Results of Earth Hour 2008 - PerthThousands of Perth residents joined Earth Hour on Saturday March 29 between 8.00pm and 9.00pm by flicking the switch, turning appliances off stand-by and enjoying an hour of darkness.
Residents and businesses across the city showed their support for Earth Hour resulting in an impressive eight percent drop in energy usage across the usually glittering CBD.
A three percent drop in power consumption, 60 MWh, was also recorded across the whole network. This energy saving is the equivalent of powering over 30,000 homes at that time of night.
Western Power's General Manager, System Management, Ken Brown said at the East Perth control centre there was a noticeable decline on Saturday night in energy consumption between 8 and 9pm.
"At the control centre we started to see a reduction in power use at about 7:45pm and by 8:00pm it was quite clear that a significant number of people outside the CBD were participating in Earth Hour and reducing their power consumption.
"We expected to see a reduction in the CBD, but the surprising aspect was the level of participation from the general public. Achieving a reduction of 60MWh across the network is the equivalent of lighting up to 100,000 households at that time of night.
Earth Hour was initiated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Australia and started in 2007. It is now an international event, with more than 370 cities, towns and councils across the world taking part. Kicking off in Christchurch, New Zealand, Earth Hour rolled through 14 time zones, wrapping up in San Francisco, USA.
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Page update on 31 March 2008
