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BC repeats Earth Hour success

VANCOUVER – British Columbians saved 121 megawatt hours of electricity and reduced the provincial electricity load by 1.67 percent during Earth Hour last night – about the same as the 1.8 percent drop last year – and the equivalent of turning off about 9 million 12.5-watt LED light bulbs.

The community with the highest reduction in consumption – 12.1 percent – was Revelstoke. Pemberton measured the second highest decrease at 6.8 percent. In total, 91 communities across BC registered their participation in Earth Hour.

The event shows that British Columbians can make a difference in energy conservation through simple efforts.

Earth Hour is an annual global event hosted by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and supported provincially by BC Hydro. This year marks the fifth year of BC Hydro’s support of the event. The goal of the event is to encourage individuals to turn off unnecessary lights and electronics in an effort to conserve power and in doing so, demonstrate support for climate change reduction efforts.

British Columbia is growing, and so is the need for electricity. BC Hydro is working to meet at least 66 per cent of new electricity demand through conservation and energy efficiency by 2020. In the last three years alone, BC Hydro’s Power Smart programs have saved close to 3,000 gigawatt hours of electricity – enough to power 270,000 homes annually. In addition to conservation, BC Hydro will meet demand and continue to ensure a clean, reliable supply of energy by investing now in the projects that are needed to keep the lights on in our province for the next 50 years.

Quotes

Hon. Rich Coleman, Minister of Energy and Mines
“Everyone who took the opportunity to participate in Earth Hour deserve our thanks for helping to demonstrate the merits of energy conservation. We look forward to building on this year success as we work together to find ways to further conserve energy and keep electricity rates as low as possible for British Columbians.”

Hon. Terry Lake, Minister of Environment
“I want to commend BC Hydro for the great work it does in promoting Earth Hour. Earth Hour is about conserving energy in the short term but it also gets us to think of easy ways to reduce our energy consumption over the long term, which in turn helps reduce our GHG emissions.”

Charles Reid, Acting President and CEO, BC Hydro
“Energy conservation is the most cost-effective way to meet future energy demand. If people applied the same simple conservation measures for even one hour every day for the whole year, the combined savings would power close to 4,000 homes for an entire year. Next year, during Earth Hour when smart meters are fully deployed, people will be able to track their own results from the day before through a secure on-line portal to help them realize how little measures really do add up to energy savings.”

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Earth Hour results:

Revelstoke 12.1%
Pemberton 6.8%
Ladysmith 5.8%
Whistler 5.6%
Sechelt 5.0%
North Cowichan 4.8%
Lumby 4.5%
Duncan 4.1%
Prince Rupert 4.1%
Prince George 4.0%
Comox 3.9%
Courtney 3.9%
Williams Lake 3.9%
Coldstream 3.8%
Kamloops 3.6%
Powell River 3.6%
Bowen Island 3.5%
Lake Country 3.4%
Vernon 3.4%
Lantzville 3.4%
West Vancovuer 3.3%
North Saanich 3.3%
Clearwater 3.2%
Sidney 3.1%
Parksville 3.0%
100 Mile House 2.8%
Colwood 2.7%
Langford 2.7%
Metchosin 2.7%
Nanaimo 2.6%
Smithers 2.6%
Telkwa 2.6%
Highlands 2.6%
Enderby 2.6%
View Royal 2.5%
Sicamous 2.5%
Qualicum Beach 2.5%
Hazelton 2.5%
New Hazelton 2.5%
Richmond 2.5%
Burns Lake 2.5%
Peachland 2.4%
Pitt Meadows 2.4%
Summerland 2.4%
West Kelowna 2.4%
Campbell River 2.4%
Sayward 2.3%
Salmon Arm 2.3%
Squamish 2.2%
Quesnel 2.2%
Wells 2.2%
Vancouver 2.1%
Saanich 2.1%
Burnaby 2.0%
Esquimalt 2.0%
Port Coquitlam 2.0%
Coquitlam 1.8%
Port Moody 1.8%
White Rock 1.8%
Anmore 1.8%
Belcarra 1.8%
Maple Ridge 1.8%
Sooke 1.7%
Oak Bay 1.6%
Victoria 1.6%
North Vancouver District 1.4%
Invermere 1.2%
Radium Hot Springs 1.2%
Delta 1.2%
Fernie 1.2%
Surrey 0.9%
Langley District 0.8%
Langley City 0.5%
North Vancouver city 0.4%
Fort St. James 0.2%
Houston 0.1%