Tainan City aims to become a sustainable and livable city and has long been promoting the concepts of low-carbon sustainability. The city is the first in Taiwan to set up low-carbon campus certifications. On August 16, Tainan City Government hosted the 2020 Academic Year Low-carbon Demo Campus Certification Awarding Ceremony. Mayor Huang Wei-che handed out 76 certifications to 65 schools and commended them for promoting low-carbon campuses.
The Mayor expressed that more and more people are aware of the problems caused by global climate change and other environmental issues. In recent years, the volume of carbon emissions has been continuously rising and global warming is still not mitigated, leading to extreme weather scenarios and natural disasters. Therefore, building low-carbon cities and campuses to reduce carbon emissions is a very crucial step.
Cheng Hsin-hui, Director-general of Tainan City Bureau of Education, remarked that to show the concrete results of Tainan City's low-carbon city policies on campuses, the Bureau of Education is committed to promoting the Low-carbon Demo Campus Certification Program. The program aims to help schools become promotion and demonstration centers of low-carbon education in communities. So far 195 schools have obtained effective certifications and 289 certifications have been given out.
In the 2020 academic year, Jiajhong Elementary School, Simen Experimental Elementary School, Shiaying Junior High School, Danei Junior High School, and Wunsian Junior High School (North District) were awarded low-carbon demo campus certifications. They shared their low-carbon promotion experiences during the event.
Shiaying Junior High School set up solar panels to generate renewable energy on their building rooftops. Danei Junior High School set up a reverse osmosis recycling and processing system in the kitchen to reuse water resources. Wunsian Junior High School launched resource recycling and regularly hold flea markets. Profits from the markets are donated to Huashan Social Welfare Foundation. Simen Experimental Elementary School formed a water environment volunteer team to monitor the water quality of the neighboring Yanshui River and routinely organizes family river cleaning events. Jiajhong Elementary School used recycled materials to build a 3D household disaster prevention model.