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Society calls for ‘lights out’ hour

The non-profit Society of Wilderness yesterday encouraged the public to turn their lights off for an hour tomorrow to join the International Lights Out Campaign on the Summer solstice.

Shih Chun-jung (施純榮), ­secretary-general of Society of Wilderness, said the same campaign would be launched simultaneously in Hong Kong and Beijing.

“The lights will be out in these three places from 8pm to 9pm,” he said.

ELECTRICITY USE

Shih said the state-run Taiwan Power Co had monitored electricity use when the campaign was held two years ago, when people were asked to switch off their lights from 8pm to 9:10pm.

The move helped save 30,000 kilowatts-hours of electricity, he said, equaling 187 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions, the same as would be emitted from driving around the nation 187 times.

To help promote the campaign, the Star Group TV network, produced and broadcast an animated film.

STARLIGHT SOCIETY

Meanwhile, the society will host starlit concerts or star-gazing events nationwide to motivate more people to go outdoors during the lights-off hour.

Sun Wei-hsin (孫維新) from the National Taiwan University’s Institute of Astrophysics, said the nation’s west coast would often be unable to see many stars because of serious light pollution from so many artificial lights.

He said there is an indicator to gauge the severity of the light pollution.

“Between the stars Altair (牛郎星) and Vega (織女星) you can see the Milky Way faintly,” he said. “If we can see the Milky Way, we are free from light pollution.”
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