Various organisations in the city will go powerless to empower the earth as part of the ‘Earth Hour 2014’ initiative organised annually by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). Companies, hotels and malls will be part of the climate change initiative, scheduled for Saturday, in which over 150 cities in India and 6,000 cities, towns and councils worldwide, will turn off their lights for one hour — between 8.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m.
SAP Labs in Bangalore, Gurgaon and Pune will take part. The company has announced that it will power all its data centres and facilities globally with 100 per cent renewable electricity starting in 2014.
ITC’s Hotels will join the Sydney Opera House, Burj Jumeirah Hotel — Dubai, The London Eye, France’s Eiffel Tower, The Acropolis in Athens and New York’s Empire State Building in the initiative. A release from the hotel said posters and messages will be put up encouraging guests to leave their rooms and turn off lights for an hour.
Similarly, all hotels of The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group will switch off non-essential lights in the façade, lobby, guest corridors, porch, service areas and elevators and the bars and restaurants will be candlelit.
Lights in the entrance, lobby, lawns, swimming pool and restaurants at JW Marriott will also be out for an hour.
Retailers will spearhead the initiative at the Forum Value Mall by coming out at 8.30 p.m. and lighting up the sky with 150 sky lanterns.
