The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Energy is in the process of relaxing safety regulations that would spur the opening of more liquid petroleum gas (LPG) refueling stations that serve hybrid vehicles, the bureau said in a press release on Saturday.
In line with the government’s goal to reduce the country’s carbon dioxide emissions, the bureau said it hoped to see at least 150 LPG refueling stations added over the next five years to serve eco-friendly and cost-effective LPG-powered vehicles.
The bureau projects that at least one LPG refueling station will be set up in each city and county by the end of 2012 and it has been working to ease regulations that have discouraged private-sector interest in investing in LPG dispensing equipment.
Among the measures under consideration was eliminating the requirement of a reinforced concrete wall around gas stations, especially if gas dispensers are far enough away from properties or the gas station is located next to an open field.
The authorities could also reduce the required distance between gas dispensers or storage tanks and the surrounding wall from 8m to 5m.
At present there are 23 LPG refueling stations throughout the country and 22 are under construction.
Conventional fuel and LPG can be used at the same time in an LPG bi-fuel vehicle. When the vehicle runs out of LPG, it can switch to gasoline automatically.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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