If every British Columbian who participated in Earth Hour continued to switch off their lights for an hour each week, the savings could power 573 houses for a year.
If we did it nightly, that number would jump to 4,000 homes, according to B.C. Hydro.
Steve Hambrook, 36, said he participated for half an hour. “It’s harder when you can’t have the TV,” he said. “We’re concise about (energy use) … It should be a year-round thing.”
Vancouver and San Francisco were the last major cities to go dark in the global campaign, which started at 8 p.m. in every time zone and circled the globe before hitting the Pacific coast.
Participants turned off their lights and appliances for one hour to raise awareness about climate change.
Gillian Riddell, spokesperson for B.C. Hydro, said demand for electricity fell 3.5 per cent in Vancouver, 6.7 per cent in Port Coquitlam and 7 per cent in North Vancouver.
