Earth Hour power savings nearly doubled this year in B.C. during Earth Hour, but the lights barely dimmed at all in Williams Lake.
B.C. cut electricity consumption by 1.8 per cent during Earth Hour Saturday evening, but the drop was only by 0.11 per cent in Williams Lake and West Kelowna.
100 Mile House’s energy consumption dropped 1.65 per cent, and Pitt Meadows topped the province with a 5.7 per cent reduction.
B.C. Hydro officials said they were pleased by the provincial response to the hour of conservation for climate change awareness, now in its fourth year here.
Province-wide, 117 megawatt hours of electricity were saved as many residents switched off lights, TVs and other appliances and instead lit candles or went for a walk. The reduction was nearly twice as much as in 2010, when a 1.04 per cent cut was measured, and equivalent to turning off 7.8 million 15-watt compact fluorescent bulbs.
“We encourage our customers to think about how to live a little bit of Earth Hour every day,” said Lisa Coltart, B.C. Hydro’s executive director of Power Smart and customer care.
Sixty minutes of Earth Hour-style conservation every day would save enough electricity to power 4,000 homes for an entire year, Coltart said.
