Panda's pulling power

There were plenty of puzzled looks and lots of cries of "I want my picture taken with the panda".

With Earth Hour just two days away, the World Wildlife Fund's panda mascot cuddled, strolled and danced its way across Waikato University's Village Green yesterday, dishing out energy-efficient light bulbs to any student prepared to take one, and passing on information about the global climate change awareness event on Saturday night.

While some students had no idea about the panda or the thrust of the random light bulb giveaways, the Waikato Times found several students who knew what was going on.

"It's about conserving energy, isn't it?" said student Hayley Palmer. "We switch off all our electricity, and save some power. It's just an hour and the panda's cool."

The university has already made major strides in energy conservation over the last few years. Facilities management division manager Tony Dicks said the university had saved an estimated $1 million on its power bill in recent years through the installation of computer-controlled lighting and air-conditioning systems. Those improvements had been funded through a $400,000 loan from the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority.

The university had strived to "control very carefully" the power used in some of the larger rooms, such as the L Block and S Block lecture theatres.

"We work to the timetable, so we switch it on for the lecture, then switch it off when it's finished," Mr Dicks said. As part of the multimillion-dollar remodelling of the university library, some lighting and air-conditioning elements will be reused.

Staff and students were generally buying into simple energy-saving measures such as turning off lights in unused rooms. "The key to most of these things is that it's not big leaps, it's small steps. We've got to just keep plugging away."

Saturday nights at the university were traditionally quiet, so the campus would have only limited security lighting switched on during Earth Hour.

If your organisation, group or company has an event planned for Earth Hour please email details to jeff.neems@waikatotimes.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News