Energy Saving Day sees higher energy demand in UK
People did not switch off electrical goods as much as Energy Saving Day hoped
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Friday, 29, Feb 2008 12:39
Energy Saving Day saw an increase in the UK's electricity demand despite encouragement for people to switch electrical items off.
'E-Day', running from 18:00 GMT on February 27th until 18:00 on February 28th, was designed to get as many people as possible to turn off electrical items not in use and to leave these off for as long as possible.
But figures from on the initiative's website show that E-Day had little or no effect on electricity demand.
Energy use during the 24-hour period increased by 0.1 per cent.
E-Day organiser Dr Matt Prescott said the drop in temperature on the day may be behind the rise, with more people leaving lights and heating on as a result.
In a statement on E-day's website he added: "I am afraid that E-Day did not achieve the scale of public awareness or participation needed to have a measurable effect.
"I will do my best to learn the relevant lessons for next time. Thank you to everyone who helped me or left something off specially as their contribution to E-Day, and this Leave It Off experiment."