Residents choosing to flick off light switches and unplug devices for an hour this weekend could earn the Town of Black Diamond some cash.
The Town is joining almost 30 Alberta communities in encouraging residents to reduce energy consumption in the FortisAlberta Earth Hour Challenge after placing fourth in last year’s competition. Earth Hour runs from 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on March 25.
FortisAlberta will compare energy consumption in participating communities on Earth Hour to the same hour a week prior and award three communities with the highest energy savings per capita $7,500, $5,000 and $2,500 grants to create or enhance energy efficiencies in their communities.
“Our goal is to beat last year,” said Sharlene Brown, Black Diamond chief administrative officer. “We want to come in the top three.”
Last year, Black Diamond residents reduced the town’s energy consumption by 8.2 per cent compared to the previous week, placing fourth of 25 communities.
Brown said the Town is educating residents about the challenge through community signage, social media and its website with hopes of having hundreds participate.
As an incentive, the Town is offering prizes of its own. If Black Diamond places in the top three, it will select participants in a draw to receive LED lighting retrofits. If the Town doesn’t place, a draw will be made among participants for a basic home energy audit.
The draw(s) will be made during the community’s May 13 Sustainability Fair.
“Because there are prizes this year we anticipate there will be more uptake,” said Brown. “Anything to do to increase awareness around the amount of energy that we utilize I find very exciting as an advocate of energy efficiency.”
Brown said the FortisAlberta Earth Hour Challenge fits with the Town’s own initiatives over the past decade to reduce energy consumption. This includes installing solar panels on the arena and municipal buildings and buying energy-efficient appliances in town buildings.
“Our arena and town office are on monitoring systems to utilize less energy,” she said.
This year’s plan includes installing energy-efficient lighting in the municipal building and changing the streetlights to energy-efficient LEDs, Brown said.
For Earth Hour, Brown plans to turn off the lights in her home and turn down her furnace.
“It’s so important that we all work together to reduce our energy use,” she said. “Everybody needs to take part in saving energy, which eventually will save costs. I know that I’m contributing to a larger cause.”
Natasha Russell, FortisAlberta corporate communications advisor, said this year’s participants represent a combination of previous and new participating municipalities, with a slight increase over last year.
Villages dominated last year’s competition. Hill Springs and Glenwood placed in the top two spots, with identical 94 per cent decreases in energy use, and Alix placed third with an 18.5 per cent drop.
“They are significant when you think about it,” said Russell of the results. “When you come together as one and everyone is participating you find the best results. I’m excited to see what the numbers will look like following this challenge.”
To help the communities succeed, FortisAlberta posts energy-saving suggestions on its website.
“A lot of people do things like candlelight dinners and play board games by candlelight,” she said. “Minimizing your lights is a huge way to save, as well as unplugging appliances and all the things you are not using. There is still that phantom energy. Every little bit counts.”
FortisAlberta is inviting participants to share their plans for Earth Hour for a chance to win a prize package that includes energy-efficient goodies like LED night lights, reading lights and flashlights, as well as an energy-saving cooler. The draw will be made March 27.
Communities that won the challenge previously are no longer able to participate to give other municipalities an opportunity to win the grant money, Russell said. For more information about the challenge or to learn how to make your home energy efficient go to fortisalberta.com
Residents can register to participate in the challenge at town.blackdiamond.ab.ca
