Turn to the dark side tomorrow for WWF’s Earth Hour. At 8.30pm on Saturday March 28th, people, businesses and iconic landmarks around the world (including Nelson’s Column, Canary Wharf and the Royal Albert Hall) are set go back to black for 60 minutes as they switch off their lights.
The event marks the start of the WWF’s global deal campaign on climate change. A target of one billion participants has been set for Earth Hour 2009. It’s an eye-catching and easy awareness raiser, so if you’d like to get involved, head over to the WWF’s site and sign up.
One thing did raise an alarm bell though. The WWF is promoting the idea of enjoying an evening by candlelight, either at home or an outside venue. To me, there’s something backwards about burning fuel to support a campaign seeking action on climate change – even if its heart is in the right place.
Candles produce CO2. (Just in case you were thinking of using enough to make your place look like the set of a 1980s power ballad video shoot). Compared to electric light bulbs, candles do not look like such a bright idea.
A 40 watt incandescent bulb using National Grid electricity produces about 21.5g of CO2 per hour.* For an equivalent energy saving bulb (8W), that figure is likely to be around 4.3g. Burning one candle generates an estimated 15g of CO2.
If you wanted to produce the light intensity of an electric bulb using candles, you’d be looking at significantly higher CO2 emissions. However, most of people don’t use candles like that, instead enjoying the softer, more intimate light. Still, even just a few candles may well lead to higher CO2 emissions than would produced with your usual lights.
If you are keen on candles, then you should consider what they’re made from. Many candles contain paraffin wax, which is derived from crude oil. Beeswax or hydrogenated plant oil (e.g. soy) candles are easy to find alternatives. Of course, burning these fuels leads to CO2 emissions as well, and it should not be assumed that production processes involving plants results in carbon neutrality.
Then there’s the issue of air pollution. Cored wicks containing metal (e.g. lead, cadmium and zinc) can lead to dirty air. Pure cotton or paper wicks are better. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to tell what has gone into making a candle. The US has banned lead wicks, and though European manufactured candles very rarely use them, there is no legislature in place to enforce this.
If you like your candles scented, bear in mind that synthetic fragrances can contribute to unpleasant air pollution. You might want to look for candles that use essential oils instead.
If you’re taking part in Earth Hour, it might just be better to forget about the candles altogether. Enjoy the darkness.
* Estimated using figures from Defra’s CO2 footprint calculator data, methodology and assumptions paper.
Photo by markhillary. Published under a Cretive Commons license.
