Hampshire County Council supports 'Lights Out Hampshire'

Hampshire County Council has signed up to the ‘Lights Out Hampshire’ campaign which will see darkness spread across the county as people throughout Hampshire switch off all non-essential lights and appliances.

Hampshire County Council will be showing its support by switching off lights for one hour at its Winchester Headquarters buildings as well as at Winchester Crown Court, The Discovery Centre, The Great Hall, Serles House and the Gladstone Street Car Park. The event will coincide with Global Earth Hour which is between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday March 29 2008.

The aim of Global Earth Hour is to encourage cities around the world to cut their carbon emissions.

The Hampshire switch-off is the culmination of Green Month on local radio stations Power FM and Ocean FM and during their month of specialist programming, Hampshire County Council staff provided valuable advice and tips to listeners and presenters on how to reduce their carbon footprint, for example by avoiding food waste, making smarter travel choices, flexible working and improving their recycling performance.

You can also log onto the Power FM and Ocean FM homepages for campaign updates, competitions, news and information.

Almost half of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions, the main greenhouse gas which causes climate change, actually come from the things we do everyday. Things like leaving lights on unnecessarily or overfilling the kettle all waste energy and result in needless carbon dioxide emissions.

Other Hampshire buildings joining the big switch-off include Winchester Cathedral, the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, Southampton Guildhall, Civic Centre and clock tower, Skandia and WestQuay Shopping Centre in Southampton.