Ottawa joins March 29 Earth Hour challenge
Toronto Star / Bruce Campion-Smith / 31 January 2008
OTTAWA–The nation's capital is going dark.
The City of Ottawa plans to announce today that it will join the Earth Hour challenge. Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien will reveal how his city plans to join an international group of communities in turning out the lights March 29.
On that day, global cities including Toronto, Sydney, Manila, Copenhagen and Tel Aviv will turn off the lights between 8 and 9 p.m. local times to draw worldwide attention to climate change. The Star, along with the City of Toronto, is sponsoring the Saturday event.
The campaign began last year in Sydney and has attracted participants around the globe.
Montreal councillor Alan de Souza, who is responsible for environmental matters on that city's executive committee, is intrigued by the idea and exploring whether there's still enough time for the city to organize the event.
The initiative has also won support from other members of council, including opposition party members.
A spokesperson for Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay said: "We're going to look into how we can do this or even if we can still do this. A decision will be made soon."
In Vancouver, city councillor David Cadman said he plans to bring a proposal within a few weeks to have Earth Hour in the city.
"We need to learn from each other and Earth Hour is something we should do across the country," said Cadman, an environmental activist. "Turning off the lights for one hour in itself is just the start. We could do more than that and we have to make people conscious of how we use energy."
Cadman said he's also proposing some way to increase use of power bars to turn off energy to household items like microwaves and televisions when they're not in use.
Climate change specialist Ian Bruce, with the David Suzuki Foundation, said any idea that has people thinking of ways to reduce their energy use is welcome.
"It makes an impact because it's not just turning off lights for one hour," he said. "It becomes a pattern for people to follow."
The Toronto Star / Tyler Hamilton / 15 March 2008
They're eye-catching behemoths of glass, concrete and steel, each a beacon of financial strength rising tall from the heart of downtown Toronto, and dozens of them are preparing to blend into the darkness on the evening of March 29.
First Canadian Place, the Canada Life Building, Commerce Court and Toronto-Dominion Centre are just some of the well-known office buildings that have committed to dimming their lights – sometimes much more – during Earth Hour.
"So far we've got 87 building managers within the GTA that are participating in Earth Hour, and about 30 of them are downtown office buildings," says Chuck Stradling, executive vice-president of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) in Toronto.
BOMA recently surveyed members that have agreed to participate. "All said at least 80 per cent of their lights will be turned off, and half said 90 per cent or more of their lights will be off," Stradling said.
Lighting typically represents more than 30 per cent of an office building's electricity use. It's estimated the average bank tower could save $2 million a year by cutting consumption by one-third.
Over at the Royal Bank Plaza at 200 Bay St., everyone will be asked to observe the occasion. The bank's branches worldwide are expected to do the same, wherever it's safe, said spokesperson Beja Rodeck.
Building owners GWL Realty, Brookfield Properties, Oxford Properties and Cadillac Fairview have all stepped up to promote Earth Hour across the network of skyscrapers that define the skyline.
The 77-year-old Canada Life Building and neighbouring tower, at 330 University Ave., won't just be turning off indoor lights.
"We will be turning off the weather beacon," said Gayle Gonsalves, marketing manager for GWL, referring to the iconic lights atop the peak that for 57 years have signalled red for rain, white for snow.
At 33 Yonge St., another GWL property gets to show off a new automated lighting system it installed in 2005, based on innovation by Oakville's Fifth Light Technology.
Technology giant EDS Canada is the anchor tenant. Spokesperson Greg Stevens said the lighting is on a network of wireless sensors and controllers that dim or switch off lights to maximize efficiency. Some lights go off when a room has been empty for a time. Others dim to balance natural sunlight. Some are programmed to time of day. "It's all automatic," said Stevens. "I'm hearing we're saving about 40 per cent."
Sustainable Development Technology Canada, the federal agency that helped fund the pilot project, says that if 200 office towers installed that technology, the province could shut down a coal plant.
For VenGrowth Asset Management Inc., a key tenant in Brookfield's Lombard Place at 105 Adelaide St. E., taking part in Earth Hour extends into the homes of employees and associates.
