Earth Hour 2013 Energy Savings Increase Across B.C.

Apr 25, 2013 - 12 years ago

British Columbians recently saved 136 megawatt hours of electricity and reduced the provincial electricity load by 1.95 percent during Earth Hour – the equivalent of turning off more than 10 million 12.5- watt LED light bulbs.

Many communities across the province successfully improved their Earth Hour energy savings from the previous year. Comox and Courtenay saw the highest reduction at nearly 10 percent.

Earth Hour is an annual global event hosted by the World Wildlife Fund and supported by BC Hydro. This year marks the sixth year of BC Hydro’s support of the event. The goal of Earth Hour is to encourage individuals to turn off unnecessary lights and electronics in an effort to conserve power and, in doing so, demonstrate support for climate change reduction efforts.

This year, many BC Hydro account holders were able to track their electricity use by logging onto MyHydro – their online account – at www. bchydro.com/myhydro. They were able to see the hourly breakdown for their account and compare Earth Hour electricity use with their use on the Saturday prior to Earth Hour.

Power Smart tips help British Columbians make a difference in energy conservation through simple efforts year-round. Since 2007, BC Hydro’s Power Smart programs have saved close to 4,300 gigawatt hours per year of electricity – enough to power 390,000 B.C. homes.

Facts:
• The top five B.C. communities for this year’s Earth Hour were: Comox, Courtenay, North Saanich, Sidney and Qualicum.
• Vancouver’s electricity load dropped by 2.4 per cent during Earth Hour 2013.
• In 2012, British Columbians saved 121 megawatt hours of electricity and reduced the provincial electricity load by 1.67 per cent during Earth Hour – the equivalent of turning off about 9 million 12.5-watt LED light bulbs.
• The total provincial energy savings from Earth Hour participation since 2008 is 500.27 megawatt hours of electricity – the equivalent of turning off 40 million 12.5-watt LED light bulbs.
• The province-wide energy savings reported since BC Hydro began supporting Earth Hour are as follows: 121 megawatt hours in 2012; 117 megawatt hours in 2011; 64.6 megawatt hours in 2010; 72.67 megawatt hours in 2009; and 125 megawatt hours in 2008.
• New electricity use tracking tools are available online through MyHydro thanks to BC Hydro’s new smart meters and smart grid. About 1.1 million BC Hydro customers now have access to this energy use information. As the remaining smart meters and components of the smart grid are deployed across B.C., more customers will be able to track their own Earth Hour results in the future.