[hkskyline]

Dim view of city to light up reputation
Hong Kong Standard
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

More than 75 landmark buildings and billboards on the Victoria Harbour skyline will, for an hour on June 21, attempt to dim Hong Kong's image as a city of light for a good cause.

The Dim-It, Lights Out program - when some lights will be switched off while others are dimmed - is part of a 20-nation campaign by Friends of the Earth to reduce greenhouse gases and to get the government to set a gas reduction target.

Friends' director Edwin Lau Che-feng said the message is everything in moderation - including the consumption of electricity.

Though he declined an invitation to attend, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has called on government bureaus to participate with more than a dozen agreeing to do so, including City Hall, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the Legislative Council building.

They will be joined by 30 privately run concerns including One IFC, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, Hang Seng Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Central Plaza, APM, Manulife, Principal, Zurich, Epson, Olympus, Hitachi, Samsung and Toshiba.

The 8.30pm to 9.30pm campaign will be joined by 20 cities on the mainland, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.

Remarking on the success of a lights-out campaign in Australia that saved 10 percent of Sydney's daily electricity usage, Lau said the increase in the number of corporate participants this year is a positive step, given their ability to reach thousands of their employees.

"The dimming of lights is a great gesture, but we need to spread the message to the wider community. Even the chief executive has got the message and we anticipate there will be many more joining before the event," Lau said.

That night, Friends will also host a free carnival of games, stalls and dancing at Chater Garden until 9pm.

The green group will also hold a lights-out photo competition with entries for pictures taken during the campaign accepted until July 10.

 

[gladisimo]

sigh... hno:

 

[EricIsHim]

So that's right after the Symphony of Light on June 21.
Okay... the top ten are all part of the show, break to be given to rest the light bulbs.

 

[hkskyline]

City needs more enlightened approach to nightly neon blaze
21 June 2008
South China Morning Post

The brighter the lights in our city and the longer they shine, the hotter and dirtier it will become. Excessive use of lighting for shops, advertising billboards and building decorations is fast becoming the norm, creating a new kind of pollution, known as light pollution. This affects the view of the night sky; it wastes energy; adds more pollution to our atmosphere; and creates a light nuisance that affects the daily life of some residents.

According to government figures, our per capita average consumption of electricity on lighting alone increased by 10 per cent between 1997 and 2005, while the population increase for the same period was only 4.9 per cent. This points to the wasteful and exaggerated manner we now light the so-called Pearl of the Orient and, as a direct result, we are covering it with a layer of smog for most of the time.

Any evening stroll along either Nathan Road or in Causeway Bay, the busiest nighttime shopping areas in Hong Kong, will demonstrate this: extreme brightness of lighting for billboards, shops and building decorations - to the extent that some of them even shine throughout the entire night when most of us are sleeping. Readings at street level under some illuminated billboards are equivalent to a fine day, or three times as bright as Sha Tin Racecourse during evening races.

Currently with no legislation to prevent light pollution and light nuisance, if your bedroom is lit at night by an outdoor advertising spotlight, any complaint to the government will get you nothing but frustration.

Friends of the Earth (HK) recently launched the Dim it 6.21 Lights Out campaign, which aims to persuade each of us to conserve energy by taking small steps in the home or workplace. Switching off the lights in the city for an hour won't achieve great savings, even with support involving 100 buildings and billboards. However, we want to spread a clear message to all sectors of the community that this city has been wasting a lot of energy.

There will be a Lights Out evening show at Chater Garden, Central, tonight, from 8pm, with various kinds of performance to promote the Lights Out theme. All are welcome.

Edwin Lau, director, Friends of the Earth

 

[hkskyline]

響應「地球一小時2009」關燈節能
幻彩詠香江3‧28暫停綻放
15/12/2008

【本報訊】過度排放二氧化碳是地球暖化的元兇之一，為喚起世界關注氣候問題及節約能源，環保組織世界自然基金○七年在悉尼發起關燈一小時活動，香港明年亦首次參加。為表支持，「幻彩詠香江」屆時將暫停。主辦單位希望可號召一百萬名港人參加，讓香港暫停發熱發亮一個晚上。

世界自然基金會香港分會主席楊子信稱，「地球一小時2009」明年三月二十八日晚舉行，已有七十四個城市支持，香港、北京及上海首度參與，當晚八時半將關掉燈光一小時，「幻彩詠香江」當晚也會暫停。本港地標包括國際金融中心、山頂凌霄閣、偖豐銀行總行、長江中心及會議展覽中心會熄燈。

 

[hkskyline]

熄燈一小時港3300公司大廈響應
2012年04月01日(日)

【本報訊】全球一百五十個國家及地區，包括本港在內共有逾六千四百個城市昨晚八時半起（當地時間計），陷入一片漆黑長達一小時，響應全球熄燈活動「地球一小時2012」，以減少碳排放，喚起公眾關注全球暖化問題。今年本港參與是項活動的公司和大廈更創出新高。

幻彩詠香江暫停一晚

平日夜色璀璨的維港兩岸，昨晚八時半即披上「神秘黑紗」，全港有破紀錄的超過三千三百間公司及大廈齊齊熄燈，本港多個地標建築包括尖沙咀文化中心、中環國際金融中心和青馬大橋等頓時失去光彩，「幻彩詠香江」也暫停一晚。

環保團體世界自然基金會香港分會指，今年除全球參與人數料創新紀錄外，本港亦有超過三千三百間公司及大廈響應，另全港所有大學及逾三百四十間中、小學亦承諾參與。

香港以外，世界性地標建築如北京故宮和長城、巴黎艾菲爾鐵塔、倫敦白金漢宮，及悉尼歌劇院等也響應，為環保出一分力。

世界自然基金會香港分會氣候項目主管余遠騁表示，熄燈活動去年為本港節省百分之四電力，今年參與的大廈亦較去年增加百多幢，相信大家的環保意識經已提高。