Electricity consumption in Red Deer was down by 1.27 per cent during Earth Hour on Saturday, but less than previous years.
Local consumption decreased by 4.6 per cent in 2010 and by 2.5 per cent in 2009.
Still, the city applauded citizens and businesses that turned off their lights between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday to help save nearly 4,800 kWh of electricity, when compared to usage on Saturday, March 19. This is equivalent to taking 7,393 cars off the road for one hour.
“I think it’s still positive and we’re definitely happy to see that we reduced power,” said Bailey Doepker, environment program specialist with the City of Red Deer.
“People still, obviously, were interested and participated, and we’re happy about that.”
The city did its part by turning off all non-essential lights at city facilities, including City Hall, and by encouraging others to take part in the initiative.
Less community participation, colder weather or consumption that was already at a low level on the previous Saturday to which Earth Hour results are measured against could have all contributed to the smaller decrease this year, Doepker explained.
While she was pleased to see usage drop, Doepker said the main goal of Earth Hour is to encourage individuals to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Earth Hour is to create awareness and hopefully we succeeded in that,” she said.
The World Wildlife Fund organizes Earth Hour.
The event started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, where 2.2 million consumers powered down for an hour to bring climate change to light.
The message sparked a global movement and saw 50 million turn off their lights in 2008.
In 2010, 128 countries and 4,600 cities across the world participated in Earth Hour.
About 134 countries were expected to participate this year.
For more information on Earth Hour, visit wwf.panda.org.
For more information on other environmental initiatives in Red Deer, visit www.reddeer.ca/environment.
ptrotter@www.reddeeradvocate.com