Subscribe to this blog's feedNow it is quite possible that you missed this. The great man certainly did. Disconnector is referring to the UK’s first Energy Saving Day, or E-Day, as it was dubbed. It was organised to run last week.
For a
24-hour period (18:00 Wednesday to 18:00 Thursday), the good folk of the UK were meant to be switching off electrical devices and equipment normally left on standby to see if electricity demand could be reduced.
E-Day originally started life as part of Planet Relief, a much-publicised Beeb project which the corporation pulled last year.
Subsequently, E-Day organiser Matt Prescott decided to see if he could mount E-Day as an independent operation. He secured the backing of National Grid and a clutch of major energy companies. It was also supported by the likes of Greenpeace, Christian Aid and the RSPB.
The event was given a launch on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral in central London by the Bishop of London.
Did it have an effect? Not so as you’d notice. Consumption on a business-as-usual basis was expected to be 104,271.4MWh. In the event, the Grid recorded demand over the 24 hours as 104,336.4MWh.
“I am afraid that E-Day did not achieve the scale of public awareness or participation needed to have a measurable effect,” said E-Day’s main man, Matt.
Colder weather might be part of the reason. But the main factor seems to have been that so few people knew anything about it.
