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May 13, 2008
Baking on weekends part of B.C. resident's off-peak hours plan
![CRI - Image of Bill Swanson [200 x 230 px]](/etc/medialib/internet/images/info/jpeg/cri_image_of_bill_swanson_200_x_230_px.Par.0001.Image.jpg)
Campbell River resident Bill Swanson has the ideal recipe for energy-saving success.
Swanson has learned some new energy saving ideas on BC Hydro's Conservation Research Initiative, a study that examines how time-of-use rates can encourage customers to switch their energy use to off-peak hours and lead to overall conservation.
Now Swanson is not only conserving electricity, but is also giving new meaning to the term saving dough. "We bake all our own bread, so we switched baking to the weekends," said Swanson. "We make enough bread to last all week so we are not using the oven much during peak times."
The Swanson household also switched to using cold water when washing clothes, and running their dryer during off-peak times. Collectively, households that participated in the Conservation Research Initiative in Campbell River reduced their peak-hour energy consumption by over 15 per cent and lowered their total winter energy consumption by over 10 per cent.
Shifting electricity use to off-peak hours reduces peak demand (the demand on the coldest days of the year at the highest-use period of the day), helping BC Hydro to delay adding new generation facilities to its system. It's a way of doing more with existing resources.
The Province's BC Energy Plan has set a goal of achieving electricity self-sufficiency by 2016, and conservation is the first and best choice to help achieve that goal. BC Hydro encourages all British Columbians to conserve more.
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