Earth Hour on March 27

Saturday, 13 March 2010 13:17 Maui A. Hermitanio

Fifteen million Filipinos are expected to join this year’s Earth Hour on March 27. On that date, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m, households and establishments nationwide will turn off lights as an expression of support for Earth’s long-term survival. Around one billion people will turn off their lights across time zones worldwide.

Earth Hour, the world’s largest mass participation event committing to switch off lights serves as a symbolic call to action against the adverse effects of global warming and climate change.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines, the public [should] take a united and sustained action in terms of best energy practices and more responsible lifestyles.”

WWF’s Yeb Saño, who is also Earth Hour Philippines national director, said they projected a savings in the country of around 811 megawatts per hour, or between P5 million and P6 million, Inquirer online reported.

Last year, the Philippines ranked first among the 88 nations that joined the event, with more than 10 million participants from 647 cities and municipalities nationwide. The 60 minutes of darkness in the country resulted in the displacement of 611 megawatt-hours worth of electricity, translating to savings of around P3 million.

The Green Army network encourages more people to join the Earth Hour Circle of Advocates. “Commitment to support Earth Hour 2010 entails getting 10 other friends or members of your network to support Earth Hour. Those that you bring in to the Circle of Earth Hour advocates will each, in turn, get 10 new Earth Hour Advocates. The process continues toward building a community of Earth Hour advocates.”

The project is supported by the Department of Energy.

Meanwhile, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the implementation of additional measures to address the power crisis - apply automatic deloading, or disconnection of demand, between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. which are the peak hours; schedule manufacturing activities during the off-peak period between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.; advise load consumers to follow the Napocor-recommended level of curtailment; and ask consumers to implement energy-conservation measures.

Since February, Luzon and Mindanao regions had been experiencing series of rotating brownouts due to power supply problem brought by the El Nino phenomenon.

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