The Bureau of Energy has begun to promote its campaign to achieve greater energy efficiency and cut annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 420,000 tonnes by 2011.
The campaign encourages people to dress lightly to cope with the summer heat and set their air conditioners between 26oC and 28oC to save power, the bureau said in a statement yesterday.
Earlier this week, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) ordered Cabinet ministers and government and education officials not to wear suits and ties in summer.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
Taiwan has company in its quest to save energy and fight global warming.
Yesterday, for instance, Japan formally kicked off its third summer "Cool Biz" casual clothing drive as politicians wore short-sleeved shirts to work.
By turing the temperature of air conditioners up 1oC, the nation's electricity consumption will be reduced by 6 percent, the bureau said, citing a study by local market researcher Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院).
To prevent wasting energy, retailers should install air shades in entrances and exits to prevent 70 percent to 90 percent of the cool air inside their stores from leaking, the energy bureau said.
Another measure that can be taken to save power is enhancing the energy efficiency of electronics and home appliances. Annual electricity consumption could be cut by 130 million kilowatt hours if the efficiency of light bulbs ballasts was raised by 30 percent, the bureau said.
The government also plans to save 170 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year by replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving designs from 2010.
By 2011, home appliances such as air conditioners, dehumidifiers, refrigerators and heaters will be required to meet energy efficiency standards set by the government.
The government expects the standards to save 620 million kilowatt hours of electricity, or 42 tonnes of carbon dioxide, each year, the statement said.
To increase public awareness of environmental issues, the energy bureau encouraged consumers to sign up for the energy saving campaign on its Web site.
The energy bureau will also sign a declaration on Tuesday with businesses -- including Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and Chi Mei Frozen Food Co (奇美食品) -- and associations like the Chinese National Federation of Industries (全國工總) to join in the energy saving drive, the bureau said in the statement.
Meanwhile, state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower,
Household users, retailers and hospitals in the highest power-consumption bracket will pay 28.97 percent more this month, the company said.
The bills of small and medium-sized businesses and factories will be increased by 36 percent in summer, Taipower said.
Taipower predicted consumption this summer would surpass the record 32.06 million kilowatt hours consumed last summer.
If every air conditioner in Taiwan was turned up by 1oC, electricity consumption would be reduced by 300 million kilowatt hours this summer, the company estimated.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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