Business + Leadership
Power Smart
How a Simple Idea Revolutionized the Way We Use Electricity
Kerry Gold. In collaboration with BC Hydro Power Pioneers
The story of one of Canada’s greatest conservation-marketing campaigns in a generation.
The story of one of Canada’s greatest conservation-marketing campaigns in a generation.
Power Smart did nothing less than transform BC Hydro into a cultural force that sold the concept of electricity conservation to its customers—a counterintuitive, creative, and bravely progressive achievement.
In 1989, BC Hydro launched a program that would revolutionize how British Columbians lived, how businesses achieved their bottom lines, and how building codes and appliance standards were written. It was a simple but game-changing idea called Power Smart. Since then, Power Smart has become a household name in BC, synonymous with the efficient use of electricity. Power Smart did nothing less than transform BC Hydro into a cultural force that sold the concept of electricity conservation to its customers—a counterintuitive, creative, and bravely progressive achievement. This is the story of how that transformation came to be, and of the people who made it happen.