Orchard Road to play a big part in Earth Hour

Orchard Road to play a big part in upcoming Earth Hour

Orchard Road will be transformed into a "sea of candles" as part of an initiative to conserve electricity in the annual Earth Hour event coming up this month.

Leading by example, the Orchard Road Business Association has more than 50 malls, hotels and retailers along the shopping belt participating in the initiative - twice the number as compared to last year.

"More than a hundred establishments are also participating in one way or another by setting their temperatures at 24 degree celsius, by turning off non-essential lights, and by turning off the facade lighting", said executive director Steven Goh.

"We are going to turn Orchard Road into a sea of candles", Mr Goh added.

Ms Amy Ho, managing director of World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore said that the focus for this year's Earth Hour event is to set air-conditioning temperatures at 24 degrees celsius or higher.

"The issue of climate change is all about reducing our energy consumption as well as making more decisions on being more energy-efficient", said Ms Ho.

Despite calls by the Singapore government to drive the efficient use of energy, implementing change across enterprises remains a key hurdle.

Mr Andy Ridley, co-founder of the Earth Hour global movement, says Singapore is a heavy consumer of energy, but has the potential to become a regional leader for environmental conservation.

"I believe strongly that the leadership is coming, I think it's a bit slow, but I believe it's happening. We just need to accelerate and the best way of doing that is for hundreds and millions of people to raise their voices at Earth Hour - in a hopeful way", said Mr Ridley.

Earth Hour 2011 will take place at 8.30pm on Saturday, March 26, when Singaporeans are encouraged to switch off their lights for an hour.

-News courtesy of Channel Newsasia-