Sydney's blackout hailed a success

SYDNEY: Organisers behind a campaign that saw Sydney impose a one-hour blackout to focus attention to global warming hailed it as a success for taking the equivalent of nearly 50,000 cars off the road.

Energy Australia said the event, which saw the lights switched off on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House and in 65,000 homes and 2,000 businesses, had cut normal energy use by an estimated 10.2 per cent.

Sydney switched off at 7:30 pm on Saturday as residents and firms joined "Earth Hour" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which organised what it called a world first event, said discussions would now take place to take the concept national.

"We would have thought about a five per cent reduction would have been a good result, but we've seen a reduction of over 10 per cent," a spokesman for Energy Australia spokesman said.

"That's a tremendous result."

"What people would have learnt from this is that energy efficiency is quite simple, it's as simple as flicking a switch."

Giving comparisons, Energy Australia said that the 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved was equivalent to taking 48,613 cars off the road for an hour.

The saving of more than 20,000 kilowatt hours of energy was enough to power 200,000 televisions for 60 minutes, it added.

A spokeswoman for WWF said it was 'desperately happy and relieved.'