Switching off makes huge difference

South Africans contributed 420 megawatts (MW) of electricity savings to the Earth Hour initiative.

Dr Steve Lennon, managing director of corporate services and Eskom climate change champion, said the saving was higher than the 400MW recorded during Earth Hour last year.

"The 420MW translates to about 4 million 100-watt (W) bulbs or 6.7 million 60W bulbs switched off on Saturday. This shows a concerted effort by approximately 1 million households," said Lennon.

From an environmental angle, every person who participated in the Earth Hour initiative in South Africa can say they contributed to the saving of 400 tons of carbon dioxide, 224 tons of coal and 576 kilolitres of water, as power stations did not need to generate the 420MW of electricity.

Lights on average consume about 10 percent of household electricity, whereas geysers use as much as 40 percent of the total electricity bill. "Imagine if we had all switched off our geysers as well on Saturday.

"This goes to show that we as South Africans can really make a difference with very little effort," said Lennon.

The Power Alert broadcast on TV every weekday shows South Africans the status of the electricity system. To some extent, this serves as our own Earth Hour "energy conscience".

"We believe that the Earth Hour initiative has created incredible excitement around the need for efficient use of energy.

"As South Africa's primary supplier of electricity, our hope is that all South Africans harness this excitement and use energy wisely every day of the year," said Lennon.

Pretoria News

Posted at 10:16AM Mar 31, 2010 by Editor in Residential  |  Comments[2]