The five-month Climateers “$3,600 Low Carbon Challenge” came to the end as the 60 winning families celebrated their Low Carbon Living achievement together at the award ceremony last Saturday.

With the participation of over 3,100 families in Hong Kong, the five-month Challenge recorded an average of 23% drop in electricity use among all participating families, while the winning families on average used 40% less electricity than the average of all participating families. If every household in Hong Kong takes similar actions to cut their electricity use by 23%, Hong Kong will be able to reduce its overall carbon emissions by 1.56 million tonnes!

During the award ceremony, winners of the Challenge got together and enjoyed a great time while exchanging smart and innovative ideas to reduce their electricity use. Their tips include switching from incandescent light bulbs to CFLs; switching off the lights when not in use; the alternate use of air conditioners and fans; using radios instead of TVs as the “background sound”; using dehumidifiers instead of tumble dryers to dry clothes. Their real life cases have demonstrated these simple lifestyle changes are all easier- than-you-thought tasks, which can save not only energy and money, but also the environment.

The Challenge was launched last September in response to the Hong Kong Government’s HK$3,600 subsidy on household electricity bills. The Challenge called on Hong Kong citizens to get smart in home energy use and cut their carbon footprints. The top ten households of each of the six categories (Solo, Couple and Nuclear family for CLP and Hong Kong Electric users) with the highest remaining subsidy balance were awarded energy efficient prizes to continue their low carbon lifestyle.

Congratulations to all winners and WWF would like to thank all participating families once again for their support by taking actions to reduce their electricity consumption. The Challenge does not mark an end to Low Carbon Living; we invite all of you to continue your low carbon journey and stay tuned to our news and activities at www.climateers.org --- where you will find what else you can do about climate change!