Switch It Off week 20 - 24 October 2008

This year's Switch It Off campaign has now been announced and will run during the week beginning Monday 20 October, with the Big Switch Off scheduled for Friday 24 October from 4.30-6.30pm. This is the third year of the campaign, which began in 2006, and has grown year on year.

We would like to encourage everyone across Warwickshire (and the rest of the country - Ed.) to take part by switching off at home, at work or at school. Once again Warwickshire County Council is co-ordinating the campaign with Coventry City Council, Worcestershire County Council and WEEAC (Warwickshire Energy Efficiency Advice Centre). The Coventry Evening Telegraph have also agreed to be our main media partner, helping us to promote the campaign as widely as possible throughout the county.

Lots of different initiatives are being planned - Big Switch Off with giveaways in North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Warwick, Family Challenge, School switch off, Universally Challenged, Council Staff Switch Off, anti-idling campaign, Chamber of Commerce competition, Children's Centres Big Bulb Giveaway.

Did we switch off last year?

Last year's campaign was a great success and the Big Switch Off was supported by thousands of people across Warwickshire, Coventry and Worcestershire. We asked everyone to switch off items left on stand-by between 4.30pm and 6.30pm on Friday 2nd November and, across the three areas, we achieved a reduction of 74 mega Watts (MW) of electricity, as monitored by Central Networks. This is the same as switching off over 1.2 million 60 watt light bulbs for an hour. Or boiling 269,090 kettles of water. Or switching off the electricity in over 15000 three-bed detached houses for a year.

Mrs J Medlock from Whitley shared her experience with readers of the Warwickshire Evening Telegraph (13/11/07):

'I decided to do my bit and turn off all electrics, stand-by buttons, etc for two hours, as requested. Sitting here by candlelight took me back to 1950. I was just 20 years old and married. We couldn't afford to buy a house and didn't want to live with parents or in-laws. We managed to buy an old army hut miles away from the main road - cheap. We had no gas or electric and water only if the farmer was not milking. Our toilet was a bucket outside. Our light and cooking was done by paraffin. Those days were our happiest ever. The two hours have passed so quickly. I've written this letter, done my crossword and entertained one of my sons. All by candlelight. Where there is a will there is a way, they say.'

Lots of other events were arranged as part of Switch It Off, with local schools, businesses, community groups and families taking part. To find out more, check out the Switch It Off results update on their site.

A measure of the campaign's success is that it came runner-up in Sustainable Development UK Awards 2008 and was shortlisted for the Sustainable Cities Award organised by the City of London.

Visit the Website for full details  Switch It Off

Source: Warwickshire County Council Website