Media Release
March 28 2008
UniSA
backs Earth Hour
The lights will be off at UniSA city campuses tomorrow, Saturday 29th March, in support of the global Earth Hour initiative, with all non-essential lighting turned off at both City East and City West campuses for the hour between 8pm and 9pm.
And UniSA researchers have backed the Earth Hour campaign and the powerful message it sends about the need for action on global warming, in spite of claims the hour only makes negligible savings in carbon emissions.
Professor of Sustainable Energy Engineering at UniSA’s Institute for Sustainable Systems and Technologies, Wasim Saman, said that an hour of lights off equates to saving an average 500 watts of electricity per South Australian household.
“This means that each participating South Australian household could save an average of 500 grams of carbon during that one hour, based on in home monitoring done by UniSA researchers of the average usage rates for that period of the evening,” he said.
“It’s actually quite a lot; equivalent to ten less black balloons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere [as seen in the TV commercial].”
Prof Saman emphasised that while also saving carbon, the importance of Earth Hour initiative was really in its capacity for education and ongoing change.
“The messages are clear that there is a lot of energy wasted by leaving lights, heating or cooling computers and other appliances on, particularly overnight,” he said.
“What this effort is trying to do is get people into better habits.
“If people see they will see how easy it is to switch off lights and appliances for an hour, then they can continue to switch off overnight or for longer periods.
“Then it gets even more rewarding in terms of savings, both for the environment and for power bills.”
Head of Sustainable Marketing at UniSA’s Ehrenburg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, Dr Anne Sharp, agreed that the Earth Hour campaign was a useful tool for raising awareness and keeps climate change on the agenda.
“It’s hard to get people to think about the issue, when there are so many things battling for people’s attention. People might say ‘yes I want to save the world, but I’m too busy cooking dinner right now to really think about it’,” she said.
“Our research shows that many people still have a limited knowledge about what they can actually do to help the environment, which is why a campaign like this one is so important.
“It highlights those small, achievable things people can do and behaviour drives attitude. In any effort to get people to change, getting them to do something is the best way to change overall behaviour.
“They feel better about what they’ve done and are more likely to do more of it in the future, which is better than just being bombarded with more messages and information about how to think.”
All pedestrian walkways and common student areas will remain lit to
ensure safe movement throughout the campuses.
Contacts for interview
- Dr Anne Sharp mobile 0419 826 297 email rosemary.sharp@unisa.edu.au
- Prof Wasim Saman office 8302 3008 email wasim.saman@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Linda Hein office (08) 8302 0965 mobile 0411 257 029 email linda.hein@unisa.edu.au