Vic: In concert, Melbourne prepares to mark Earth Hour
28 Mar 2009 7:06 PM
MELBOURNE, March 28 AAP - Thousands of people were expected to attend a bicycle-powered concert in central Melbourne on Saturday night to mark this year's Earth Hour.
For the third annual Earth Hour, when households and businesses are asked to turn off their power for one hour from 8.30pm, a bicycle-powered concert was organised at Federation Square.
"All this week a series of bikes have been linked up to dynamos that have been generating power which has gone into the grid," said Andrew Rouse from the WWF (World Wildlife Fund).
"All the cyclists madly cycling over the last week or so have generated enough power to more than offset the electricity use of the concert tonight," he said.
More than 8,000 people were expected at the concert to see performances by Nic Cester, Chris Cheney, Kram, Ash Naylor, Renee Geyer and Vika and Linda.
Amid questions over how much power will actually be saved by people turning off their lights for one hour, Mr Rouse said immediate energy savings were not the key aim of Earth Hour.
"The objective of tonight is not the energy savings on the night. It is to get the groundswell of support from hundreds of millions - hopefully one billion - people by participating in a public event.
"It sends a message to the governments of the world that they need to do a deal on climate change," Mr Rouse said.
Some key buildings in Melbourne, including St Paul's Cathedral, were to turn off their lights for Earth Hour.
