Edmonton bests Calgary in Earth Hour Battle of Alberta

EDMONTON – Fewer Edmontonians may have unplugged for Earth Hour than they did last year, but the city came out a clear winner nonetheless in this particular Battle of Alberta.

Numbers released by Epcor on Sunday show power consumption in Edmonton dropped three per cent Saturday night between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., the World Wildlife Fund-designated hour when homes and businesses around the world voluntarily went dark for climate change awareness.

For those keeping score, Edmonton again did better than Calgary, which was shamed in 2008 when it recorded a 2.1-per-cent increase in power usage during Earth Hour. This year, Cowtown recorded a mere half-per-cent drop, which likely left participants at Calgary’s weekend Go Green Expo red in the face. City Earth Hour organizer Mary-Ann Thurber said she would have been dismayed with an Edmonton loss in such a competition.

"I couldn’t live with that, I don’t think." Last year Edmonton decreased energy consumption by five per cent — its best showing so far.

Coun. Ben Henderson was surprised this year’s event didn’t have as big an impact on power usage. "I’m obviously disappointed. It would have been nice to see the numbers better," said Henderson, who celebrated Earth Hour at a family friendly lights-out event on the steps of City Hall. "In terms of downtown, it looked like there were a lot more buildings that participated than participated in previous years. So I’m not sure what the other factors would be."

This was Edmonton’s third year participating in Earth Hour, which began in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 and has expanded into a global movement involving 35 countries. Major global landmarks, from the Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt to the Las Vegas Strip, went dark for the occasion on Saturday.

In Edmonton, a number of businesses dimmed their lights, including the revolving restaurant atop the Chateau Lacombe downtown, which stopped spinning for an hour. The City of Edmonton turned off all nonessential lighting in City Hall, Chancery Hall, and Century Place downtown and some city facilities, while its Earth Hour celebration at Churchill Square drew 350 people, up from 200 in 2009.

"There were certainly people out again at the event in downtown," said Henderson. "It was a good time — they had telescopes out and gorgeous views of the moon and of Mars and those are things you don’t normally see in the middle of a big city."

Edmonton was not the only Canadian city to see less dramatic drops in power consumption. Toronto recorded a 10-per-cent decrease, compared to 15.1 per cent last year

Cooler temperatures in Toronto might have contributed to the sharp difference in demand there, said WWF Canada Communications Director Josh Laughren, but he couldn’t say what might have affected usage in Edmonton. Still, Laughren called Earth Hour a success.

"What we’ve always said from Day 1 is measuring the power drop is beside the point. It isn’t about saving energy during that hour; it’s about an expression of support for the issue of climate change. It seems to me, in terms of participation in Earth Hour, people are as concerned or more concerned as any year in the past."

jfong@thejournal.canwest.com