Blackout Sabbath | Issue Letters

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Issue 1007
May 06, 2008

Blackout Sabbath

Have Rufus Wainwright and the rest of the Blackout Sabbath organizers thought about what will happen when the event is over? Air conditioners and refrigerators both use more electricity to lower temperatures than to maintain them. They will most likely use more electricity in the first hour of being turned back on as they would have in those previous twelve. Plus, empty refrigerators (which I hope you have if it's off for twelve hours) use more electricity than full ones, so until you restock your fridge, you're using even more power. And candles are certainly not the better alternative to turning off the lights. When burned, candles release carcinogenic toxins such as benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein and soot into the air. The emissions from paraffin candles contain many of the same toxins produced by burning diesel fuel. Blackout Sabbath is a beautiful theory, Rufus, but horribly impractical and wasteful.

Steve Oligmueller
Trophy Club, Texas

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