More Red Deer residents flipped the switch off during Earth Hour on Saturday.
Electricity consumption in Red Deer was down 4.6 per cent between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday. It almost doubles the amount of power saved from the year before in the city, when consumption was down 2.5 per cent.
Power use was reduced by 16,310 kWh between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, compared to 8,800 kWh of electricity saved in 2009.
The amount saved in 2010 is enough to run the entire traffic light system for 10 days or to power 30 houses for a month.
Earth Hour, organized by the World Wildlife Fund, started in 2007 to raise awareness about climate change.
“The benefit of Earth Hour isn’t just about shutting off power for an hour. The benefit comes from the educational component,” said Pam Vust, environmental initiatives co-ordinator with the City of Red Deer.
“So trying to get people to realize that their electricity consumption also has an effect on greenhouse gas emissions. People are pretty good at making the link between their car and emissions, but they don’t always think about where the electricity comes from and that the power plants do generate emissions, especially in Alberta, where most of our power comes from coal-generated plants.”
Vust said when people are committed to taking one small step for the environment, they’re more willing to take other steps in the future.
Other cities in Alberta also dropped consumption. EPCOR in Edmonton reported the city’s power use dropped by three per cent and ENMAX reported Calgary experienced a 0.5 per cent drop.
As part of the event, City Hall and the Civic Yards were almost completely in darkness on Saturday in Red Deer.
Ligong Gan, manager of the Electric Light and Power Department with the City of Red Deer, said it was quite a substantial drop in power. He said he travelled around the city and was interested to see a lot of houses in complete darkness or just faint light coming out, with some people burning candles.
“We have a lot more customers who are out there who are conscious of the Earth Hour and are doing something,” Gan said. “The purpose of Earth Hour is to bring awareness to people about how much small changes can do to make a huge difference collectively.”
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com