Earth Hour helps Bangalore save Rs1 crore

With residences, government offices, commercial and industrial establishments volunteering to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm on Saturday to observe Earth Hour, the city saved close to Rs1 crore.

“Usually, there is a consumption of 1,850 MW between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm. During Earth Hour, it fell by 90 MW. The city consumed only 1,762 MW during the hour,” said P Manivannan, managing director, Bescom.

While most government offices, including Karnataka Renewable Energy Development (KREDL), Bescom and department of ecology and forestry, switched off lights at offices at 8.30 pm, companies such as Oracle, Infosys, HP, Dell, Syniverse and Quest, observed Earth Hour with fervour. Among educational institutions, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) observed the event by turning off the lights of the main building in the campus.

Commercial establishments, including Forum Mall at Koramangala and Mantri Mall at Malleswaram, turned off non-essential lights. ING Vysya and HSBC were among banks that took part.

Hotels like Taj Group, ITC Windsor and Lalit Ashok took part too, making the event a success.