Earth Hour and IPL matches

With reference to the Earth Hour effort on 31st March,  lights were switched off  between 08:30 PM and 09:30 PM  at some prominent locations around the world and on a voluntary basis at some housing societies in Mumbai and elsewhere.

The objective of the Earth Hour to highlight energy saving is truly laudable.

However, it all seems farcical, when close on the heels of the Earth Hour effort , we have the IPL cricket matches scheduled  to be played over 53 days and each match beginning at either 04:00 PM  or 08:00 PM in the evening.

Considering each match will be played under floodlights in huge cricket stadiums like Eden Gardens,  Ferozshah Kotla  etc,  it  will be worthwhile to consider and make a study on the energy saving that could have resulted if the above matches were to be played in daylight conditions.

With the onset of summer, we have bright roaring sunshine presently in the Indian subcontinent, which will easily outlast the IPL final scheduled on the 27th May, 2012.  Clearly the matches could have been scheduled to make use of the natural light, instead of burning and wasting our energy resources.

As far as Indian cricket lovers go, the die-hard fans will still manage to view any IPL matches which they fancy, regardless of the timings.  That is, if we consider the average Indian cricket lover continues his love for matches associated with Indian cricket after the horrendous debacles in both the England and Australia series in the last year, not to mention the failures in the recent Asia Cup.

While the average Indian family was most likely, sitting together for dinner during the Earth Hour time of  08:30 PM  to 09:30 PM  when household lights would be essential, it deserves a serious thought whether playing cricket under floodlights for close to 2 months is the right thing to do in peak summer in  energy starved India.

Perhaps Sachin Tendulkar who endorsed the Earth Hour effort and aired his views on same, can be invited to share his thoughts on the above issue.

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