Earth hour is more than a symbol, 56MW to be saved

Observing “Earth Hour” by switching off your electricity from 8:30 to 9:30 PM today Saturday, March 28, 2009 will not only be a symbol of cooperation among those who want to stop global warming. It is also a surefire way of saving on electric consumption.

“Aside from making a political statement, the one hour Earth Hour will also save some 560 megawatts of power for the Philippines alone,” councilor Rachel Zozobrado said. That’s the target of the Department of Energy for this year’s Earth Hour. The country saved 80MWh from last year’s Earth hour which was joined by more than one million Filipinos. The organizers of Earth Hour are targeting 10 million Filipino participants this year thereby increasing the amount of energy saved for just an hour.

Zozobrado said Luzon saved 56MWh of power while Metro Manila saved 16 MWh of power in just one hour during last year’s Earth Hour observance. The power saved is already equivalent to shutting down a small coal-fired power plant for one hour.

“We should use this occasion to jumpstart efficient energy use not only for an hour but the whole year round,” she said. The practice of certain government offices in regulating the use of air conditioners is already a good start but needs a more serious implementation.

She said even the private sector should contribute in power conservation by regulating their power use. Observance of the one hour power outage during the Earth Hour is already a good start but it should have a follow through to be more successful, she added.

Zozobrado said the approval of the Renewable Energy Bill, which took 19 years, should also be considered a good start for the government. However, she added, it should jumpstart other energy conservation laws.

Earth Hour aims to get more people involved in reducing the greenhouse gases and in other issues involving climate change. The key here, she said, is to limit the use of non-essential lights and electrical appliances not only for an hour but for the rest of the year.