Earth Hour in Singapore

Support to save environment grows as more groups rally behind cause
Lynda Hong Channel NewsAsia 26 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE : Earth Hour is less than 24 hours away, and the support for this environmental cause has been growing over the week.

It is a normal day at Anglican High on Friday until 12.15pm. Then the lights went off, the fans stopped spinning, and the aircon died.

Lessons moved outdoors - for some respite from the stuffy classrooms. For an hour, students and teachers tried to live without electricity and hopefully, learn the value of Earth Hour.

Tey Min Li, Anglican High School student, said: "Some of us may think that this is a basic right. So if we were to study in an environment without the lights and the fans, we would feel disgruntled.

"But there are little changes we can make, like for example, we could lower the speed of the fan and we can use energy efficient lamps."

This support for Earth Hour is also growing in the heartlands. Marine Parade Town Council is making the big switch-off on Saturday.

From 7pm, 76 sets of non-essential lighting will be switched off for 12 hours. These include landmark structures, park signages, banner posts, decorative lighting and roof top structures.

The message to all 68,000 households is that it is possible to save more in electricity and water.

Seah Kian Peng, MP for Marine Parade GRC, said: "All along, we are always trying to inculcate, not just within the town council, but also to all residents, ways to cut down on electricity, ways to save water."

The campaign to show support for the environment can be observed around the world on Saturday.

Organiser World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) will be holding the main event at the Esplanade Park.

To support Earth Hour and pledge your support, go to this website.

- CNA/al

More companies observing Earth Hour this year
Esther Ng, TODAY Channel NewsAsia 26 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE: More companies are observing Earth Hour this year with a slew of activities including countdown parties, "going lift-less" and dining by candlelight. But some green groups and environmentalists said more could be done.

"It is good that more businesses are coming onboard, but these displays seem rather ritualistic and we have gone past advocacy already," said Mr Tay Lai Hock, president of environmental group Ground Up Initiative. "We need to reduce our carbon footprint and energy consumption on a daily basis."

Parties, meanwhile, generate a lot of waste or rubbish, said Ms Olivia Choong, founder of Green Drinks, a non-profit group.

According to her, lighting candles are not environmentally friendly as one burning candle generates about 16g of carbon dioxide per hour.

Still, Green Drinks did organise a film screening to commemorate Earth Hour last night.

It would be "more practical to get Singaporeans to give air-conditioning the flick as it is the biggest energy guzzler in Singapore", said self-confessed greenie Joe Lim.

Tomorrow, Concorde Hotel Singapore will switch off its lobby lights, leaving only the counter lights at its front office and entrance on. All lights at the hotel's facade will also be off.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Singapore is partnering Environmental Challenge Organisation (ECO) Singapore, in educating 20,000 households around the island on how to conserve energy.

Some 1,200 youth will spend the afternoon in Bedok, Siglap, Hong Kah and Pasir Ris, knocking on doors to distribute recycled paper bookmarks and share tips on energy conservation.

In a bid to incorporate more energy and climate saving initiatives into its systems, Coca-Cola changed all 319 metal halide bulbs in the warehouse and loading bay of its Tuas plant to energy saving light bulbs last year.

Not content with switching off lights for one hour, students from Nanyang Technological University's Earthlink, an environmental club, have launched a two-week campaign to get their peers to use the stairs and stop using straws for their drinks.

This is the third year that World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is organising Earth Hour, and director Carine Seror is heartened by the response.

"When we started in 2008, we didn't have a proper campaign and we didn't know how many companies took part, but this year 400 companies have pledged on our website and I expect the number to be higher after Saturday," she said.

WWF received 450 pledges last year.

Singapore landmarks heed the call
Straits Times 27 Mar 10;

Changi Airport will be switching off its decorative lights and dimming operational lights within terminal buildings and malls.

In Sentosa, Singapore's first integrated resort, Resorts World Sentosa, will dim or switch off non-essential lights. Underwater World will also switch off roof lights, skylights, signboard lights and lamp posts in the carpark.

CBD: Iconic monuments and landmarks such as The Merlion, The Fullerton Hotel, One Fullerton and Clifford Pier will have some of their lights switched off. So will the Singapore Flyer's multi-coloured lightings on the wheel's rim. Decorative lightings on bridges and riverbanks along the Singapore River will be switched off for an hour.

At the Esplanade Park, there will be a concert held to raise awareness for Earth Hour.

Orchard Road: More than 10 shopping malls have agreed to dim or switch off their lights in support of Earth Hour. Some of these are 313@Somerset, Ion Orchard, Ngee Ann City, Plaza Singapura, Orchard Central, Tangs, The Centrepoint, The Heeren, Wheelock Place and Wisma Atria. The street lights along the shopping district will also be switched off for the hour.

Hotels: Hilton Singapore, Concorde Hotel and Shangri-La Hotel will be switching off their facade lights for this event. The former two will also be encouraging their guests to switch off the lights in their rooms.

Where will you be when the lights go out?
Singapore buildings and companies will turn off the lights between 8.30pm and 9.30pm to support Earth Hour
Abigail Kor, Business Times 27 Mar 10;

IF Suntec Singapore looks dimmer than usual between 8.30pm and 9.30pm tonight, it's because it is 'going dark to become green'.

As Earth Hour comes upon us, this iconic Singapore building will switch off all the lights that are not essential and then some. Before that, its staff will dine with the lights dimmed.

It is among the hundreds of local companies that have pledged to support Earth Hour 2010, a global initiative fronted by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) that stresses the need to do something about climate change.

And when the lights go out, some hoteliers will add a dash of romance to spice up a good cause. Guests dining in Ritz Carlton's Summer Pavilion and Greenhouse restaurants, or having drinks at its Chihuly Lounge will enjoy a candle-lit ambience.

Similarly, Four Season's One-Ninety bistro and Rasa Sentosa's Barnacles seafront restaurant will offer candlelight dinners during Earth Hour.

'We are delighted by the increased interest and commitment from businesses this year,' said Amy Ho, managing director of WWF Singapore. Some 500 companies here are backing Earth Hour 2010, compared to 450 last year.

Suntec Singapore's staff will even turn off lights and electronic appliances at home. 'As a leader in the MICE industry, we must set the pace for global efforts within the industry so we can all work towards a committed call to finding solutions on climate change,' said Pieter Idenburg, CEO of Suntec Singapore.

HSBC Singapore is taking a similar approach - switching off lights in its offices and inviting employees to do the same wherever they are.

ComfortDelGro, which became the first local transport company to be awarded the Green Office Label, says that more than 22,000 of its staff and their families are making it a point to switch off their lights during Earth Hour. Staff have also been urged to celebrate the occasion by having a romantic candlelight dinner at home.

'We are firmly committed to the green movement, ensuring that we don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk,' said Tammy Tay, chairman of the group's green committee.

Opting for a more novel way of supporting the climate change initiative, Datacraft Asia, an IT solutions provider headquartered in Singapore, is giving out lanterns to all its employees in the Asia-Pacific.

These lanterns are a symbol of hope for WWF's Create a Lantern for Earth Hour campaign, and staff are encouraged to use them to light up their homes when they turn the lights off.

To prepare for the hour, Datacraft switched off the lights in all its offices across the globe between 12noon and 2pm yesterday.

Started as a one-city initiative in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has grown into a global event, with more than 4,000 cities in 88 countries taking part in 2009.

Landmarks such as New York's Empire State Building, the Roman Coliseum and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge will be swathed in darkness as part of the initiative.