A warm weekend may have helped St. Albert set a new conservation record last month when it went dark for Earth Hour.
City residents shut off their lights on March 31 between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. as part of Earth Hour, an international event meant to raise awareness about energy conservation and climate change.
A record 6,500 cities took part in this year’s event, says Josh Laughren, spokesperson for the World Wildlife Fund, which organizes Earth Hour, including 511 in Canada.
“There’s still an enormous desire to see action on climate change,” he concludes, “and an enormous commitment by people to be a part of the solution.”
St. Albert’s power use dropped 5.8 per cent during Earth Hour compared to the same hour a week before, says Kate George, spokesperson for FortisAlberta, which manages St. Albert’s power lines, a big jump from last year’s 1.7 per cent and the largest drop since the city first took part in Earth Hour four years ago.
“The citizens are saying that this is something that’s really important to them,” she concludes. “Hopefully, next year you can do even better.”
St. Albert saved about 3,700 kilowatt-hours of electricity during Earth Hour, George says, or enough to power about 3,300 homes for an hour. St. Albert was about nine degrees warmer this year than it was during last year’s Earth Hour, she notes, which may have encouraged more people to head outdoors and shut off their lights.
Edmonton’s energy use dropped by about 3.4 per cent during Earth Hour, notes Epcor spokesperson Tim le Riche. A city’s energy use can swing by as much as 10 per cent in an hour, he adds, so it’s hard to say whether this drop was caused by the event.
It’s been five years since the first Earth Hour, and Laughren says we still have a long way to go in terms of stopping climate change. Still, he says, “We’ve seen an enormous amount of change in five years.” B.C. now has a carbon tax, for example, and Quebec now has a cap-and-trade system.
Earth Hour will next occur on March 30, 2013.
Birdwatchers could be in for a weird weekend next week, as warm weather brings migratory birds to Big Lake way ahead of schedule.
Local birders will flock to the Big Lake Environment Support Society’s observation platform next Saturday and Sunday morning to take part in the annual Springing to Life bird count. Organized by birders Dan Stoker and Alan Hingston, the informal count is meant to get people out to get a look at migratory birds as they drop by Big Lake.
But it’s been so warm this year that many of the birds have already come and gone, Stoker says. “We were getting birds in late March that we don’t usually see until the first week of April.”
Many Canadian geese have already passed through town, for example, and goldeneyes have already arrived at Nadeau Pond.
“We don’t know what to expect.”
Visitors can expect to see plenty of ducks, geese, swans and raptors, Hingston says, as well as a few redwing blackbirds. They should also expect everything from clear skies to wet snow — springtime weather is notoriously unpredictable. Past years have featured some unusual sights, he notes, such as the big bunch of robins that were feeding on the frozen surface of Big Lake last year.
There are all sorts of species passing through St. Albert at this time of year, Stoker says, and you never know which ones will show up for the count. “Crazy things can happen.”
The event runs from 9 a.m. to noon on April 14 and 15. Spotting scopes will be available on site. For details, call Hingston at 780-459-6389.
