Why is solar struggling?
I’d like to respond to Gavin Lee’s well-researched and thoughtful article in the Taipei Times (“Commitment to renewable energy,” May 10, page 8), in which he asked whether the government plans “to take the development of renewable energy seriously or not.” Briefly, the answer to Lee’s question is “no.”
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the fossilized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government are beholden to the petrochemical industry and they really couldn’t care less about Taiwan’s solar makers. According to recent filings from the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Motech Industries Inc, the nation’s largest solar panel maker, reported yet another devastating drop in sales, while the average selling price for solar wafers is at a historic low.
The KMT administration could easily support the industry by mandating that all rooftops at elementary and high schools be covered with solar panels, thereby getting them “off the grid” and providing an emergency option during natural disasters or power outages.
They could simplify the procedures whereby people could slash their electricity bills by installing solar panels on their rooftops or exterior walls, but they won’t. This is all part of their plan to hollow out Taiwan’s industrial core and relocate all the high-tech industries to China.
Instead, they keep the prices of water, gasoline and electricity well below both international averages and the cost of production, which also adds to Taiwan’s monstrous national debt, because it is paid for with taxpayers’ money.
According to supply-demand dynamics, rising utility prices would encourage consumers to reduce waste, but our flaccid KMT administration would rather keep the business-as-usual model going as long as possible.
This explains the shops with open doors blasting their air conditioners all day, the countless empty taxis trolling for fares and the thousands of scooter drivers who think nothing of sitting at 90-second lights with their engines idling.
I appreciate Lee’s “youthful” energy and his quest for “innovation,” but if he is holding his breath for the KMT administration to actually get serious about reducing Taiwan’s carbon emissions and embracing green energy, he’ll probably turn blue and pass out.
TORCH PRATT
New Taipei City
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
On April 19, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) gave a public speech, his first in about 17 years. During the address at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s words were vague and his tone was sour. He said that democracy should not be used as an echo chamber for a single politician, that people must be tolerant of other views, that the president should not act as a dictator and that the judiciary should not get involved in politics. He then went on to say that others with different opinions should not be criticized as “XX fellow travelers,” in reference to
RSS