Christchurch community shows its power

The Earth Hour phenomenon that began in Sydney last year and found a new home in Christchurch on Saturday night appears set for even bigger worldwide success in 2009.

The organiser of the New Zealand Earth Hour, WWF-New Zealand, is already thinking about how to handle the event next year and says its increasing global popularity will make it difficult to control.

Christchurch residents, communities and businesses were yesterday reflecting on cutting 12.8 per cent off the city's average electricity use by switching off lights and unplugging appliances between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday.

The 36.6 megawatt hours of electricity conserved, as measured by network company Orion New Zealand in the urban Christchurch area, was well above the 5% target, equalling the amount of power used weekly in 213 Christchurch homes and saving the estimated equivalent of 8.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

A power saving of 5% was made across the wider Canterbury region, national grid company Transpower reported.

At the first Earth Hour in Sydney last year, energy savings of 10.2% were made.

Christchurch and Suva in Fiji shared the honour of being the first two of 23 cities around the world to hold Earth Hour officially on Saturday. Another 300 of the world's cities made their own efforts to save power.

About 2000 people gathered in Christchurch's Cathedral Square to show their support for the event, a joint initiative of WWF-New Zealand and The Press, and supported by Environment Canterbury (ECan) and the Christchurch City Council to raise awareness of climate change and how simple it is to make energy savings.

In the suburbs, families and communities switched off lights and spent a Saturday evening by candle-light.

The weather obliged for Earth Hour, with mild temperatures around 18deg and a thick north-west arch making it dark by about 7.30pm.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker led the countdown in the Square.

"Close to 100 million people around the planet are going to be joining us and we are the first in the world. Ladies and gentlemen, that is fantastic!"

The editor of The Press, Andrew Holden, confessed to nerves before the event.

"You can't really know whether people like the idea and want to be involved, but the result clearly proves that they did," Holden said.

"I keep hearing of people holding candle-lit dinners or parties, businesses turning off machinery ... there were so many who made a remarkable effort.

"It just shows that this community really cares for its part of the world and wants to protect it."

WWF-New Zealand executive director Chris Howe said the night was a big success.

"It was really good. We had a lot of people in the Square, it was pretty packed out," Howe said.

"Lots of buildings had their lights out, but a few offices that didn't looked pretty stupid -- I reckon they will be embarrassed about that," he said.

"Overall people took action all round the country, even if they weren't formal partners, so that was fantastic."

The key message from Saturday night was that combined small actions added up to a big action, he said.

"We proved that visually and proved it with the 13%. It can't solve climate change on its own but it is a start -- it should inspire people that if they take individual action it can make a difference."

Earth Hour would grow even larger in 2009, Howe said.

"It would be a mistake to think that it can actually be controlled as such. The point is that anyone can join in.

"What we want to do next year is prepare a guiding document that we can provide to anyone who wants to take part," Howe said.

"It does seem to free up people's imagination. If Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland sign up as official cities, it will be interesting to see what happens.

"Earth Hour is a global registered trademark -- they had to license us in New Zealand -- and to make sure that worked for the first time we had to make sure the city we were signing up was really committed."

Colmar Brunton research this week for WWF would reveal how many actually took part around Christchurch, Howe said.

Parker said Christchurch should be proud of what it achieved on Saturday night.

"I thought it was an outstanding success. The result was beyond anybody's expectations, and to be first in the world, and to be able to send the message that we were not only first but set an incredible total for others to aim at, was a message everybody in the city should be proud about.

"It was a great night -- a mild Saturday night down in Cathedral Square, packed to the gunwales. The atmosphere was friendly and we enjoyed doing it as a community."

ECan chairman Sir Kerry Burke said the council was thrilled with the Earth Hour energy saving of 12.8%.

"It was just wonderful and a very clear signal of the success of the promotion, of the commitment that people are making and the way the community has reacted to it."

ECan had been 100% behind Earth Hour and Burke was sure the regional council would support it again next year.

ECan chief executive Bryan Jenkins said the 12.8% saving showed the community had become more deeply involved in the event than expected.

"That was clearly encouraging. But there are other things that were happening beyond just the hour.

"People have taken it on and started to look at doing things differently and that is going to be the long-term benefit that will come from Earth Hour, not just the reduction between 8pm and 9pm," he said. "It is what people carry forward into their lives, the broader issue of people taking on board the underlining themes of sustainability."

- © Fairfax NZ News