The Coventry Partnership would like everyone in Coventry to get behind Switch It Off 09 in November to show how easy it is to save money on electricity as well as reduce our carbon footprint. If everyone did their bit then we could start to drive down our greenhouse gas emissions and help prevent climate change, which could affect our way of life and those of people around the world.
Switch It Off 09 is about households, businesses, schools, councils and other organisations switching off unwanted lights and electrical equipment and not leaving anything on standby. The campaign has been running since 2006 and has been steadily growing - demonstrating how much energy we can all save if we put our minds to it.
In 2007 in Coventry we used about 550 Giga Watt hours of electricity in our houses with the average home getting through around 4000 units of electricity costing roughly £400 and leading to over 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide to be emitted. Industry and commerce uses roughly another 920 Giga Watt hours of electricity and altogether this amounted to around a sixth of the output of our nearest power station, Rugeley in Staffordshire.
But a lot of energy is wasted, in fact around 8 to 10% of all the electricity we use is consumed by appliances left on standby. The Energy Saving Trust found that the average house has up to twelve gadgets on standby; examples include TV's, videos, computer games consoles, computers, DVDs, set top boxes and even phone chargers.
It's estimated that in the UK we waste around two power station's worth of electricity simply by leaving equipment on standby. So if we all said "NO" to the red standby dot then we could save £740 million worth of electricity per year and 4 million tonnes of CO2.
Large and small firms can save money too – The Carbon Trust reckons that most firms can reduce their energy use by 10% - and it won’t cost them a penny. Actions like tracking energy bills, switching off lights, keeping equipment well maintained and adjusting heating can all make a difference and helps with the bottom line!
It's never been more important that we all get on board with Switch It Off not only to save money in these difficult times but also to reduce our carbon footprints. The Low Carbon Transition Plan was published recently and outlines how the UK needs to become much less reliant on fossil fuels and substantially increase the amount of power generated from renewable sources. This will be a challenge to achieve but world leaders have an even greater challenge in December when they meet in Copenhagen to thrash out new global emissions reduction targets.
So why not join in with the Switch It Off activities? Whether at home, at work, or at school we can all do our bit to save energy, save money and show that if we all act together then we really can make sizeable reductions in carbon emissions. And that’s good for our pockets, our city and the planet.
Friday 13th November 4.30 – 6.30pm
The Big Switch Off across the City will result in iconic buildings being plunged into darkness and everybody else will be encouraged to show their support and do the same, wherever they may be.
We are screening the climate change blockbuster The Age of Stupid in Coventry Cathedral during the Big Switch Off. We also have a number of other activities planned during this time. Watch this space for more information
If you’d like to be part of Switch It Off 09, email us on climatechange@coventry.gov.uk, we’ll send you suggestions as to how you can join in and a resource pack to get you started.
If you are supporting the Switch it Off Campaign we would love to hear from you. Make your pledge now.
Our partners
Click here for further information on the Switch it Off campaign in Warwickshire.
The Climate Change Team
311, Broadgate House
Telephone: 024 7683 2628
E-mail: climatechange@coventry.gov.uk
For more information click on the main Switch It Off website: www.coventry.gov.uk/switchitoff
Or go to the Facebook Page for Switch It Off
You can view the Age of Stupid trailer on Youtube
Access
Keys
Privacy Policy