BANGKOK, 29 March 2015 – The lights off activity during Earth Hour 2015 yesterday helped reduce 7.5 million baht in electricity costs and reduced tons of carbon dioxide emission, claims WWF Thailand.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Thailand, and the Foundation for Environmental Education for Sustainable Development (FEED) Thailand had joined hands with partner organizations to hold the 60 Earth Hour 2015 event under the theme ‘Change Climate Change’ in Bangkok yesterday.
The 60 Earth Hour 2015’s main event in Bangkok was situated at Central World shopping center, and important landmarks, offices, shopping malls, and houses around the world participated by turning their lights off.
Important public locations in Bangkok which participated included the Grand Palace, the Temple of Dawn, Rama IX Bridge, Central World shopping center, MBK shopping center, and the Bangkok Arts and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Global landmarks that also participated in the lights off activity were the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Acropolis in Athens, and Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.
The lights-off activity this year has helped reduce electricity consumption by 1,940 megawatts, saved 7,499,068 baht in electricity cost, and helped reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by 1,127 tons. This year’s event recorded in a higher saving rate than last year in all categories.
The WWF Thailand Country Director Yowalak Thiarachow said that climate change is not just a problem for this hour, but it is an important issue for our children in the future. All contributions to save the energy from all sectors throughout the year will inspire the solution of this issue, while the efforts for climate change during the last 1-2 years is said to be at its highest.
The Earth Hour project originated in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and has become a global activity where people in different regions can show their efforts to raise awareness on climate change, which will lead to the mutual solution for the issue.
WWF Thailand has also organised the We Love Cities activity under the 2015 Earth Hour City Challenge campaign to promote the sustainable municipality in Thailand. Three municipalities in Thailand, namely Hat Yai City in Songkhla province, Khon Kaen City in Khon Kaen province, and Map Ammarit Subdistrict in Chumphon province have passed this year’s campaign.
The three municipality will have to compete on the global stage, while the results for the Global Earth Hour Capital will be announced in the ICLEI World Congress 2015 on 9 April 2015 in Seoul, South Korea.
