The university was one of several education centres and businesses in Monash that registered for the climate-change campaign, in which lights were to be switched off for an hour at 8pm on Saturday, Melbourne time.

The university turned off non-essential lighting on Saturday.

It also urged staff and students to turn off non-essential lights, air-conditioning, computers and equipment for an hour from noon today.

The Body Shop, which has its head office in Mulgrave, also turned off the lights on Saturday night.

Spokeswoman Polly Viska said the franchise promoted Earth Hour to customers, and also wanted to "make sure our staff were doing the right thing on Saturday night".

Registered educational organisations included Monash Science Centre, Essex Heights Primary School, Mount View Primary School, Syndal South Primary School, Wesley College's Glen Waverley campus, and South Oakleigh College.

Monash-based businesses which registered their support for Earth Hour were Rapid Marketing Solutions, Colliers International, Sustainable Living Fabrics, Gigabyte Technology, and Cellsense.