“It was fantastic; it was a larger turnout than last year,” said Lynda Boomer, energy and environmental engineer at the MSU Physical Plant. “We dropped about 1.5 megawatt, which is about a 3 percent (energy) drop for campus.”

If Friday afternoon’s efforts took place every night, the university would save $500,000 in energy costs each year, Boomer said.

Students and East Lansing residents were also encouraged to turn off their lights between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. during Saturday night’s Earth Hour event, a worldwide effort to acknowledge global warming.

However, inclement weather and postseason basketball involving MSU provided unfavorable conditions for the Earth Hour event on campus, and initial readings show no measurable change in energy savings, Boomer said.

Worldwide, it was expected that more than 80 countries would participate in the event.

East Lansing was one of five cities in Michigan that encouraged its residents to participate, and resident feedback for the event seemed pretty strong, East Lansing City Councilmember Nathan Triplett said.

“I think we’d be absolutely open to doing it in the future,” Triplett said.

During Friday’s event on campus, the administration building saw a 10 percent drop in energy consumption, and the agriculture hall experienced more than a 20 percent decline, Boomer said.

MSU was chosen as a flagship campus for this year’s Earth Hour festivities after last year’s Friday afternoon event produced a 2 percent decline in campus power.

Several events in the residence halls were scheduled for Saturday night to help promote Earth Hour. Ashley Hale, a journalism sophomore and a student coordinator for Earth Hour, attended a drum circle in the dark at Emmons Hall, and said students should be more aware of how easy it can be to spread the word about energy efficiency.

“I just hope students become more aware about energy policy,” Hale said.