Oakville Hydro is reporting that Oakvilleans collectively saved approximately 9.4 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity last Saturday night, March 23, during Earth Hour 2024. That's an equivalent to turning off about 625,000 15-watt light bulbs for one hour.
Earth Hour is an annual environmental awareness and action event celebrated worldwide, intended to promote reducing electricity and resources at home.
While that's a notable amount of energy saved, that translates to a 17% decline in participation from the same event in 2023, when Oakville reduced power usage by 11.3 MWh, which is the same as switching off about 750,000 15-watt light bulbs for one hour.
"Earth Hour is more than just a momentary gesture; it represents our collective responsibility towards environmental stewardship," shared Scott Mudie, EVP, Chief Energy Transformation Officer at Oakville Hydro.
"By turning off our lights for that one hour or finding ways to conserve energy, we create a path towards a brighter future for generations to come."
Oakville Hydro, which "delivers electricity to over 76,000 individuals and businesses in the town", released their annual data report today, March 26. The town-wide data was compiled after comparing the total consumption for Earth Hour last Saturday with that for the same time slot on Saturday, March 16.
Oakville Hydro "thanks residents and businesses within the Town of Oakville for embracing Earth Hour and for the community’s ongoing efforts in creating a more sustainable future."
About Earth Hour
Earth Hour is a worldwide movement for the planet that the World Wildlife Fund (“WWF”) started in 2007 with a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia. Since then, it has grown to engage more than 7,000 cities and towns worldwide, and the one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement of stopping climate change. For more information on Earth Hour, visit www.earthhour.org.
Update, March 27, 3:30 p.m.: A previous version of this story incorrectly read that 9.4 million megawatt hours were saved during Earth Hour, instead of the accurate 9.4 megawatt hours.