Earth Hour success in Perth

By Jacqueline Duthie     27 March 2011

Kings Park joined thousands of other Perth venues as Western Australians made a bold statement against climate change by participating in Earth Hour last night.

Between 8:30 and 9:30pm, local time, many homes, businesses and tourist attractions switched off their power sources as part of the World Wildlife Foundation initiative.

The Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, responsible for the maintenance of Bold Park, Kings Park and the Botanic Gardens, took part in Earth Hour by turning off all non-essential lighting and electrical equipment to the three tourist attractions. 

The Authority hoped its actions would help raise awareness about climate change and the growing necessity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“[The Agency’s] participation in this public exercise is one way of joining up with other community groups to raise awareness of conservation issues,” said the Authority’s Director of Business and Visitors Services, Marcelle Broderick.

Synergy, the retailer of Kings Park’s electricity, supports a number of their conservation projects and agreed with this approach.

“Earth Hour provides the opportunity for households to focus on the behavioural changes they can make on a long-term basis to reduce their energy use,” said Synergy Corporate Affairs Representative, Natalie Curtis.

“All essential safety related lighting was kept on, and all non-essential decorative and aesthetic lighting was turned off,” Ms Broderick said.

Roughly 40 per cent of Kings Park’s lights, predominantly located on Fraser Avenue and State War Memorial precincts, were turned off during the hour.

Visitors to Kings Park last night were in a prime location to view the uncharacteristically dim cityscape, with most of the main buildings turning off their lighting.

The World Wildlife Foundation has emphasised that the initiative is primarily symbolic in speaking out against climate change and, since its establishment in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has seen success on an international scale.

According to a press release from Western Power, Perth’s energy consumption dropped by two percent during Earth Hour on Saturday evening, just beating last year’s effort.

The amount of energy conserved within the hour equates to approximately 100,000 homes turning off their lights for one hour, or 24,000 homes turning off all power sources.

Ms Broderick said that the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority had every intention of participating in Earth Hour next year.

“Our participation allows us to be identified as a conservation agency, and participation in public awareness on conservation issues is a good fit with the Authority’s mission.”