Fifty-three hospitals, hotels and department stores with a total of 166 locations signed an energy-saving agreement yesterday to reduce their contribution to carbon dioxide emissions, pledging to cut electricity consumption by 5 percent within three years.
Bureau of Energy statistics indicated that the joint effort would help save 130 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and put NT$1.04 billion into the market for products that conserve energy.
In addition, the efforts should cut carbon dioxide emissions by 83,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to building 224 Da-an Forest parks, the bureau’s report showed.
“Although South Korea has implemented coercive measures to enforce energy conservation, our government believes that saving energy is a universal value and will gain public support. As a result, we have decided to begin with voluntary energy conservation measures,” Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said at a press conference yesterday.
Yiin said that the ministry hoped to reduce the growth of carbon dioxide emissions, putting emissions in 2020 at this year’s level and cutting emissions to their level in 2000 by 2025.
Electricity consumption in the service sector has gone up by 3.9 percent annually on average over the past five years, the statistics showed.
Electricity consumption in relation to floor space at hospitals, hotels and department stores is between 1.2 times and 2.1 times higher than that of normal office buildings, the report said.
Sean Chuang (莊秀石), chairman of the Taiwan Tourist Hotel Association (中華民國觀光旅館商業同業公會), said yesterday that energy conservation was almost impossible for the hospitality industry — especially for five-star hotels — as many measures would be considered disrespectful to hotel guests. However, hotels can start with replacing automatic doors with revolving doors, using energy-saving lights bulbs and planting trees.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
RSS