London Earth Hour cut power use by 2%

Mon, March 31, 2008

London Free Press

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, SUN MEDIA

The numbers are in -- Londoners cut their electricity use for Earth Hour by two per cent, saving enough juice to light 117,000 bulbs for an hour. Power use dipped noticeably in Ontario during Saturday night's global event, falling by more than five per cent across the province and by 8.7 per cent in Toronto, the event's flagship Canadian participant. London's two-per-cent savings may not seem like much, but Jay Stanford, the city's environmental services director, said it's a good start. "We're quite pleased with that result for the first year," he said yesterday. Between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., consumption in London fell by 7,056 kilowatt-hours compared to the same period on the same date last year. Stanford said that's equivalent to turning off 117,000, 60-watt light bulbs for one hour. London was one of 150 communities across Canada that joined the Earth Hour effort to cut non-essential power use. Stanford pointed out the event was heavily promoted in Toronto, with events such as a downtown concert. Stanford is confident London will do much better next year, with more advance publicity and planning. He said the city will try to focus more heavily on the business sector. "We got to two per cent quite easily this year. A lot of people must have forgot, but we know what to do next year," he said. Across the city, it was a patchwork of lights on and off, with major facilities such as the John Labatt Centre dark while the Middlesex County building across the street remained floodlit. Stanford said the lights were out at city hall and other city buildings. But it wasn't possible to darken some facilities, such as city arenas, where hockey games were scheduled.