Dubai Saves a Record 323 Megawatts For Earth Hour

The Burj Khalifa was looking a lot darker than usual as lights were switched off for Earth Hour (AFP/File Photo)

The collective efforts of UAE residents for Earth Hour 2018 on Saturday night resulted in significant savings in electricity use and carbon emissions, especially in Dubai reporting record savings of 323 megawatts (MW).

The UAE joined 180 countries worldwide in switching off non-essential lights and electrical appliances from 8.30pm to 9.30pm to mark Earth Hour, a symbolic act of reducing energy consumption as one of the ways to help reduce the impact of climate change.

Dubai’s landmarks, tourist and government buildings across the country also took part in the event.

After the annual event on Saturday, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) released the energy savings of the emirate, which is up by 32 per cent compared to 244MW last year. The energy savings is equivalent to reducing 140 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Dewa explained to Gulf News in previous Earth Hour events that it calculates the energy savings by subtracting the peak energy use before and the drop in energy use during Earth Hour.

Dewa continues to offset the carbon emissions from Earth Hour activities by exchanging the emissions resulting from organising Earth Hour 2018 in Dubai for Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) credits from DEWA’s projects, based on the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is Dewa’s third consecutive year to offset its Earth Hour activities with CERs credit.

Under the theme ‘Connect to Earth’, Dewa and the Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS), in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and with the support of Dubai Properties Group, held community-wide events on Saturday from 4pm to 10pm.

Dr Thani Bin Ahmad Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dewa, Ahmad Abdul Karim Julfar, Director-General of Dubai Community Development Authority (CDA), Ahmad Buti Al Muhairbi, Secretary-General of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, and other officials led the Earth Hour Walk.

“Earth Hour is celebrated around the world as a global movement of solidarity for the planet. We strive, as we celebrate Earth Hour every year, to spark public awareness and action for the rational consumption of natural resources to ensure they last for generations to come, in line with the UAE Vision 2021,” Dr Al Zeyoudi said.

During the celebrations, Al Tayer commended the government and private organisations and individuals who support Earth Hour. “The results Dubai achieved this year underline the important role community members can play to conserve energy and reduce the carbon footprint to protect the environment and natural resources and contribute to achieving sustainable development,” he said.

Dawood Abdul Rahman Al Hajiri, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, said Earth Hour is one of the most important campaigns to reduce the carbon footprint and the civic body’s projects and practices are aligned with this to contribute to enhancing opportunities to reduce the impact of climate change.

Laila Mustafa Abdul Latif, Director-General of EWS-WWF, said the Earth Hour celebrations illustrate little drops making an ocean, referring to small individual efforts that when taken together create a huge impact for the planet, which we all are responsible for.

Since participating in Earth Hour in 2008, Dubai has saved 2,385MW energy accumulated in just 11 hours over the past 11 years.

Energy savings are significant this year, which is the first time in three years when the savings touched the 300MW-mark. It is also worth mentioning that Earth Hour did not coincide with the Dubai World Cup this year, which for years was held on the same day as Earth Hour.

This article has been adapted from its original source.