Mission exceeded its power savings during this year’s Earth Hour event on Saturday, but Abbotsford scored last out of the 69 communities across B.C. that took part.
The annual event, promoted by BC Hydro, asks citizens to reduce their power consumption from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. March 29.
This year, Mission recorded a 1.6 per cent drop in electricity usage, which equates to 0.49 megawatt hours, according to hydro.
Most municipal buildings are already closed at that time, and Kerry Bysouth, the District of Mission’s manager of parks and facilities, said the lights were dimmed at the Leisure Centre. However, most of the day’s activities had been completed, so there wasn’t much extra electricity usage to trim, he said.
This is the third-straight year Mission has improved.
In 2012, the municipality registered a 0.63 per cent drop, and in 2013, a 1.1 per cent reduction was recorded.
By contrast, Abbotsford only noted a 0.1 per cent lessening in power usage during 2014’s Earth Hour, which translates into 0.05 megawatt hours.
