Did you celebrate Earth Hour on Saturday night? Here’s what went on in my house:
All lights off. Both computers off and power bars off. Several “vampire” appliances (you know, the ones with the ready lights that keep sucking up power while waiting at standby) off. Played board games by candlelight (skunked by my son at both). Checked the neighbours and saw their lights all appeared to be on. Checked the starry sky to find no real difference, since all the street lights were on. After the board games ended, we turned on the TV to watch the end of the NHL hockey game.
I’m guessing there wasn’t a huge drop in energy consumption here, but apparently downtown Toronto saw it drop 5.2%. And there were sure a lot of lights off! Still no comparison to Sydney, Australia, where the idea took shape: electricity consumption fell 10.2% and 2.2 million people took part.
Some people wonder what was the whole point, but I think it’s done a great job of increasing awareness that we all have the power to make a difference.