Singapore's Earth Hour to encourage lifestyle changes

Channel NewsAsia 27 Feb 13;

SINGAPORE: The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) will partner Singapore companies for this year's Earth Hour to encourage Singaporeans to make four lifestyle changes in support of the environment.

The lifestyle changes are to reduce the use of plastic bags, turn up their air-conditioning by one degree, switch to energy-efficient LED lights, and take short showers.

Corporate partners IKEA, Philips Lighting and Marina Bay Sands have issued challenges to the Singapore public through the Earth Hour "I Will If You Will" platform for three key actions.

Home furnishing retailer IKEA has pledged to have a free reusable Blue Bag Day if 20,000 people in Singapore pledge to use reusable bags instead of plastic bags.

Philips Lighting will provide LED and other sustainable lighting solutions to 1,000 lower-income families if 100,000 Singaporean families convert to LED lighting solutions.

Integrated resort Marina Bay Sands will be engaging its staff and partners in several challenges.

Among them is a challenge to its top 20 vendors to raise their air-conditioning temperatures by one degree.

If this is met, Marina Bay Sands will fulfil the promise to raise its air-conditioning by one degree in its back-of-house and various public areas for one day every month of the year, beginning from Earth Hour 2013.

The public can take up these challenges from today via the Earth Hour microsite at earthhour.wwf.sg.

Earth Hour 2013 takes place at 8.30pm on Saturday, 23 March 2013.

-CNA/fl

Three companies challenge Singapore to reduce its carbon footprint
Kelly Ng Today Online 28 Feb 13;

SINGAPORE — Three corporations have issued a challenge to Singapore to reduce its carbon footprint, ahead of Earth Hour next month.

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) has pledged to raise its air-conditioning by 1°C in the back of the house and various public areas for a day each month for a year, if its top 20 vendors do likewise. The integrated resort operator has also agreed to turn off all non-essential facade lighting on the first Tuesday of each month, if at least 20 other buildings in the Marina Bay district participate in Earth Hour.

While its challenges are targeted at organisations, two other companies have directed theirs at households. Furniture retailer IKEA will hold a free reusable blue bag day if 20,000 people here pledge to forgo plastic bags for reusable bags, while Philips Lighting will provide sustainable lighting to 1,000 lower-income families if 100,000 Singaporean families convert to LED solutions.

These pledges are in line with efforts made by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Singapore to garner support from individual Singaporeans, with the group’s Chief Executive Elaine Tan noting that simple actions can have a huge collective impact. “With the Government’s projection of population growth, there is an urgent need ... to change our consumption patterns now,” she said.

Earth Hour, which was first introduced to Singapore in 2009 by the WWF, will be celebrated here on March 23. Individuals can accept challenges and pledge their own at http://earthhour.wwf.sg/iwiyw.php.

Generate your own power by dancing at Earth Hour
Straits Times 28 Feb 13;

PARTICIPANTS at this year's Earth Hour will have to dance and generate their own electricity for a film screening at The Float @ Marina Bay.

Special dance mats, which will fill an area of about 22 sq m and can accommodate 80 people at a time, will convert kinetic energy from the dancing into electricity to power the outdoor screening.

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Singapore chief executive Elaine Tan said the March 23 event will show "it is possible to power a sustainable city using clean and renewable energy".

"We are trying to connect people from a symbol (of turning their lights off for one hour), to a very tangible action that they can relate to," said Ms Tan.

WWF Singapore is hoping to attract more than 2,000 participants for the event.

Earth Hour is a global movement which started in Sydney in 2007. It encourages people to switch off their lights for one hour to raise awareness about climate change.

WWF - the main organiser of Earth Hour activities - will also continue with last year's "I Will If You Will" campaign, which encourages people to keep up Earth-friendly practices beyond the annual event.

This year, WWF Singapore hopes to get buildings and households to turn up air-conditioning by 1 deg C. Marina Bay Sands, which has pledged its support for the "One Degree Up" movement, is encouraging its key suppliers to do so.

WWF Singapore also wants to promote the use of environmentally friendly LED lighting. Philips Lighting will provide LED and other sustainable lighting solutions for free to 1,000 lower-income families if 100,000 Singaporean families convert to LED lighting solutions.

WWF Singapore also hopes Singaporeans can adopt "green" habits such as taking shorter showers and using fewer plastic bags.

SABRINA TIONG