AU Optronics Corp. ("AUO" or the "Company") will be joining Earth Hour, organized by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), along with 128 countries. From 8:30~9:30 P.M. on Mar. 26, all office lights will be turned off. The Company’s 42,000 employees worldwide are also encouraged to join this event with their families and friends. It is estimated that around 6,000 kWh of electricity will be saved in one hour, approximately the consumption amount of one Taiwanese household for 1.5 years. AUO will practice to be even greener by turning off the lights for one hour every day from now on.

In view of the excessive carbon emissions around the world that have caused climate change and posed threats to human survival, WWF conceived Earth Hour to encourage individuals, communities, companies and governments to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour on the last Saturday of March annually. It is hoped that more awareness could be raised towards the need to take action. Taiwan is collaborating with WWF for the first time this year, joining this global initiative. As a green, global citizen, AUO has decided to participate in Earth Hour with no hesitation.

On Mar. 26, AUO will turn off all office and dormitory lights in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, the U.S., and Europe for one hour. The Company’s 42,000 employees worldwide are also invited to join this event with their families. An estimated 6,000 kWh of electricity will be saved by the 42,000 households in one hour, approximately the consumption amount of one Taiwanese household for 1.5 years. In addition, AUO will continue to turn off the lights at noon every day from now on, and encourage its employees to adopt greener practices. The measures include: providing exclusive parking space for car-pool employees, reminding employees to examine and reduce their own carbon footprints every day, replacing paper cups with mugs, offering and encouraging vegetarian diet every Monday, purchasing locally grown fruits and vegetables to reduce food miles, and organizing charity events to send used goods to nonprofit and charity groups.

Global warming due to greenhouse effect has seriously impacted our environment. Hereby we would like to sincerely invite you and your friends to join Earth Hour on Mar. 26 by turning off the lights for one hour. Further changes for the better could be made by, for example, turning off the non-essential lights whenever possible, making more use of public transportation, and saving more water. Let us all create a beautiful, green force for our Earth to return to beauty!