How Bangkokians cut their carbon emissions by 11 tons on Saturday night
Bangkokians helped reduce carbon emissions by 11 tonnes by turning off their lights for an hour during the 60+ Earth Hour campaign on Saturday (March 23), the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) said.
On Saturday, people in Bangkok switched off their lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, joining the annual "60+ Earth Hour" campaign.
Just an hour without lights in Bangkok can reduce electricity costs by 130,182 baht while the electricity demand was reduced by 24.65 megawatts when compared with the same period the week before, the authority said.
This was the 18th year the "60+ Earth Hour" campaign was held in collaboration with the MEA, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Foundation for Environmental Education for Sustainable Development, WWF Thailand, along with partner agencies in both the public and private sectors.
The MEA contributed to the campaign by turning off the lights at its headquarters, Watthanavipas Building, in Bangkok’s Khlong Toei district, the MEA sub-office in Ploenchit, and 17 other district offices.
The MEA said it also encouraged participation by its employees to help save energy and alleviate the causes of climate change.
Lights off was started by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international non-governmental organisation, as a symbolic event to keep the lights off in Sydney in 2007. It has turned into a major global catalyst to promote the environmental protection. The organisers said that more than "410,000 hours were given" to the planet last year through support for the campaign in over 190 countries and territories.
The campaign aims to encourage people around the world to turn off their lights for an hour to reduce global warming.
