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 My neighbouring HDB block was plunged into darkness at 830 pm last Saturday.
Well, not quite - it would have been heartening (though a little unnerving) if every single flat had taken part in Earth Hour, but we did notice at least 10 units switching off their lights. It’s a start, to say the least.
Though this year saw an increase of Earth Hour participants in Singapore to 400 companies, total reduction in electricity consumption – 23 megawatts - was only roughly half that of last year’s Earth Hour, when power consumption fell by 42 megawatts. This drop represented just 0.021 per cent of average electricity consumption for Saturdays, according to the Energy Market Authority, EMA (Today Online, 29 Mar 2010).
There is every likelihood that while more lights were turned off, more air-cons and electrical appliances stayed ON. Just think - how many households turned off their lights but continued to watch programmes on their flatscreen TVs or engage in webchats? Well, including mine, somewhat. My kids’ granny refused to be parted from her regular Korean dramas on cable but I did try something different with the kids – learning about candles and shadows in the kitchen.
I didn’t think this would distract the 5 and 9 year-old from Disney Channel and Nintendo Wii for a full hour but surprise, surprise – it did. The questions came hard and fast – Why is the wax so hot? How to make cat and dog shadows? (the Dad could only manage rabbits…) Can we pour some wax in the fishtank and see if it floats? (NO.) How do magic relighting candles work? (had to do a bit of online research for this one… AFTER Earth Hour was over.) And while answering these questions, we weaved in a bit of Science revision about changes of state (since exams were not too far away… no harm right?).
All in all, we gained more than just learning to do without the lights, TV, computer and aircon for an hour – it was a reminder that with the right spirit and a few props thrown in, kids can have fun and learn without electricity-guzzling gadgets. As adults, sometimes it is too easy and convenient to forget that this IS possible.
Undoubtedly, we must go beyond Earth Hour if we want to make any substantial difference to our overall energy consumption. Hence, it is heartening to read that so many companies – in Singapore and elsewhere - are going beyond Earth Hour to put in place long-term measures to reduce electricity consumption. As for my household, we’ll try to do our a bit a little more often, not just by doing without the lights and other conveniences we take for granted, but by making the most of such periods to do things together as a family, that we otherwise won’t.
Not much, not enough? Well, little grains of sand, I say.
Did you or your family take part in Earth Hour? What did your kids have to say about the experience? What are YOUR thoughts about it? Do share with us.
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