World Earth Hour 2019
As electricians, we are privileged to see a growing trend to reduce electrical usage to help save our little planet. On March 30, 2019, at 8:30 PM a grassroots movement which has spread all over the world will be celebrated: World Earth Hour. Started in Sydney, Australia in 2007 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) it is a movement that began as a way to show commitment to the planet. Individuals, communities, households, and businesses around the world are encouraged to be ‘lights off’ between the hour of 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Since time zones are different worldwide, in outer space this would ideally look like a giant wave of a light show.
Phoenix shows support
While the event was not started to conserve energy, consumers and power plants noticed a decrease in the usage of electricity. Phoenix, Arizona as one of the 27 pilot cities to participate in 2008, has made it a yearly custom to celebrate World Earth Hour. Last year, ASU held ‘Sun Devil Go Dark,’ encouraging students to shut off nonessential lights and stargaze. Anyone who has seen the solar fields near ASU West Campus should know they plan to be complete climate neutrality from building emissions by 2025.
Please, use caution with candles as they are a high fire hazard. Never leave candles unattended with children.
If you have any plans that involve leaving your darkened house for that hour, you may want to check and see if the place you are attempting to go is still open.
What you can do
However, before you leave for the evening adventure, or if you are staying in to participate in your own home, here’s a list of things you can do. Join in the movement to save the planet and be a little more green by: shutting off the television, shutting down your computers and switch off the power strips, turn off the lights, avoid using the garage door opener, turn off the air conditioning or heat for an hour, skip doing laundry or blow drying your hair during that hour.
Does it make a difference?
Will that hour make a difference? You bet it will. Pop on over to www.earthhour.org to read about the changes that hour made. People worldwide didn’t just stop at electricity conservation, but waste management, water conservation and you can also have the nice, warm fuzzy feeling of making a small difference in the world.
Some fun activities
But if one hour without electronics has you wondering how to occupy yourself here are a few things to try.
1. Spend quality time as a family sharing ghost stories, or family history. Tell your kids about the good old days when you didn’t have Kindles, iPads or other electronic devices to entertain yourself.
2. Take a flashlight and go for a walk. You can hunt for scorpions or snakes or a new cactus to view in a new way.
3. Play cards by candlelight.
4. Dig out the dusty board games and play Monopoly or Candyland and refresh your brain on the simple joys of competition.
5. Leave the lights off, doors locked, and go to bed early that night. Chances are you are, like many other people in the world, slightly sleep deprived and those warm fuzzies of saving the planet, or just being plain old bored, can put you to sleep a bit earlier that night.
However, you decide to entertain yourself that hour, consider helping out the planet, saving resources and, quite frankly, learning how to lower your electricity bill by celebrating Earth Hour this year.
If you think your home is using too much electricity and want to lower your total bill, give us a call or ask your electric company to do an energy assessment.
Zimmerman Electric is here to serve your residential and commercial electrical needs throughout the Phoenix Valley metro area. Call us today if you need electrical work performed 602-497-3365.
