CHICAGO, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- According to an updated report from ComEd, customers turning off lights and other appliances during World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour reduced electricity use by 7 percent both in the City of Chicago and throughout its Northern Illinois service territory. The Earth Hour reduction in electricity usage of 818 megawatt hours is the equivalent of:
-- Reducing nearly 1.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions -- Taking more than 1 million cars off the road for one hour -- Taking two 400-megawatt coal plants offline for one hour -- More than 72,000 gallons of gasoline consumed -- About 158 acres of trees planted
The utility reports the total system load across its Northern Illinois service territory for 8 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, 2008, was 10,968 megawatts, 7 percent less than the 11,786 megawatts used on the comparison day of Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008, which was selected because it most closely matched the temperature profile of March 29. The preliminary figures released on March 29 by ComEd compared the electricity usage during Earth Hour to the same hour on Saturday, March 22, 2008.
ComEd, a major partner for World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour Chicago, encouraged its customers to participate in this historic event to raise customer awareness about energy efficiency and global climate change. Chicago was a flagship city for Earth Hour in the U.S. and one of several major cities in the world participating this year.
Encouraging customers to turn off lights during Earth Hour was one of ComEd's 12 Ways to Green, launched earlier this year to raise customer awareness about energy efficiency and other environmental initiatives. It also is part of a comprehensive environmental strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower the carbon footprint of Exelon, its subsidiaries and customers. Customers can find more ways to reduce energy use, save money and benefit the environment throughout the year by visiting http://www.comedcare.com/.
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation , one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately 5.4 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across Northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.