"We really saw an opportunity to take the initiative further," said Matthew Snare, VenGrowth's vice-president of marketing. The company's awareness effort includes a viral email campaign targeted at 40,000 financial advisors across Canada, and creating "Earth Hour Survival Kits" to hand out to employees and selected advisors.
"In that kit we put in really neat things to help people have fun in the dark," said Snare. For example: a deck of cards and tips on how to participate with family and neighbours. "The end objective was to get a chain reaction to occur, and so far the awareness is going very well."
Taki Eliadis, who heads up conservation programs in commercial buildings for the Ontario Power Authority, said Earth Hour's benefit is that it goes beyond simple awareness: "Getting people to act, to say at a moment in time, `I'm going to do this, right now,' is a great first step to changing behaviour."
The challenge now is to convince property managers to see conservation as a never-ending journey.
Eliadis said spending about $1 billion by 2011 could reduce power use in such buildings by 1,350 megawatts – about the size of a large nuclear reactor, or enough to power Ottawa, Guelph and Kingston.
That works out to about $1 million in investment and one megawatt of savings daily over three years. "Every day that goes by puts us a megawatt behind," he added. "So we need the commercial sector at the table."
WWF / Press Release / 14 March 2008
Many countries will participate in Earth Hour on March 29 at 8 pm, but Canada is leading the global effort on both the number of individuals who have signed up for the event and the number of cities participating. To date almost 30,000 Canadians have registered their participation for Earth Hour and more than 60 cities from coast to coast have also pledged to turn off the lights on March 29.
Even Australia, the country that pioneered the event last year, and the US with a population 10 times as large as Canada's, are trailing in sign-ups. This is yet another signal that Canadians are serious about taking action on climate change. But the count is close. The US are behind by less than 1,000 people, so Canadians need to keep registering their participation for Earth Hour at www.earthhour.org to ensure Canada maintains its leadership status.
"We are delighted and overwhelmed by Canadians' support for Earth Hour. This initiative began in Canada with only one city and now has grown into a national movement. Everyday I hear from individuals, businesses and organizations who are going above and beyond just turning out their lights. It's truly inspiring," said Tara Wood, Manager of Earth Hour, WWF-Canada.
Aside from turning their lights out, Canadians are hosting their own Earth Hour events, restaurants are creating Earth Hour menus and having candle-light dinners, numerous municipalities are hosting free public celebrations, and even businesses are donating their own advertising space to help WWF spread the word.
Earth Hour is a global lights-out phenomenon that will bring together people from all over the world to show their support for action on climate change. More than 20 major cities around the world are already participating including Sydney, Chicago and Copenhagen.
Last year, WWF's Earth Hour made its debut in Sydney and it was a huge success. More than 2 million individuals and businesses participated resulting in a 10 per cent reduction on the electrical grid, saving 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The Toronto Star / Phinjo Gombu / 16 February 2008
Company in Vaughan plans to add a slight twist to hockey event by flicking the switch
Even the great Canadian game will come to a standstill during Earth Hour, when cities across the GTA – and around the world – turn off their lights for 60 minutes to illustrate the need for immediate action on climate change.
On March 29, the puck stops at the Sports Village, a four-pad arena in Vaughan where the men and women who operate Ontario's electric utilities happen to be continuing a 30-year tradition called the Ontario Electric Utilities Hockey Tournament.
Brian Bentz, the CEO of Powerstream Inc., the utility that powers more than 237,000 customers in Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham and Aurora, said stopping the games and shutting off the lights that shine on the four ice surfaces – by the workers who provide electricity – will send a message.
"Having the employee hockey tournament show its support for Earth Hour in this manner is consistent with the industry's position and ongoing efforts to build a culture of conservation," said Bentz.
It's just the latest sign that the call to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. March 29, alongside cities around the world such as Montreal, Sydney, Chicago, Tel Aviv and Brisbane, is catching on in the cities that ring Toronto.
Just this past week, Vaughan, Markham and Mississauga joined Brampton, Oakville, York Region and other municipalities that have voted to endorse Earth Hour. Municipalities have been prompted to review their facilities to determine what lights can be turned off while maintaining public safety.
