Penrith City Council switches off facilities for Earth Hour

Penrith City Council will be ‘switching off’ facilities in support of Earth Hour at 8.30pm on Saturday 27th March.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)’s Earth Hour is the world's biggest movement to protect the planet. Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change.

Now, hundreds of millions of people around the world in more than 7,000 cities in over 190 countries take part by switching off for 60 minutes as a symbolic gesture of solidarity to show they care about our planet's future.

However, Earth Hour is about more than just switching off for 60 minutes - it is the start of a very important conversation on what we can do to protect the planet.

Penrith Mayor and Sustainability Champion Karen McKeown said the Earth Hour initiative is a great reminder to all of us that change starts from the simplest of things.

Mayor McKeown notes “Council participates in Earth Hour every year by switching off all non-essential lighting at our facilities. I would encourage everyone in the Penrith community to join us by switching off your lights for one hour as well.

“This simple act should inspire us to look at our daily lives to see how we can reduce our impact on the environment - we all need to play our part in protecting the environment.”

In its persistent pursuit of sustainable environmental initiatives, Penrith City Council has been working towards reducing its emissions through a range of programs from its electric vehicle, solar panels on Council facilities, LED street lighting and education on energy efficiency.

• Solar on Council facilities: Council is always looking for more opportunities to install more solar panels. Currently there are solar installations on 38 different sites, with a combined capacity of just over 348 kilowatts. In 2019-2020 alone, these saved 344 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. An additional four solar installations are currently being installed this year at Council's Queen St Centre, St Clair Recreation Centre, St Marys Children’s Centre and Ridge Park Hall. These will have a combined capacity of close to 60 kilowatts, which will save an additional 65.5 tonnes (estimated) of greenhouse gas emission each year. 

• LED street lighting: Street lighting is Council’s biggest source of energy use. As such, Penrith Council has been working with Endeavour Energy to upgrade some of their older lights with new energy efficient LEDs. The project finished at the end of last year and saw 6,317 lights replaced to LED. Council estimate this will save $443,700 a year and reduce emissions by 1,976 tonnes each year too.

• Electric vehicle: Council’s electric vehicle has reached its second anniversary. The car has covered 29,185km and cost just $592 to recharge using 100% certified Greenpower which comes from wind and solar. This has saved an estimated 79.4 tonnes of emissions. Council is investigating more ways it can convert more of its fleet to electric and support more charging stations in the area.

• Solar and energy efficiency workshops: Council regularly holds home solar workshops which have now been attended by over 200 people, and their Empowering Penrith video series is a great way to learn about saving energy and saving money. Click here. 

To find out more detail about Earth Hour visit earthhour.org.au  

To learn more about Council's local sustainability news, upcoming events and workshops visit penrith.city/sustainability