What is Earth Hour? Earth Hour is a worldwide grassroots movement uniting people to protect the planet. Earth Hour 2016 is March 19 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm.
What is the Earth Hour Challenge? The Challenge is sponsored by Fortis Alberta, and offers 3 grants for municipalities to compete for. First, second and third place winners will be awarded $7,500, $5,000 and $2,500 grants respectively, to enable municipalities to create or enhance energy efficiencies in their communities. If Black Diamond wins one of the grants, the funds will be used to provide LED lighting retrofits for a few lucky residents who participate in Earth Hour in Black Diamond. The retrofit winners will be drawn from the participants who register with the Town. And just to say “thank you” for participating, even if the Town does not win a grant, we’re still going to draw to give away 1 home energy audit, to help the winner identify areas of savings and help lower utility costs. The draw(s) will be made at the 2016 Sustainability Fair on May 13.
How does a municipality win a grant? The Town of Black Diamond has already applied for the grant, now we need the help of our residents. The Town must reduce its electricity consumption during Earth Hour, compared to the same hour the week prior – March 12, 2016 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. Reducing consumption is the goal of Earth Hour, but it’s not enough to win the grant. We must be one of the 3 communities with the highest energy savings per capita during Earth Hour to win one of the grants.
How can residents take part? The more participants we have, the better our chances of winning. Registering is easy. Just go to the Town of Black Diamond website (www.town.blackdiamond.ab.ca), look for the News Items, and find the Earth Hour Challenge item. The registration form is there to complete and submit. THEN, on March 19th, PARTICIPATE! Do whatever you can to reduce your electrical consumption for at least that one hour. If you are not using an appliance or device “Turn It Off”, go for a walk, play a family board game by candlelight…or just turn off your lights! It’s easy!
Learning About LED Lights
Did you know that the average home has approximately 25 light bulbs? The life expectancy of an incandescent bulb is 1,200 hours, while an LED is 50,000 hours.
The chart below shows the cost savings, comparing LED, Compact Florescent Lights (CFL) and Incandescent lighting:
Light Output Comparison
LED lights are:
- instant-on,
- more durable than CFL and Incandescent
LED lights are not:
- sensitive to cold temperatures or humidity
LED lights produce less heat
LED lights do not contain any mercury
PLEASE PARTICIPATE!
Quinn Page
Economic Development & Events Manager
Town of Black Diamond