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More Indonesian cities to participate in Earth Hour
Hundreds of buildings across the capital and a number of landmarks in other cities will have their electricity switched off for one hour today as part of the global Earth Hour initiative
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undreds of buildings across the capital and a number of landmarks in other cities will have their electricity switched off for one hour today as part of the global Earth Hour initiative.
More than 200 state and private offices in the city will turn off their lights from 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m, Fitrian Ardiansyah, director for climate and energy programs of the Indonesia chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said Friday.
The lights of five city landmarks — the Hotel of Indonesia traffic circle, the National Monument, City Hall, Pemuda and Arjunawiwaha statues in Central Jakarta — will be switched off to mark the city’s commitment to the campaign, the second time it has taken part.
Apart from buildings in the downtown area, Fitrian said, this year’s campaign would reach out
to residents living in Pondok Indah and Cilandak, South Jakarta and neighboring Depok city of West Java.
He added that about 200,000 people were expected to participate in the event by turning off electricity in their houses.
This year’s occasion will be the first time cities across the archipelago, like Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Bandung, will participate.
Fitrian said that community groups in Yogyakarta had successfully included Earth Hour to the city administration’s agenda.
In Yogyakarta, the local administration will switch off the lights at Tugu tower, Vredeburg fort and the Post Office building, Fitrian added.
“We want the event in Indonesia to be about more than just Jakarta,” he said.
Fitrian said that the contribution was a simple act that each person could undertake to help raise awareness and help save the earth.
“We can save up to 300 megawatts per hour if only 10 percent of Jakarta’s population takes part in the event,” Fitrian said.
Data from the city vital statistic and demography agency has revealed that about 8.9 million people live in Jakarta as of December 2009.
He added hundreds of millions of rupiah could be saved if Earth Hour was applied daily and integrated into people’s lifestyles.
“We expect this campaign will continue to be carried out to raise people’s awareness on the importance of saving the environment,” he said.
Globally, the campaign is targeting more than 1 billion people in 5,000 cities. As many as 1,882 cities across 110 countries have confirmed their participation.
