Toronto drops 115 MW at Earth Hour

Earth Hour Energy Savings highlight electricity reduction, climate action, and demand response as Toronto and New Brunswick cut load, with Toronto Hydro and NB Power reporting megawatt drops from lights-off participation across the power grid.

Toronto Hydro reports that the city collectively dropped about 115 MW of electricity use during Earth Hour, March 26.

By cutting back on their electricity usage, Torontonians, in a province where Ontario saved 900 MW during the event, were able to remove approximately 12 skyscrapers or 35,000 homes from the city's grid.

For those interested in finding out how much electricity an individual household saved during the hour, Toronto Hydro customers who are signed up for the Time-of-Use rates portal can log into their account and view how much electricity they saved during Earth Hour, and learn about the utility's Earth Hour contest as well.

NB Power was pleased with that province’s participation in Earth Hour, calling it the most successful one yet in New Brunswick.

Earth Hour, a global environmental event to get people thinking about climate change, saw people turning off the lights for an hour on Saturday night.

In New Brunswick, energy consumption was reduced by 24 megawatts for the hour, which the company said is equal to turning off 480,000 lights, while Ottawa's power use dropped 4% during Earth Hour as well, highlighting widespread participation.

"We are pleased to see so many New Brunswickers participated in this challenge," said Sherry Thomson, vice-president of customer service, distribution and transmission at NB Power. "This is truly a testament to how we can all work together... to help protect the environment for future generations."

Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, and by 2010 had grown to involve 128 countries, with communities counting down to Earth Hour worldwide by then.

"Earth Hour is a wonderful educational and awareness opportunity and it is our hope that as a result, New Brunswickers will be more conscious of what they can do to conserve energy," Thomson said.

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