Many are also searching for landmarks that can "go dark."
Among the most enthusiastic is Markham, which has begun an advertising campaign to encourage residents to shut off or dim down.
It includes emails to residents, ads in local papers and letters to local businesses encouraging them to get involved. All residents who respond or register with Earth Hour are being sent the city's Celebrate our Environment Calendar by email.
Already on board are corporate titans such as Motorola, IBM and Philips, which all have headquarters in Markham.
City hall and most municipal facilities, such as community centres, will go dark or dim, with exceptions made for street lighting and inside lighting needed for safety.
Detailed plans are still being worked out.
Town spokesperson Catherine Harrison said joining the Earth Hour campaign was a natural fit for the municipality, which already has an energy conservation office set up to champion sustainable living.
"Markham is looking to do the right thing, but also the most visible things," said Harrison. "Ultimately, Earth Hour is symbolic. We are trying to raise awareness of how we can all contribute to saving energy and saving our planet."
To gauge its success, Markham has asked Powerstream to track electricity usage before, during and after the hour, to see how much consumption drops.
But talk to politicians like Mississauga Councillor George Carlson and they echo the Markham sentiment that municipalities are taking the lead in saving the environment and curtailing climate change.
"Mississauga is 100 per cent behind the idea (of Earth Hour), and we are excited about it," said Carlson, who heads the city's environmental committee.
Environment-friendly projects are sprouting across the GTA as municipalities try to outdo each other. Here are some examples:
Mississauga recently installed a massive solar-panel pilot project on the roof of the Hershey Centre, expected to produce enough electricity to power a nearby fire hall.
Vaughan has come up with a way to power the Villa Colombo long-term-care facility with a cogeneration system – the first of its kind in Ontario – to use natural gas to produce both heat and electricity, keeping it off the power grid.
York Region is experimenting with using wind power to run a waste-water treatment plant on the shores of Lake Simcoe.
Markham has a pilot project using solar power to help heat the swimming pool at Milliken Mills. Photo sensors have been installed to turn off lights automatically when there is enough daylight.
Pickering retrofitted lighting at city hall, expecting to save almost $70,000 a year in energy costs – and 400 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb. 12, 2008) - Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and more than a dozen other municipalities in Ontario have signed on to participate in WWF's global lights out event, Earth Hour. These cities have committed to turning off their lights for one hour at 8 p.m. on March 29, and will encourage residents and businesses within the city to participate and show support for action on climate change.
Municipalities in Ontario that have joined include Oakville, Vaughan, Brampton, Sarnia, Halton Hills, Whitby, Mississauga, and London - with dozens more interested. These Canadian cities are in addition to more than 15 major cities around the world that already joined, including Sydney, Chicago, Copenhagen and Dublin.
Last year, Earth Hour made its successful debut in Sydney, Australia. More than 2 million individuals and businesses participated, resulting in a 10 per cent reduction on the electrical grid and saving 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
This year, Toronto was the first city to sign-on to WWF's Earth Hour. WWF-Canada's official partners for Earth Hour Toronto are the Toronto Star, Virgin Mobile and the City of Toronto. Individuals can sign-up and find out more information at wwf.ca/EarthHour.
Turning off your lights for one hour will help create awareness and build momentum, but Earth Hour won't stop the climate crisis on its own. To help ensure that Canadians make long-term changes beyond Earth Hour, WWF-Canada has created The Good Life. The Good Life is an online, action-oriented campaign to enable and encourage Canadians to make changes in their everyday lives to reduce their environmental footprint. This includes a range of actions from easy (like switching to CFL light bulbs) to more complicated (installing an energy efficient furnace) - something for everyone who wants a greener lifestyle.
In less than month since WWF-Canada launched The Good Life, participants have reduced over 5,000,000 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions, which is the equivalent of taking more than 800 cars off the road. This in turn will show our business and political leaders that Canadians are serious about demanding urgent action to fight climate change. For more information visit wwf.ca.
