Consumption rises in the province, as BC's attention to Earth Hour continues to wane

The mega watt counters continued to count Saturday night across British Columbia, with residents of the province seemingly not embracing the call to power down for one hour in support of environmental concerns.

When the time came on Saturday for BC Hydro customers to dim the lights and reduce consumption, the findings were not quite what organizers might have hoped for.

Data released on Sunday by BC Hydro, noted that across the four service regions for the electric utility, consumption either showed no decrease, or actually increased from this time last year.

A situation that might suggest that Earth Hour organizers may need to do a bit more work, when it comes to spreading their message of conservation in the province for future years.

The participation levels for Earth Hour in BC has been
on a steady decline  for the last few years, with BC Hydro
reporting little in the way of Energy Savings found this year

As we outlined in our preview of Earth Hour last week, part of the problem with the project this year could have been through a lack of awareness.  Beyond a lack of attention from most of the media this year in the region, the ability to promote the annual event was also hindered by the school schedule.

With all of British Columbia's schools on Spring break, the opportunity for teachers to turn Earth Hour into a take home project for students was not available.

At times in previous years, the Earth Hour project would turn into a family event, but with no gentle nudge from youngsters as a reminder for this year, the results probably are about what should have been expected.

The full overview of the Earth Hour trends in BC can be found from this information release from BC Hydro.

Prior to this years Earth Hour observance, BC Hydro had provided an eight page look at trends and the elements that motivate British Columbians to want to conserve energy, though if this years results are an indication, seemingly not on the same schedule as Earth Hour organizers.

The document highlighted the ebb and flow of participation since 2008, along with some suggestions for ways for residents of the province to save energy every day of the year, something that British Columbians are apparently interested, in though more in the way that it can keep money in their hands than for anything else.

The BC Hydro review is available here.

Items of interest related to BC Hydro can be found here, with our archive of Community events from the year available here.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.