April 4, 2010

Iloilo to save 4MW during Earth Hour

Posted in energy/power, environment, Iloilo news tagged Department of Energy, Earth Hour, energy, environment, power at 9:44 pm by Kiko Franz

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

THE city and province of Iloilo are aiming to save more than 4 megawatts (MW) of electricity when homes and establishments switch off lights and appliances for the Earth Hour today, March 27, starting 8:30pm.

Rey Maleza, Department of Energy-Visayas supervisor, said this is the second year that Iloilo province becomes part Earth Hour which aims to raise awareness on environmental protection.

Maleza said the city and province of Iloilo logged a savings of 4MW when it joined the campaign last year. The province of Negros Occidental saved 12MW while Cebu reduced its power consumption by 15 to 20MW

The Iloilo provincial government directed its employees to support the Earth Hour to switch off electricity in their homes when 8:30pm strikes.

Power supply in the old and new provincial capitols and the Iloilo Sports Complex will also be turned off.

Iloilo City Community Environment and Natural Officer Noel Hechanova said the City Engineer’s Office will turn off lights in all city plazas and street lights in Diversion Road and Efrain Treñas Boulevard in Mandurriao district.

Hechanova said the city is expecting to save approximately around 74.020 kilowatt-hour or equivalent to a reduction of 44 kilograms of carbon dioxide when the 420 lights in identified areas are shut off Saturday.

S/Insp. Dande Deocampo, Iloilo City Police Office operations chief, said all police units in the city will be placed on heightened alert status starting 5pm of March 27 to 6pm of March 28.

Deocampo said security personnel will be provided to SM City Iloilo, one of the sites of the Earth Hour countdown event in the country. Police officers will also be stationed at the Jaro Cathedral, Arroyo Fountain and Jaro Plaza which are also identified sites or landmarks of the Earth Hour 2010 in the city.

Dr. Kristin Treñas, program committee chair, said activities at SM City Iloilo will start at 8 or 30 minutes before the ceremonial switch-off to be led by Mayor Jerry Treñas.

Those who will join the countdown event will be entertained by local performers during the one hour shut down. Some of the performers include Caren Revilla, Heart break Kids, Nilo Gonzales ballet school, Shirin Kabbaz, Maharlika Bahandi and the Iloilo Youth Orchestra.

Philippine Information Agency 6 Director Ma. Janet Mesa cautioned the public not to be alarmed when they hear the church bells ringing, the sirens of patrol cars and fire trucks and ship horns as these will signal the start of switching off lights and electricity on Saturday.

Earth Hour 2010 aims to get the support of some 15 million Filipinos across the country. Around the world, a billion people are expected to participate in the event.

“Last year in the entire country, we accounted around 611 MW hour savings in electricity consumption. The main point of the activity is if we could achieve 90% participation by switching off unnecessary lights for one hour, then we could send a strong message to the rest of the world that we in the Philippines care for survival of the Earth,” Maleza said.

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