Nanaimo residents can send a powerful message by powering down this weekend.
During Earth Hour from 8:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday (March 31) , residents can take a stand against global climate change by simply switching off lights and turning of their televisions.
This year the city is promoting small changes anyone can make to lower energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Little things like turning off unneeded lights and unplugging wall chargers, laptop computers and other electronic items around the house that consume electricity, even when they are not in use, can make a big difference.
During Earth Hour, the city will dim lights at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre and turn off the big screen at Diana Krall Plaza. Since Earth Hour happens after regular business hours, the measures to cut consumption are mostly symbolic.
“It’s good to remind people that we are contributing to global warming and to try and take action against that,” said Bruce Joiner, city energy manager.
Lights-out time can be family time or at least a time for people to try things they wouldn’t normally do.
Joiner said he hopes Saturday’s Earth Hour happens on a nice night for a walk.
“And turn out your lights behind you,” Joiner said. “Play flashlight games. Certainly candlelight is a way of affecting power. Or camp out in your backyard.”
The city’s energy-saving measures go well beyond its symbolic participation in Earth Hour 2012.
Over the past several years, Nanaimo’s traffic lights and other road signals were converted to high-efficiency LED lighting, and all fluorescent lights and fixtures were upgraded to the most energy-efficient available.
Those measures and others helped the city cut its energy consumption for lighting by 20 per cent and consumption figures for 2011 were the lowest since 2007.
“That’s also considering the fact that the city has been growing every year,” Joiner said. “I think Stats Canada said we grew six per cent in the last five years, so our absolute consumption is going down.”
Earth Hour is a global event hosted by the World Wildlife Fund.
People in 135 countries that participated last year were joined by more than 15 million Canadians who switched of the lights. According to B.C. Hydro, British Columbians saved 117 megawatt hours of electricity and reduced the provincial energy load by 1.8 per cent during Earth Hour 2011 – equivalent to switching off 7.8 million 15-watt compact fluorescent bulbs.
The trick is to remember to power down items around the house on Saturday night, which can be an easy time to forget Earth Hour is happening, so it’s best to pre-plan for the event.
“I’ll be setting my stove timer as a reminder to turn the lights out,” Joiner said. “Because 8:30 comes by and you don’t always remember, so setting a timer certainly does help.”
Individuals, businesses, schools and community organizations can join in by making an online pledges to switch off their lights.
To pledge to join Earth Hour, learn more about the event and discover other ways to get involved, please visit the Earth Hour website at www.wwf.ca/earthhour.
To learn more about the projects and initiatives the city is involved with to become a more sustainable community, please visit the city website at www.nanaimo.ca/goto/sustainability.
B.C. Hydro also provides online tools, resources and incentives to help save power year-round at www.bchydro.com/powersmart and offers more Earth Hour tips, including energy saving cooking recipes, at www.bchydro.com/earthhour.
