Turning every hour into Earth Hour
Congratulations to Salmo Valley Swimming Pool and Copper Creek Country Store, winners of the 2013 FortisBC PowerSense Earth Hour Challenge. Both won up to $4,000 in energy upgrades to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy costs.
About FortisBC’s Earth Hour challenge
Businesses and individuals who pledged to switch off from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on March 23 were eligible to win up to $4,000 in energy upgrades, and help a local non-profit organization win the same for their facility.
Local residents voted for the non-profit organization they wanted to receive the upgrades when they pledged to reduce their electricity use during Earth Hour.
Businesses take simple actions to save
This year marked the first time that businesses could also pledge and 213 of them answered pledged to take action to reduce their energy use such as getting an energy assessment of their facility or making upgrades and applying for rebates through one of FortisBC’s rebate programs.
One hour of savings add up
Participation in this year’s Earth Hour resulted in a 5.77 megawatts drop in electricity consumption, the equivalent of switching off over 96,000 incandescent light bulbs (60 Watt).
The savings don’t stop here
In addition to committing to turn off for one hour, more than 1,100 local residents made additional commitments to save energy, such as insulating their basement or attic, purchasing ENERGY STAR appliances and having a home energy audit.
About this year’s winners
Salmo Valley Swimming Pool received the most votes from the community. They hope to use the funding to assist with energy efficient upgrades to their water heating systems and lighting.
Copper Creek Country Store in Greenwood was chosen from businesses who pledged to reduce their energy use during Earth Hour and will receive an energy assessment of their business to determine how best to apply the $4,000 to achieve long-term energy savings.