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Story Posted: 18 June 2007

Roehampton University supports Lights out London.

Roehampton University is to show its support for an environmentally sustainable future for London by switching the lights off on Midsummer’s Night, the longest day of the year, as part of  Lights out London.

Roehampton University is joining a long list of London's most famous landmarks that have already signed up, including Buckingham Palace, Canary Wharf, BT Tower, Harrods and City Hall, by switch off our lights for an hour between 9 and 10pm.

“The event is both an opportunity to promote a long-term understanding of green issues and a display of solidarity, a statement to the world to show that London, and Roehampton University in particular, is looking to the future and willing to make a difference,” said Pro Vice-Chancellor Chris Cobb.

Households all over London are being urged to switch off their non-essential lights and appliances, in what organisers hope will be the first in a series of events that will spread to cities across the country.

Lights out London is based on Earth Hour, a similar hour-long mass switch-off earlier this year in Sydney that involved 65,000 households and 2,000 businesses and landmarks, including the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Earth Hour saw energy consumption in the city fall by 10.2 per cent, meaning many fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide were released than otherwise would have been.

The event follows the University’s pledge to cut its carbon footprint and reduce energy bills by joining phase three of the Carbon Trust’s Higher Education Carbon Management (HECM) programme.