June is Ricoh Global Eco Action Month and on June 5 employees from Ricohs global offices will turn off the lights on all billboards, Ricoh logo signboards and night lighting facilities with the exception of Ricoh’s eco lighting billboards. June 5 is also the United Nations World Environment Day and only the 100% eco-powered billboards in New York’s Times Square, London and Sydney will remain on.
Ricoh Global Eco Action began in 2006. Its goal is to enhance awareness among group company employees worldwide and promote environmentally friendly thinking and actions. This year our theme is: Think & Act. Think & act on your own. We encourage employees to focus on energy conservation at work and at home, host and participate in environmental events, and take other actions that reflect their concerns for the environment, said Dierdre Fernandes, marketing, events, CSR, PR and sponsorship co-ordinator at Ricoh SA.
Ricoh shares information on the environmental events employees participate in through posters, Facebook, e-mail news, its environmental portal and its intranet. It also extends the movement to families and friends of employees, business partners and clients.
Eco-Powered Electronic Billboards
As with Ricoh Global Eco Action, the eco-powered electronic billboards excluded from the upcoming switching off of signage represents one of the measures being taken to expand the circle of global environmental conservation. The initiative is based on the idea that even if the billboards don’t light up and fulfill their functions as signage due to weather, the company hopes that the message the billboards convey will raise many people’s environmental awareness and lead to the realisation of a sustainable society. Experimental lighting began in April 2009, and following the completion of the first billboard at Times Square, New York, in 2010, additional billboards were installed in June and July last year in London and Sydney respectively. The average combined power generation of the three sites has been calculated at approximately 150 000Wh per day.
