Residents to join Earth Hour

The UAE will join the rest of the world when it goes dark at 8.30pm on Saturday in a symbolic annual moment of action called Earth Hour which aims to save the planet. The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, will lead the show in Dubai as thousands converge around the landmark at the Burj Plaza from 5pm. The Burj will be joined by dozens of other landmarks across the country, including the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Burj Al Arab, Al Qasba, as well as various shopping malls. The Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (Dewa), which is leading the campaign in association with the Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (SCE), is challenging residents to beat last Earth Hour's saving of electricity of 204,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) in Dubai. Going with this year's theme of ‘I will if you will — dare the world, save the planet', Dewa is challenging the residents to save 230,000kWh. If the target is achieved, Dewa plans to organise a fundraising ‘victory walk,' to celebrate the savings accomplished, on World Earth Day. The funds raised on the day will go toward environmental causes. "Dewa employees, government departments, businesses and residents of Dubai will join together in a single environmental action during Earth Hour and I urge everyone to accept our sincere challenges to reduce the consumption of electricity in the emirate and to preserve our wildlife by promising to support us in the betterment of planet Earth for future generations," said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, vice-chairman of the SCE and managing director and chief executive of Dewa. Apart from this, Dewa has two challenges for its employees lined up. In the first one, Dewa has dared its 8,000 employees to donate Dh1 each to support the EWS-WWF Marine Turtle Conservation project. In turn, Dewa will then double the final contribution to sponsor the satellite tagging of rare turtles as part of its strategy to maintain wild life sustainability in association with EWS. Furthermore, if at least 2,000 Dewa employees sign up on www.earthhour.org and share an act of conservation, they will be placed in a draw with a chance to win an overnight stay in a place of environmental significance and natural beauty in the UAE. New target set 204,000: kilowatts hours saved during Earth Hour 2011 230,000: kilowatts hours saving targeted this year