Warwickshire News Mine

Warwickshire County Council, working with Coventry City Council, Worcestershire County Council, Act on Energy and many other partners, called on as many people as possible to ‘Switch it Off’ between 4.30pm and 6.30pm on Friday evening.

And householders and organisations supported the campaign with a huge switch off.

Central Networks monitored the Big Switch Off on Friday evening and found a huge dip in the amount of energy used on the Friday evening, when compared to the same evening the previous week.
Central Networks found that on Friday evening there was a 26.9 MegaWatt drop in electricity demand.

To give an idea of the kind of energy saved this is the equivalent of 154,598 householders in Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire completely switching off a Sharp 32” LCD TV for the full two hour Big Switch Off.

Or the Rheidol valley hydroelectric power scheme would have to operate at full power for 65 minutes to generate this kind of power.

This year saw a number of new features to the Switch it Off campaign, with an energy savings house available on the website at http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/switchitoff and an energy saving video on You Tube, demonstrating how people can save hundreds of pounds with some simple steps.

Cllr Alan Cockburn, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “I’m delighted to see the people of Warwickshire supporting this year’s campaign with our neighbours in Coventry and Worcestershire.

“In these times where people are becoming increasingly aware of energy efficiency it is great to see that the Switch it Off campaign can still have such an impact on people’s behaviour.

“The whole aim of the campaign was to get people thinking about the energy they are wasting in their home by leaving appliances on standby. It’s amazing how many did not realise the money they are wasting by leaving videos, TVs and other items on standby.”

Videos, set-top boxes, televisions and even the clocks on microwaves are using surprisingly high amounts of power everyday in our homes. The average family spends £400 a year on electricity and up to 25 per cent can be slashed from this by being more energy aware and switching off unused appliances.

According to the Energy Saving Trust nationally, 71 per cent of people regularly leave items on stand by in their homes, and 65 per cent of people leave lights on in rooms they are not using.

The threat of climate change is a real concern in today’s world. Rising temperatures, increased risk of flooding and extreme weather patterns, are just some of the likely effects of climate change. 

Carbon dioxide is the main climate change causing gas released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels. In the UK, the energy we use to heat and power our homes accounts for 27 per cent of our total carbon dioxide emissions and this continues to rise.

For more information on taking steps to `Switch it off’ visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/switchitoff or call the energy advice hotline on 0800 512012.

Link to WCC