Energy Saving Day flop
The UK’s first Energy Saving Day achieved no noticeable decrease in UK electricity use.
E-Day asked people to switch off electrical appliances they did not need over a period of 24 hours, with the National Grid monitoring consumption. It found that electricity usage was almost exactly what would have been expected without E-Day.
Colder weather than forecast in some regions may have led to higher use of heating, masking any small savings.
The event also received very little publicity, despite having backing from campaign groups such as Greenpeace, Christian Aid and the RSPB, and from major energy companies such as EDF, E.On and Scottish Power.
“I am afraid that E-Day did not achieve the scale of public awareness or participation needed to have a measurable effect,” said E-Day’s organiser Dr Matt Prescott in a message on his website.
The Grid’s final figures showed national electricity consumption for the 24 hours (from 1800 Wednesday to 1800 Thursday) was 0.1% above the “business-as-usual” projection.
Dr Prescott had hoped E-Day might bring a small but measurable reduction in electricity use, perhaps in the order of 2-3%, equivalent to the output of one or two fossil fuel fired power stations.
The idea was to demonstrate that numerous small personal actions could make a dent in greenhouse gas emissions.
Opinion:
The media seem to prefer Climate Change stories - Peak Oil is perhaps too worrying?
But Peak oil is going to arrive first - so it is the more urgent issue.
Action: Switch Off anyway!
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