North Cowichan earns B.C.'s sixth-best lights-out spot during Earth Hour
North Cowichanians ended just behind Ladysmith folks, but ahead of Duncanites, during Earth-Hour electricity savings, municipal agents say.
Residents and businesses in North Cowichan were energy-saving leaders on March 31 as people across B.C. shut off lights, computers and appliances.
Of 91 participating communities, North Cowichan achieved the sixth-largest reduction, cutting 4.8 per cent from its energy use during the global Earth Hour.
“These are outstanding results,” said Councillor Kate Marsh, chairwoman of the climate-change advisory committee.
“A reduction of 4.8 per cent shows people in North Cowichan really take energy consumption seriously.
"Our committee has been hard at work on developing a Climate Action Plan for the municipality. We’re eager to have all of the Cowichan Valley’s energy savers come and help us.”
Ladysmith placed third in B.C. with a 5.8 per cent drop; Duncan was eighth at 4.1 per cent less power used during Earth Hour.
North Cowichan’s energy outage was more than twice that of Vancouver (2.1 per cent), and three times that achieved by Victoria (1.6 per cent), officials said.
The climate-change committee holds its second in a series of public workshops at 6 p.m. on May 29 in the Theatre (room 140) at Duncan's VIU campus.
That workshop offers presentations and group discussions about proposed implementation strategies for North Cowichan’s Climate Action and Energy Plan.
The committee also hosts an internet exchange -- http://ncclimateaction.ideascale.com -- where residents share ideas for saving energy and slowing climate change.
Earth Hour saw B.C. folks save 121 megawatt hours of juice, reducing their electricity demand by 1.67 per cent, municipal staff said.
Revelstoke topped the unplug with a 12.1 per cent reduction. Pemberton finished second at 6.8 per cent.
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