Skip to content

News Release

This news release was posted more than two years ago. View our latest news releases here.

BC Hydro reports Earth Hour electricity savings

VANCOUVER – The province's electricity load dropped by 1.04 per cent during Earth Hour on Saturday, March 27. The individual community in B.C. with the highest reduction in consumption – seven per cent – was Burns Lake.

From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. British Columbians saved 64.6 megawatt hours of electricity – the equivalent of turning off about 1.4 million lights.

Earth Hour, an annual global event hosted by the WWF and sponsored provincially by BC Hydro, encourages individuals to show their support for the fight against climate change. More than 80 communities in B.C. signed up to participate in Earth Hour 2010.

If British Columbians implemented the same conservation measures just one hour every evening, the combined savings would be enough to power close to 2,200 homes for an entire year.

This year marks the third year of BC Hydro's participation in the event. In 2009, there was a 1.1 per cent reduction in the overall electricity load. In 2008, the drop was measured at two per cent.

BC Hydro encourages British Columbians to join Team Power Smart to set a personal electricity conservation target. Team Power Smart provides tools, resources and incentives to help people conserve year-round. For example, washing your clothes in cold water, turning
off the heated-dry function on your dishwasher and turning down the heat by one degree are all simple changes people can make everyday to conserve.

Use bchydro.com's Green Your Home guide for more conservation tips, and join Team Power Smart.

Please see page two of the Earth Hour 2010 Electricity Savings Report [PDF, 25 Kb] for a detailed breakdown of savings by community.

Contact:

Simi Heer
Media Relations
Phone: 604 623 3963