Lights off at ‘Earth Hour'

Students reading with LED-based study lamps in Pillapalyam village near Tirupati at the mock ‘Earth Hour’ organised by NEDCAP on Friday. Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

Darkness blanketed the city on Saturday evening with most of the lights going off suddenly at 8.30 p.m. to observe the ‘Earth Hour'.

With social organisations sparing no efforts to get the message across, the awareness level was considerably high on the concept, which is a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) initiative to support climate change.

However, business areas remained fully illuminated, either due to lack of awareness or commercial compulsions overtaking social concern.

Mock session

In Pillapalem, a village in Renigunta mandal identified by the Non-conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NEDCAP) for promotion as ‘energy-efficient village', the students were presented study lights by Hyderabad-based Thrive Energy Technologies.

In a mock session held on Friday evening, students switched off the lights for an hour and used the handy study lamps ahead of their examination.

Eco-friendly

This is the latest eco-friendly initiative in the village, which has already replaced the traditional fluorescent street lights with LED lamps and now engaged in replacing indoor lights with LED-based home lighting system. The event was coordinated by M. Devendranath Reddy, who retired as Superintending Engineer with AP Transco and now runs a voluntary organization ‘Dyumani Renewable Energy Efficient Management Systems' (DREEMS).

Non-conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh district manager C.B. Jagadeeswara Reddy said that students of the Pillapalem village school took out a rally to create awareness about ‘Earth Hour'.