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The 2015 edition of Earth Hour was a bust in the province as B.C. only saved 15 megawatt hours of electricity on Saturday night.
The annual event only reduced the provincial electricity load by 0.2 per cent during Earth Hour, which took place from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on March 28th. The equivalent of about 680,000 LED light bulbs were turned off for the hour. In 2014 65 megawatt hours were reported with an overall reduction of one per cent recorded. The numbers from BC Hydro indicate that Peachland, Summerland, and West Kelowna had a 0.5 per cent reduction in each community.
Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com
Whistler saved the most energy this year with a 7.2 per cent reduction in megawatt hours, followed by Invermere at 6.7 per cent and Clearwater at 4.0 per cent. Earth Hour is an annual global event hosted by the World Wildlife Fund. People around the world are encouraged to turn off unnecessary lights and electronics for one hour. It started as a one-city initiative in Sydney, Australia in 2007.
FortisBC has yet to report how much electricity was saved during Earth Hour this year. Information regarding Kelowna’s participation will be released with this data.
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