much to run a florescent bulb. LEDs are vastly cheaper as well. Neon is what kills you.

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quote:

Originally posted by jester Everything in this country is illegal.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery…" Winston Churchill

‎"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law" - Winston Churchill

quote:

Originally posted by c-mal I really doubt it's pennies they're dealing with, but I'll take your word for it, since you seem to have more experience with this topic.

I actually do have experience with this topic and it really does cost pennies to keep your lights on. In my apartment, for example, with all the lights turned on, I'm sucking up about 500 W total of power, which for 1 hour is 0.5 kWh or about 3 cents of electricity.

Commercial buildings obviously require substantially more light, but are almost all fluorescent lighting, so they might be using a few kW for the lights. Still, pennies - less than 25 cents to run the entire building for an hour and maybe a few dollars for the whole day.

Usually what chews up power at an office building is:

(a) the HVAC system - that's the biggie of course, and most businesses have a programmable thermostat in order to save money, forget about electricity.

(b) Server computers, which obviously cannot be turned off, nor can any of the networking equipment, backup power supplies, etc. used to keep them running;

(c) Workstations, which typically only run at 100-150 W but that adds up when you have 200 of them. "Power-conscious" businesses may have them shut down or put into sleep mode.

It's all peanuts, really. There's only one thing that's going to cut Ontario's power demand; it's not a "dark city" and it's not silly gimmicks like Earth Hour to "raise awareness". It's to stop sheltering consumers from the true cost of electricity. Most consumers in this province are paying heavily subsidized rates and several residential consumers aren't paying at all. I wouldn't be surprised if half the people posting in this thread live in a rental building where electricity is included in the rent, and have no clue at how much they actually use or what it costs.

Anyway, I won't get into a whole essay about that, but if every consumer had to start paying the market rate for electricity, then demand/consumption in the residential and small business sectors would drop by up to 60%, possibly more.

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My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here

Digi, expensive electricity would mean lights out on industry and business that need cheap energy to survive. DOnt worry though... McFinky has the answer. $6 billion dollars worth to samsung that we get to pay a new surcharge for, plus HST of course!

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quote:

Originally posted by jester Everything in this country is illegal.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery…" Winston Churchill

‎"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law" - Winston Churchill

quote:

Originally posted by Jayx1 Digi, expensive electricity would mean lights out on industry and business that need cheap energy to survive.

Industrial customers already do pay market rates. They are not the problem.

"Businesses that need cheap energy to survive" can almost always reduce their demand, and a significant enough reduction would in turn lower costs. Residential customers have no excuse, I've seen people running their heat up to 35° in the spring.

___________________
My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here

Good info, thanks.