J

akarta, joined for the first time by four other cities in Indonesia, took part in the global Earth Hour campaign on Saturday night, switching off lights and electrical appliances for 60 minutes.

Under Earth Hour, initiated by the WWF, households and businesses turn off non-essential lights and electrical appliances from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on the last Saturday of March to raise awareness of climate change.

Lights also started going off around the world on Saturday in a show of support for renewable energy that was given added poignancy by Japan’s nuclear disaster.

Landmarks in thousands of cities, from Sydney Harbour Bridge to the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, turned off the power for Earth Hour, the fifth such event promoting a sustainable future for the planet.

The initiative crossed the globe, with the first lights dimmed across Fiji and New Zealand at 8.30 p.m. (07:30 GMT), to lights being turned on again in Samoa 24 hours later.

This year, five cities in Indonesia — Bandung, Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya and Yogyakarta — took part in the campaign.

Jakarta turned off the lights at several iconic locations — the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and fountain, the National Monument (Monas) and fountain, City Hall and other administration buildings, the Monument of Youth Advancement at the Senayan traffic circle and the Arjuna Wiwaha fountain.

“The Jakarta administration also sent instruction letters to subdistricts about the event. We got a lot of support from the administration for this year’s event,” WWF campaign coordinator Verena Puspawardani said.

Jakarta’s City Hall was filled with low energy-consuming entertainment during the Earth Hour observance while community groups such as Jakarta Critical Mass, the Jakarta Amateur Astronomers Association and a group of parkour urban acrobats held activities near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.

Some business establishments in Jakarta said although they supported energy conservation efforts, the campaign would disrupt their business.

“The time, 8:30 p.m., is the peak hour, people will have their dinner and happens to be on Saturday night, the store will likely be packed,” Supeno, manager of 7-11 convenience store in Menteng, told the Post.

Although the store did not join the campaign, Supeno said store management had taken efforts to conserve energy. “We have a total of 65 light bulbs both inside and outside the store, but all are below 18 watts, all energy efficient. We brought them directly from America.”

But for a majority of shopping malls in the city, it was business as usual.

Chairman of the Indonesian Association of Shopping Centers Stefanus Ridwan said the decision to turn off the lights on Saturday night, when shopping malls were likely full, would only cause panic.

“Maybe we will just turn off some lights that are not essential. There will be panic if we turn off the lights inside the malls,” Stefanus was quoted as saying by detik.com.

In Bandung, 40 environmental groups took part in an Earth Hour event in front of the West Java Administration Office or Gedung Sate, on Jl. Diponegoro. Light rain did not dampen their spirit as they lit hundreds of candles when Governor Ahmad Heryawan switched off the lights at Gedung Sate complex.

Heryawan asked West Java 43 million residents to use Earth Hour to make a new commitment to save energy on daily basis.

Officials in Semarang, Central Java planned to turn off lights at the Tugu Muda monument, the Jl. Pahlawan traffic circle, Semarang City Hall and the city’s Great Mosque.

Yogyakarta turned off lights in the Tugu area and along Jl. Malioboro, the Adipura fountain and Prambanan temple. People from Surabaya Critical Mass pedaled their bikes to
Grand City Mall, the main location for the Earth Hour campaign in East Java’s capital.

Verena said the WWF approached the five cities because the administrations had regulations and bylaws on energy efficiency. She said her organization also listed the participation of 86 corporate groups that promised to turn off their lights.

“In the future, we want the public and the government to organize the event. We want them to have awareness on the need to change their lifestyle and save energy,” she said.

Ahead of Earth Hour, state electricity company PLN asked its customers not to simultaneously switch off their electricity, saying it might inadvertently shut down power plants. “Power plants may experience a sudden loss of burden and subsequently shut down,” PLN managing director Dahlan Iskan said Saturday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He said it would take time to turn on generators that were suddenly cut off and that some equipment might be damaged.

Dahlan said Earth Hour did not significantly reduce electricity consumption, adding the campaign saved only 200 megawatts of electricity across the country in 2010, equal to about Rp 100 million (US$11,500).

Dahlan said he considered Earth Hour a positive movement, but added there were other more effective and simpler ways to save electricity, such as properly turning off televisions.

“Many people turn off TVs using remote controls and think they have turned off the electricity, while actually it is on standby. If only they can turn off the electricity properly, surely we can make significant savings,” he said. (fem)

— Yuli Tri Suwarni contributed to this report from Bandung.