Photo/WES KELLER TOWN PLACED EIGHTH: Orangeville finished in eighth place in last Friday's Count Me In! Community Energy Challenge, results of which were announced at the Orangeville Hydro office Wednesday. At the announcement are (from left): Pieta Velinor (Hydro's Conservation Program Co-ordinator), Hiedi Murray of Green Pathways (a green living shop at the Hydro offices), Mayor Rob Adams, Orangeville Hydro President George Dick, and Hydro Commissioner Adrian Maes. The results of the Count Me In! Community Energy Challenge show Orangeville has some room for improvement.

The Town ranked eighth out of 83 municipalities for number of pledges submitted and in the middle out of 49 municipalities for the electricity consumption challenge.

The province-wide challenge was held last Friday, August 14, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., coinciding with the anniversary of the 2003 North American blackout that plunged some 50 million people into darkness.

Residents and businesses were asked to participate in the challenge in two ways - to sign up for the Count Me In! pledge drive prior to August 14, and to reduce electricity consumption that day.

The winners of the challenge were Kingston for electricity consumption reduction, and Sioux Lookout for pledges per capita.

Kingston won The Woodstock Cup for achieving a drop of 7.8 per cent in electricity consumption during the 12- hour assessment period compared with August 13. The name of the award is taken from the City of Woodstock, which organized the "Blackout Day Challenge" for several years.

"August 14 was a tough day for energy consumption as we entered our first heat wave of a colder-thanusual summer and the humidex spiked," said Mayor Rob Adams.

Orangeville's energy consumption actually rose that day to 439 megawatt hours (MWh), compared to the previous Friday when energy consumption was 360 MWh. But for the purposes of the challenge, Friday's data was compared to the local August 13 energy consumption, which was 423 MWh.

"We have some work to do for next year's challenge and hopefully we can budget ahead to better promote the event and to have a free swim and a community barbecue to get people out of their homes," the mayor said.

"The good news is that Orangeville residents took the online pledge and we ranked eighth in that aspect of the challenge."

Mayor Adams noted that awareness-building is a big part of the challenge and energy conservation in general. Orangeville Hydro and Green Pathways encouraged business participation in the Count Me In Challenge and signed up 114 businesses that agreed to power down on August 14.

He reminds residents that they can compare their energy consumption to the average Orangeville home by taking the Town's online energy challenge, with a built-in calculator, at www. orangeville.ca.

"If you are not using electrical appliances or fixtures, turn them off," Mayor Adams says. "Washing clothes in cold water saves energy, replace your incandescent light bulbs with CFL bulbs, use a programmable thermostat, run your appliances early in the morning or after 8 p.m., use a power bar to get rid of 'phantom loads', and take showers instead of baths. And remember to think conservation all year round."

For more information on energy consumption and conservation visit www. countmeinontario.ca