The Presidential Office Building on March 31 will participate from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the worldwide Earth Hour campaign. The activity was initiated by the World Wildlife Fund and is being promoted here in Taiwan by the Society of Wilderness. The campaign spans 135 countries, and over 100 million people will participate in a joint effort to "embrace an eco-friendly lifestyle, conserve energy, and reduce carbon." The Presidential Office Building will lead landmark buildings throughout Taiwan in joining together with other landmark structures around the world to turn off their lights for one hour in order to lessen harm to the Earth and to serve as a model in encouraging the public to pay attention to energy conservation and carbon emissions reduction.
To implement President Ma Ying-jeou's administrative policy of "saving the country through environmental protection," the Presidential Office Building began carrying out an energy conservation and carbon reduction project on World Environment Day on June 5, 2008. Thanks to the efforts of all colleagues, in 2011 electricity usage was reduced year-on-year by 26.7%, water consumption by 11.5%, gasoline usage by 32.7%, and paper usage by 13.3%. “Change has already begun,” and the objectives of energy conservation and carbon reduction can be achieved with effort and determination. The Presidential Office Building hopes to serve as a benchmark for Taiwan in realizing energy conservation and carbon reduction.
The Office of the President is urging the public to support this year's Earth Hour activity and to incorporate energy conservation and carbon reduction measures into their daily lives in order to jointly contribute to the protection of the Earth. At the same time, the Office of the President expresses its deepest appreciation to the Society of Wilderness for continuing to promote this environmental protection activity and helping to create a practical model for "saving the country through environmental protection."