Island Update

So, 24 hours later, how did the Isles of Scilly do in their experiment to reduce electricity consumption?

See the previous item for background details: Switching off an Island

Normally, on a Tuesday, energy usage rises and in mainland UK it did just that by 1.7%. In contrast the Scilly isles reduced their consumption by 1.2%.

It isn’t a massive drop, but the elements were against them with a miserable and dark rainy day - not the best time to encourage people to turn their lights off.

Coverage on BBC TV new, which has been following the project, suggested that this wasn’t a massive drop, but if every community could reduce its electricity consumption, on just one day by this amount, the total savings would be massive.

Naturally some people found it difficult to take part - businesses, shops and restaurants just couldn’t turn off their freezers or stoves, but switching off a couple of computers on standby and the odd light bulb, can clearly make a difference.

What was interesting is that although the island as a whole reduced its consumption by 1.2% this is made up of some significant savings: The local schools reduced their consumption by 8.3% and a family, being monitored, reduced theirs by 50.3%. Perhaps not just a project about 'reduction' but more about awareness!

Updated details of the project can be found at:

More details at : http://e-day.org.uk