Press Release: Daylight Hour Celebrates 10th Anniversary, Promoting Energy Efficiency in Offices Across the World
This year, Building Energy Exchange celebrates ten years of Daylight Hour, a global social media campaign raising awareness of energy efficiency in the built environment.
Taking place on June 20, 2024, from 12-1pm (local time), the campaign invites offices from around the world to participate by turning off their lights for one hour and promoting their involvement on social media. By turning off non-essential lighting, this year’s Daylight Hour aims to save enough energy to power 40 Empire State Buildings.
Since 2014, Daylight Hour has reached over 6,000 offices in cities around the U.S. and dozens of countries around the world—from China and Singapore to the UK and Canada. The campaign draws a variety of industries, including architecture, engineering, government, academia, and non-profits. Past participants include Vornado Realty Trust, Arup, New York Public Library, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Daylight Hour is an annual campaign hosted by the Building Energy Exchange, a NYC-based non-profit educational hub advancing energy efficiency in the built environment. Taking place on June 20, the longest day of the year, Daylight Hour encourages offices from all sectors to showcase their commitment to sustainability in a simple way: turn off nonessential lights in daylit spaces for one hour and share on social media using the hashtag #DaylightHour to spread awareness of energy efficiency.
By engaging online, Daylight Hour provides a fun and easy way for offices to come together and increase awareness around the energy, climate, health, and comfort benefits of daylighting. In past years, offices have shared creative photos and videos from their workplace online and competed for Daylight Hour participation awards.
Commercial buildings use 11% of their total electricity for lighting, double that of residential buildings. Given this, daylighting office spaces is an impactful and easy way to reduce energy use and carbon emissions, particularly during the summer when daylight lasts the longest. In addition to energy and climate benefits, daylighting is shown to increase productivity, regulate circadian rhythms, and reduce eyestrain. Daylight Hour emphasizes this important and simple measure that offices can take to both improve employee wellbeing and move towards an energy efficient future.
“Turning off nonessential lighting in exchange for daylight is an easy way to reduce energy consumption in our commercial building sector. Our annual Daylight Hour campaign has shed light on this for the past ten years, attracting over 6,000 offices to participate from countries all over the world. The campaign itself is a testament to the importance of collective action. In order to realize a more sustainable and energy-efficient future for all, we must work together to mitigate emissions and inspire change–– one hour at a time.
Since its launch in 2014, Daylight Hour has grown exponentially in reach and impact, attracting participation from both standalone offices and entire building portfolios, like FirstService Residential, North America’s largest residential property management company, or NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services, property manager for all city-owned buildings. In 2019, NYC DCAS’ tenants achieved an overall reduction of 3,350 kW during Daylight Hour—equivalent to burning 5,500 lbs. of coal.
The campaign hosts a wide variety of resources to encourage individuals to understand the benefits of daylighting and enjoy the event. Visit our lighting calculator to estimate your energy saved, download our sunshine origami, play the Daylight Hour Bingo to compete for the Blackout Award, or listen to a set of podcasts on the benefits of daylighting: Social Equity and Daylighting with Lisa Heschong, The Power of Daylight with Susan Ubbelhode, and Shining Light on Healthy Buildings with Sara Karerat.
Last year, Daylight Hour saved enough energy in one hour to power 30 Empire State Buildings. This year, for our 10th anniversary, Daylight Hour is raising the goal to 40 Empire State Buildings to highlight the strength of collective action. The Building Energy Exchange encourages offices from any industry to register and participate in the event. To learn more, visit daylighthour.org.
Daylight Hour will be on June 20, 2024 from 12 until 1pm local time. Register at www.daylighthour.org/join and post your participation to social media to be included in the official count.
www.daylighthour.org
www.be-exchange.org
Instagram & Twitter @Daylight_Hour
#DaylightHour
Contact:
Chloe Kellner
Assistant, Education + Engagement, Building Energy Exchange
ck@be-exchange.org