Yukoners cut their energy consumption by 1.6 megawatts during Earth Hour on Saturday night – enough to power about half of Riverdale.

It’s the highest reduction since Yukon Energy began tracking the annual event five years ago, spokeswoman Janet Patterson said this morning.

Earth Hour is a global initiative that encourages people to turn off their lights for one hour on a specific day every spring to promote a sustainable world, according to its website.

Patterson said this year’s savings constitute about a three per cent reduction. Yukon Energy compared the drop to consumption from the previous Saturday, when the temperature outdoors was about the same.

“That’s pretty amazing,” Lewis Rifkind, the Yukon Conservation Society’s mining analyst, said this morning of the decrease.

“There’s always people who say Earth Hour is just tokenism ... you turn your lights off for one hour a day, meanwhile, you’re out filling up your SUV, but I think it does raise awareness. A lot of little actions can change people’s attitudes over the long term.

“If a person is participating in Earth Hour, maybe next time, they buy a car, they don’t buy an SUV. Or they buy something that’s more fuel-efficient, or maybe they even buy a bus pass or bicycle.”

Rifkind said Earth Hour can make people more aware about energy efficiency in a broader sense. Perhaps they’ll buy LED light bulbs in the future, or Energy Star kitchen appliances.

“It’s almost immeasurable,” he said of the impact. “How are you going to measure if someone buys an energy-efficient vehicle five years from now or if they change light bulbs this coming fall?

“As far as raising awareness goes, I think (Earth Hour) helps.”

Last year, Yukoners saved 1.5 megawatts during the hour. In 2013, consumption dropped by one megawatt.

This year, some regions of the country saw poor participation in the lights-off event.

British Columbia reduced its energy load by 0.2 per cent, according to BC Hydro – an all-time low for the province.

The Calgary Herald reported an “imperceptible change” in energy use in that city between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. local time.

And Toronto Hydro numbers showed the city’s lowest reduction yet: a 3.5 per cent decrease, when its goal was 10 per cent.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, and has since spread to more than 7,000 cities across the globe. Earth Hour is now organized by the World Wildlife Fund.