Materials available:
1. Earth Hour MPEG available - preview at wwf.ca/EarthHour
2. Photos from Earth Hour 2007
3. Earth Hour summary available at wwf.ca/EarthHour
This news release and associated material can be found on wwf.ca
It will be lights out for the 2008 Ontario Electric Utilities Hockey Tournament when it's held March 28 -30 at The Sports Village complex in Vaughan - but only for an hour.
As part of the growing number of communities and organizations throughout the world that will be participating in Earth Hour on March 29, the tournament's organizing committee, the host utility PowerStream Inc. and the owner of the Sports Village, the Mentana Group Inc., have decided to show their support and will suspend the competition and turn the lights off to the facility's four ice surfaces that evening between 8-9 p.m.
"Ontario's electric utilities for the past few years have been leaders in delivering conservation programs to residents and businesses within our respective service territories," explained Brian Bentz, President and CEO of PowerStream. "Having the employee hockey tournament show its support for Earth Hour in this manner is consistent with the industry's position and on-going efforts to help build a culture of conservation in the province."
According to tournament director and PowerStream System Control Supervisor, John McClean, the idea to support Earth Hour was proposed by one of the members of the tournament's organizing committee at a recent meeting.
"It was enthusiastically accepted by the committee and quickly endorsed by PowerStream and the folks at The Sports Village," said McClean.
This year's tournament marks the 30th anniversary of the event as well as the first time a local electricity distribution company (LDC) has played host, and not an organization which was previously part of the former Ontario Hydro.
The tournament originated in the mid 70's as a competition between Ontario Hydro departments. It continued to be held in subsequent years, even after the de-merger of the former provincial utility into several successor companies including Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One, the Independent Electricity System Operator and the Electrical Safety Authority. Since then, PowerStream and other LDCs have been invited to participate.
The event is funded through team entry fees and sponsorship monies collected from industry related and local businesses. Any revenue earned from the tournament which exceeds the cost of hosting the event will be donated to the United Way of York Region.
More information on the event, including an entry form for interested employee teams from other electric utilities in Ontario can be found on the tournament's website at www.eteamz.active.com/utilitieshockey.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 31, 2008) - Hydro Ottawa welcomes the announcement this morning by Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien that Ottawa will participate in Earth Hour 2008 on March 29th at 8 pm. As a local leader in conservation initiatives, Hydro Ottawa announced today that it will partner with the City to raise awareness of this important initiative.
Created to raise global awareness of climate change, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for change.
"Earth Hour has drawn attention to the importance of energy conservation in cities around the world, and we're very proud to be supporting the first Ottawa Earth Hour," said Rosemarie Leclair, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hydro Ottawa Group of Companies." The beauty of the initiative is that it's something we can all participate in together, to make a united statement along with other world class cities about our commitment to energy conservation."
"It's often the simplest actions - like changing a light bulb or turning off the lights for an hour - that are most effective in getting people engaged in the every day effort to conserve energy," said Ms. Leclair.
Earth Hour was pioneered by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Sydney, Australia in 2007, with almost 2.3 million participants taking part, including 2,100 businesses. The initiative resulted in a 10 per cent reduction in demand on the electrical grid, and a reduction of 25,000 tones of carbon dioxide emissions - the equivalent of taking almost 50,000 cars off the road for an hour. In 2008, cities around the world are joining the effort, including Chicago, Copenhagen, and Toronto.
Over the past several years, Hydro Ottawa and its customers have been leading the charge on energy conservation in Ottawa, resulting in 62,834,375 kWh of electricity savings through Hydro Ottawa sponsored programs in 2005-2006 alone. Studies show that Ottawa is getting the message, with the highest awareness of the term "conservation culture" in the province, and the highest use of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and programmable thermostats in the country.
"Earth Hour builds on the conservation efforts Ottawa residents have already been making over the past few years. We're hoping it will deliver another burst of momentum to get more people engaged in the effort. As the nation's capital, Ottawa has the opportunity to show continued leadership on a global scale by participating in this event."
For more information on how you can get involved, visit www.earthhour.org. For more information on Hydro Ottawa's conservation programs, visit www.hydroottawa.com.
According to the Ministry of Education, these seven area schools are participating in Earth Hour: