only 5%

Lackluster response to Earth Hour. The Globe and Mail reported:

In Toronto, energy use fell by 115 megawatts between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., a drop of about 5 per cent, said Jennifer Link, a spokeswoman for Toronto Hydro.

Last year, the city's Earth Hour efforts saved 296 megawatts.

In 2009, it was 454 megawatts.

Not good.

Why was it so poor this year? Some say that the novelty is wearing off. Certainly, I did not perceive as much attention to the event. Not very much marketing.

Last year I remember reading a remark that said it is really not the best time of year to do this sort of thing. Last night was certainly not balmy. Lights aside, we need a lot of electricity on these chilly winter evenings.

Another thought I had was about the entire handling of the statistics. I'm sure it's not the case but were the total consumption numbers the same from year to year? There's a piece of data missing. They say it went down 115 this year. But from where? Optimistically thinking, what if we were already consuming less than last year. Then 5% might be a big amount.

As usual, the statistics need to be taken with a grain of salt...

Personally, I think I'm consuming a lot less electricity than ever before. I have many in-service power bars that I switch off when appropriate. For example, I don't run my microwave continously; I only power it up when cooking. I don't run one computer continously where I used to in the past. I recently built my suspended clothes rack (thanks to Lora and Phil) in the new place and I hang and air-dry clothes regularly now. I'm only using the electric dryer when I need something done fast. I make a point of turning off lights when I don't need them. I only use the washing machine at off-peak times. I'm doing my bit.