When the lights go in Georgia tomorrow night … they’ll be joined by a darkened Las Vegas strip and blacked out Empire State Building, as well as countless homes and businesses across the country. Is this plot of the next Hollywood blockbuster? Or maybe a series of nationwide blackouts?

No — it’s a simple public display of environmental concern. Led by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is a movement that calls on ordinary people to express their concern over our changing environment, increasing pollution and growing energy use. At 8:30 p.m. local time, residents, businesses and governments are called on to turn off all unnecessary lights. This act will show both the number of people who are concerned about energy, the environment and pollution — but it will show the participants how much energy they’re consuming to produce unnecessary and wasted electricity in their homes.

At Orion Energy Systems, we applaud movements that encourage both consumers and businesses to recognize their excess energy consumption because, if you would pardon the pun — knowledge is power. With the knowledge of the excess use of light, businesses and customers can be more knowledgeable and powerful consumers of electricity. By becoming more effective and efficient in our use of light and electricity, we can make a significant difference in our world and significantly reduce pollution.

In fact, since 2001, Orion Energy Systems’ customers have reduced their overall demand for electricity by more than 500 MW between December 2001 and December 2009. This reduction is the equivalent to a standard coal-fired generating plant, and is equivalent to reducing U.S. energy consumption by more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) over that same period.  According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average U.S. home consumes approximately 11,000 kWh hours per year (936 kWh per month), one can see that reducing wasteful energy consumption whether by our homes, businesses or governments can have a significant impact.

In addition to reducing energy consumption and saving them money (over $780 million between December 2001 and December 2009), the reductions in wasteful energy use by Orion’s customers have also reduced pollution by more that 6.7 million tons of carbon dioxide, 26,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 9,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, 130 tons of methane and over 275 pounds of mercury. These reductions are the equivalent of removing more than 1.6 million cars from the road each year, or the air-scrubbing equivalent of a 1.8 million-acres forest.

Clearly, understanding our use of electricity and its implications on economic and environmental well-being is critically important. As such, Orion encourages participation in Earth Hour 2010 on Saturday March 27, 2010, at 8:30 p.m. local time, as a way for businesses, governments and consumers to grow in their understanding of their consumption of electricity.

http://www.earthhour.org/