Following the busier-than-usual rush hour normally seen for the bustling Friday evening traffic, Taipei turned dimmer at 8 p.m. as many landmark buildings and households shut off their lights for at least one hour.

Residents in the capital city streamed from all directions into Da-an Forest Park for a stroll in a natural and cool environment without the aid of modern electrical appliances.

People in other areas took part in ecological observation tours arranged by the Society of Wilderness (SOW), one of the organizers of the “Lights Out Day” campaign.

Taipei 101, the world’s reigning tallest building, and the Love River in the southern Kaohsiung City symbolically turned off lights for 10 minutes.

But most other prominent high-rise structures, including Shinkong Mitsukoshi building and the head office of the state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), shut off lights for at least one hour and 10 minutes.

Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. dimmed decorative lights at six stations across the island for an hour.

The Shinkong Group, Taipower and Delta Electronic are among the corporate sponsors to join hands with the SOW to organize the third “Lights Out Day” events in Taiwan along with similar activities being staged in Japan, South Korea and major international cities, like London for the summer solstice.

SOW officials said they were encouraged by the increase number of people and organizations taking part in this year’s campaign to help lift public awareness of the worsening global warming problems.

Chinese people have observed the tradition of eating sweet and sticky rice dumplings for the winter solstice (around Dec. 22 each year) for centuries, they pointed out.

They expect the Chinese communities around the world to help build a global practice of for the summer solstice to help ameliorate the burden of Mother Earth.

An executives of Delta Electronic, which has heavily invested in equipment harnessing renewable energy and environmental conservation, noted that energy saving and environmental protection have become the new fad and buzz words for doing business now.

People who send contrasting photos of buildings depicting before and after “lights out” or stories about the energy-saving events to www.lightsoutday.com.org before June 30 will have the opportunities of winning the “Lights Out” prizes.

Some people suggested that Taiwan should implement the daylight saving time program to set the clock at least one hour ahead the standard time like in some countries to help conserve energy.

Officials at the Energy Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said the government adopted the measure to cope with the “second energy crisis” 27 years ago.

They explained that unlike other nations in northern hemisphere, Taiwan is unable to achieve significant saving in power consumption because there is no much difference in the brightness in the morning or late afternoon.

But they stressed that there is a need for people to build a habit of conserving energy whenever possible in daily life, including turning out lights and pulling the plugs of electric appliances not in use.

The government’s Taipower has regularly raised the electricity bills between 13 to 28 percent for the portion of excess consumption by households and enterprises during the “summer months” — June 1 to Sept. 30 — to help cut overall electricity consumption.

Energy Bureau officials consumers to visit the bureau’s Web site for practical ideas and measures to save both energy and money.

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