Electricity consumption across the province dropped by 1.1 per cent during Earth Hour on Saturday night — the equivalent of turning off 1.5 million lights.
Eighty-four communities across the province participated in the second annual global event to dim lights for an hour at 8:30 p.m. in each time zone.
The provincial results were down from the two per cent reduction seen last year, but B.C. Hydro spokesperson Simi Heer said that doesn’t mean fewer people participated.
“When we looked at the data (from Saturday night), we compared it to that of a week ago,” Heer said. “It was also much colder (this year), and we think the weather factored into the results.”
Heer added that the energy savings are more impressive if you take into account the fact that Earth Hour was on Saturday this year, so many offices turned off the lights and computers on Friday.
She said if British Columbians continued to turn off non-essential power for one hour every evening, the savings would be enough to power 2,400 homes for a year.
Energy savings
• Pemberton had the highest drop in energy consumption in B.C. at 4.6 per cent, followed by Abbotsford at 3.8 per cent.
• Vancouver’s energy consumption went down 1.3 per cent, while Toronto’s dropped by 15.1 per cent.
