Wednesday, 29 March 2023
News — Energy Conservation for Environmental Protection and Conservation
Honorable Minister Jabulani switching off the lights
Earth hour has become an important staple of environmental awareness and consciousness. Reducing your carbon footprint, both in your personal life and in the workplace is essential in order to create a robust and environmentally safe world for ourselves and for our future generations. Preserving the natural heritage of our planet is what Earth Hour is all about. By switching off our lights for 60 minutes and measuring the reduction in the amount of energy that is being used, we are showing that it is possible to make a difference.
Last year, Eswatini saved about 21% of electricity during the Earth Hour switch off. This contributes significantly towards preserving the environment because more that 70% of electricity used in the country is generated through thermal power generation, which involves the mining and burning of coal, both of which can be harmful to the environment and can lead to climate change. If Eswatini would jointly put efforts towards practicing electricity efficiency, this 21% would increase immensely and go a long way towards preserving and protecting the environment.
Audience at the earth hour commemoration event
This year’s Earth Hour theme was “Invest on Our Planet”, because we are reminded that the decisions, we make today will significantly contribute towards the kind of future we will have on planet earth. Furthermore, the amount of effort we put towards environmental conservation and preservation will play a major role in ensuring that our future generations find a safe planet that is conducive to leave in. Earth Hour has become more than one hour without lights, on the last Saturday of March. It's part of a movement of people who are working together all year round to protect the environment and we are all encouraged to become a part of this movement.
In essence, Earth Hour has become one of the world’s largest grassroots movements for the environment. We were pleased to join Eswatini and the world on the last Saturday of March this year, for an hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm. We took part as the country switched off non-essential lights for sixty minutes to show support for the planet.
ESERA CEO Mr Skhumbuzo Tsabedze