Web campaign urges Spaniards to switch off

MADRID, Nov 3 (Reuters) Closing blinds to keep out the sun instead of turning on air conditioning can save a household more than half a tonne of carbon dioxide emissions a year, Spaniards are being told by a new campaign against climate change.

Switching off computers, televisions and music centres when not in use can save 87 kilos of carbon dioxide (CO2), says the Web page www.movimientoclima.org, launched yesterday.

Spain has the worst record of all the countries that signed the Kyoto protocol to curb the world's greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming.

Its CO2 emissions last year were 53 per cent above the 1990 level, compared with a target increase of 15 percent, estimates show. Most of that growth is due to fossil fuels consumed by households and transport.

Movimiento Clima, which has the backing of environmental group WWF, Oxfam, a major trade union and a national consumer association as well as the Environment Ministry, urges people to sign up to promise to curb their personal energy consumption.

Mar Asuncion of the WWF says the organisers hope to draw in a million people simply by word of mouth.

''We don't have the budget for television advertising,'' she said after a news conference to launch the drive.

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