Lights Out Day - A Vision Beyond Borders

TAIPEI, Taiwan--The Delta Electronics Foundation and Society of Wilderness announced this year's Lights Out Day at a press conference held at the Australian Commerce and Industry Office (ACIO) of Taipei. Lights Out Day is an annual event that is raising public awareness of energy conservation and encouraging people to save electricity by adjusting their daily habits.

The press conference featured a talk from Delta Electronics Foundation chairman and founder, Mr. Bruce Cheng, as well as a special videoconference with Ms. Jacqueline McArthur, media communications manager for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Australia. Participants also included Steve Waters, representative of ACIO and Wei-wen Lee, chairman of the Society of Wilderness.

At the press conference Bruce Cheng said, "Facing our current environmental problems, we must rely on the public's awareness and action. Lights Out Day is a way to boost the spirit of this movement. I believe that if everyone takes even the smallest of actions, we can change the world."

Encouraging energy conservation through a lights out event truly knows no borders. In her videoconference from Australia, Jacqueline McArthur recounted the WWF's recent Earth Hour event where people throughout Australia turned out lights to promote energy conservation and reducing CO2 emissions. She described the event as a street party with over two million people and 2,500 businesses involved. "Everyone was pushing to be part of it," said McArthur.

This year marks Taiwan's third annual Lights Out Day on June 22nd, which will see a substantial increase in the number of citizens and organizations participating. The Taipei city government turns off the lights for one hour at the main event in Daan Park starting at 7:50pm. Entertainment activities will include music and dance performances on the park's main stage.

At least 48 other buildings around Taiwan will turn off their lights for an hour starting at 7:50pm, including Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. This year the event has expanded to include nine other cities and counties in Taiwan. The decorative lights on nine Taipei county bridges will go dark, as will the lights along the Kaohsiung Love River. In addition, all Taipei county junior high and elementary schools will turn off their electricity for one hour at lunchtime, which will involve over 600,000 students in the event.