On the occasion of the annual global celebration of “Earth Hour” which will take place on Saturday 25 March ,2017, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Doha time, the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) announced its participation in this event in recognition of the importance of the pillar of environmental development in Qatar National Vision 2030, which stipulates the need to conserve and protect the environment, including air, land, water and biodiversity, by supporting international efforts to reduce adverse the adverse effects of climate change. MDPS will switch off unnecessary lights and electrical devices from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday 25 March, 2017 to instill the principle of energy saving and environmental conservation in society’s life style and emphasize the importance of reducing electricity consumption among society members.
MDPS also takes this opportunity to refer to some data related to domestic and industrial consumption of electricity on the last Saturday during the years (2012-2016), where the total electricity consumed reached 3.718 MWh on Saturday 26 March, 2016 between (8:30-9:30 pm), at an annual growth rate of 6% compared to the same hour on 31 March, 2012, of which the domestic sector consumed 2.520 MWh, at an annual growth rate of 3% and 7% respectively.
It is worth mentioning that the campaign was launched in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, where around 2.3 million people participated, switching off unnecessary lights. This number later increased to include more than 7,000 cities and villages worldwide.
