Earth Hour spike in power use

Brian Pincott’s candlelight Earth Hour shindig might have been an enlightening affair, but unfortunately, the Ward 11 alderman didn’t have much company across Calgary.
According to Enmax figures, the city’s energy usage actually rose by nearly six per cent during Saturday night’s 8 p.m. Earth Hour event, a decent spike compared to the same time frame last Saturday.
No shins were bruised at Pincott’s flickering soiree from 7 p.m. to midnight, attended by 50 people who used the outdoors to keep their beer cold and brought food that didn’t need to be heated up. And while Calgary’s energy consumption may have increased during Earth Hour, the alderman still considers the event a success.
“The symbolism of the thing is what’s important,” Pincott said.
“When you look downtown and see that lights are off and listening to people talking about it, there was a lot of buzz, a lot of people were aware of it and those are the important things.”
Across the country, more than two dozen major cities and 150 smaller communities took part in the planned blackout. And while the City of Calgary, the Calgary Tower and several downtown office buildings clicked their lights off,
the downtown skyline, Canada’s oil and gas sector hub, was only slightly dimmer than on any normal evening.
The Battle of Alberta on Hockey Night in Canada and colder than average temperatures seem to have had a negative effect on Calgary’s Earth Hour efforts, which were basically the opposite of what was supposed to happen.

neil.mackinnon@metronews.ca