Earth Hour, Every Hour

Once you have seen the light, why not make every hour Earth Hour?
Ever wondered how much difference your small actions really make?  Based on our research, if every New Zealand household took these three simple actions, it could have a big impact on energy saving, and on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions;

  • Turn un-needed appliances off at the wall: when not in use things like heated towel rails and appliances on standby account for almost 1 billion kWh of electricity per year or 165,700 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
  • Go car-free one day a week:  Transport is a major contributor to New Zealand's emissions (20%). If everyone in New Zealand who currently drives to work were to walk, cycle or take public transport on just one day per week, it would save up to 114,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
  • Switch your bulbs: If every household swapped their remaining old-style light bulbs for new energy efficient ones, this could save up to 0.6 billion kWh of electricity or 106,800 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year
The combined impact of these actions would be an emissions reduction of 386,500 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year. This is equivalent to over 839,000 car journeys from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It would take 128,400 hectares of regenerating native forest one year to absorb this much carbon dioxide. This is an area twice the size of Auckland.

Figures are based on work by Landcare Research’s carboNZero Programme in December 2008 commissioned by WWF-New Zealand.

You can also:


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 / ©: Photo (c) Chris Martin Bahr / WWF-Canon
Earth Hour inspires many people to lighten their tread on the planet, by showing that small actions really do make a big difference.
© Photo (c) Chris Martin Bahr / WWF-Canon