Is clock ticking on Earth Hour?

YorkRegion.com
March 31, 2014
By Chris Traber

Earth Hour, your 60 minutes might be up.

The international movement launched in 2007 by the World Wide Fund for Nature has called for lights out from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the last Saturday in March.

A commitment to the planet, the initiative has grown to engage more than 7,000 cities and towns worldwide.

Earth Hour continues to be a key driver for energy reduction and environmental stewardship, but, while awareness climbs, participation and electrical savings dwindle.

Toronto Hydro monitored 178 megawatt-hours less electrical energy during Earth Hour on the weekend, a 6-per-cent reduction. That’s down from 7 per cent last year and only slightly above the lowest drop, of 5 per cent, recorded in 2010. The greatest decrease, 15 per cent, occurred in 2009 in the city’s second year of participation.

The Independent Electricity System Operator, which helps manage and co-ordinates Ontario’s power grid, said electricity demand was down 2.7 per cent from a typical Saturday night.

York Region power suppliers reported Earth Hour consumption declines ranging from 7.8 per cent in Bradford West Gwillimbury to 2.1 per cent in Newmarket.

Earth Hour may be approaching its fatigue point, Seneca College Eco-Seneca Initiatives director Bill Humber said.

The event’s diminishing cachet became evident to the educator last week while attending a global environment conference in British Columbia.

“Not once during any of the plenary sessions was Earth Hour mentioned,” he said. “That’s anecdotal, but I was reminded of it only when I returned to the hotel Saturday.

“Not to have the event discussed is a comment that it’s reached a certain exhaustion and we have to look at other public education tools.”

As with any mass phenomena, what’s vogue often becomes vague. Earth Hour has been an effective way to highlight the importance of reducing our eco footprint, he said. Still, it’s a mere one of 8,760 hours per year.

“Planting a tree, for example, is a better commitment than one feel-good hour,” Mr. Humber said. “Earth Hour was a nice idea in its initial stage, but we have to engage the public with novel ways to continue the conversation.”

Newmarket electricity consumers turned off enough lights and other devices to reduce consumption by 2.1 per cent across the local Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution area, during Earth Hour Saturday night. The electricity saved was the equivalent of taking about 1,000 town homes completely off the electricity grid for the hour.

“This result underlines that Newmarket is a community in which permanent reductions in electricity use are becoming part of how we work and live,” Newmarket-Tay Power president Paul Ferguson said.

“Earth Hour is not about the electricity we save in one hour. It’s about the community collectively making a statement that we care about the environment and we should continue to look for ways to use less electricity.”

In the next few weeks, the utility company will announce its latest major energy-saving program featuring the peaksaverPLUS smart thermostat. Consumers with central air conditioning in their homes can receive the free state-of-the-art smart thermostat from the company. It will automatically help customers conserve electricity on the hottest summer days of the year.

“You can even control this thermostat from most smartphones or devices if you have a wireless router connected to your home network,” Mr. Ferguson said.

Jointly owned by the cities of Barrie, Markham and Vaughan, PowerStream reported a service territorywide 4.8-per-cent electricity consumption reduction between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. This was a slight decrease from the 5-per-cent reduction achieved collectively last year.

The 2014 results represented a total savings of 48.9 megawatts (MW) in peak demand or enough electricity to power 1,480 average-size homes over a 24-hour period. The precentile reductions included 7.7 in Aurora, 7.8 in Bradford West Gwillimbury, 4.7 in Markham, 5 in Richmond Hill and 4.5 in Vaughan.

Earth Hour will go on as long as people keep caring about it, World Wildlife Fund’s Canadian spokesperson Zoe Caron said.

The voluntary blackout will continue to be successful as it’s serving its purpose of giving people an outlet to talk about climate change and show that they care, she added.

Attitudes about social action evolve over time when the public perceives them as meaningful, Mr. Humber said. The good Earth Hour has achieved can be enhanced. A push to reduce air conditioner usage or a voluntary monthly 60-minute blackout could work.

“People would buy in over time,” he said.