Aboitiz Group, SM take part in Earth Hour

Aboitiz Group, SM take part in Earth Hour 
Sun.Star Cebu
March 26, 2010


ABOITIZ Group launched the “Passion for a Better World” campaign as it seeks the public’s participation in Earth Hour tomorrow.

It opened Wednesday a “sustainability fair” at Persimmon Plus, the latest project of AboitizLand, located on M.J Cuenco Ave, Mabolo, Cebu City.

The fair, to run until March 28, features a more eco-friendly lifestyle for everyone.

At the fair are an eco-bazaar selling healthy and organic products and a recycling market that accepts recyclable goods such as paper, plastic, metal and rubber.

The donated items to the recycling market will be turned over to Barangay Luz to support the barangay’s waste management initiatives.

A “switch” booth will be put up by the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) where its customers can exchange a maximum of six incandescent bulbs for the same number of energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). They need to present their latest Veco bill to do the exchange.

The “Passion for a Better World” campaign also covers lectures that promote environment-friendly efforts. The lectures are conducted every hour and will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Persimmon Sales Office.

Walkathon
Meanwhile, employees of the Aboitiz Group will participate in a 5 p.m. walkathon starting at the Aboitiz Corporate Center in Banilad to Persimmon in Mabolo.

As his way to minimize his carbon footprint, Aboitiz chief reputation officer Sebastian Lacson said he walks or rides his bicycle to and from work and discourages his household from using bottled water.

SM SWITCHOFF
To show its commitment to Earth Hour, SM City Cebu has put up the Earth Hour Energy Exhibit, which opened yesterday and runs until tomorrow.

An exhibit participant, the Department of Energy (DOE) showcases the wind turbine that can provide alternative source of energy to the community.

“The wind is the most viable energy aside from hydro. In Cebu, Cebu City and Oslob have big potential for wind energy. Visayas has a capacity of producing 70,000 megawatts of wind energy but as of today only 30 megawatts is installed,” said DOE engineer Magdaleno Baclay Jr.

Other exhibit participants are the Philippine Business for Social Progress, VE Engineering, Eden Biotech/Plantex, Maharlikas for Cultural Recovery and Cebu City Vermiculture Project. An online voting booth is also set-up so shoppers can vote their support for Earth Hour.

Tomorrow, SM will switch off lights on its façade to include logos, billboards, signages, dropdown banners, landscapes and advertising signages. It will switch off 50 percent of the lights in the hallways.

Cebu will try to maintain its lead as having the most number of participants in Earth Hour in the country.

Earth Hour is at 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. tomorrow. Last year, 10 million supported the one-hour switchoff in the entire country. (RBF/KOC)