"wasting" renewable energy??

[retiredman]

How can that happen?

If someone has a nice house lot on top of a windy hill, and they erect a couple of windmills and find that they can live completely "off the grid" and generate all their own electricity, are they then "wasting energy" if they walk out of the room and leave the light on?

[jafar00]

Great question

If they are storing the energy they are generating in batteries, and they then leave a light on uneccessarily, they are by definition, wasting their own energy right?

[retiredman]

is that sort of "waste" inconsistent with environmental activism? Is it hypocritical to waste renewable wind energy that you pay for yourself and at the same time advocate pro-environmental activism? Can you leave the light on in your house supplied by renewable energy and still ask others to turn theirs off if they are using non-renewable energy?

[truthmatters]

If the person is not in a position to sell their extra energy back to the areas grid Co then no they are not wasting anything .

[retiredman]

I am still unconvinced that that actually constitutes "waste".

[nevadamedic]

How can that happen?

If someone has a nice house lot on top of a windy hill, and they erect a couple of windmills and find that they can live completely "off the grid" and generate all their own electricity, are they then "wasting energy" if they walk out of the room and leave the light on?

You've been watching that nut job Al Gore to much..................

[truthmatters]

You've been watching that nut job Al Gore to much..................

You would not want free elelctricity for life?

[Said1]

You would not want free elelctricity for life?

Wow. Unlegislated FREE electricity. I am SO turned on right now.

[jafar00]

I am still unconvinced that that actually constitutes "waste".

Well, you could argue that it was their intention to turn the light on, leave the room, and let the light shine on in an empty room. In that case it is not a waste since they are fulfilling their desire to light an empty room.

[Gaffer]

The only thing being wasted is the light bulb. The electricity is there whether the light is on or not. It's a circuit. when the light is on the electricity moves through it. When the light is off the electricity doesn't move. The electricity is not changed or reduced in any way.