The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has scored great achievements in assisting local enterprises in making, selling and promoting products that save consumers money on water and energy bills while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the EPA yesterday, 26 Taiwanese manufacturers and 373 products have received the "Energy Star" label.
The 373 products include 75 computers, 284 monitors, 11 scanners and three multifunctional devices.
Energy Star, started in 1992, is a joint US Environmental Protection Agency and US Department of Energy program that works with more than 7,000 partners to improve the energy efficiency of products, homes, buildings and businesses.
The program offers businesses and consumers energy-efficient solutions -- helping to save money while protecting the environment for future generations.
Energy Star has become an international label demonstrating the energy conservation of products. Several countries have built collaborative partnerships with the US in promoting the program, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan and the EU.
In 1999, the US EPA authorized Taiwan's EPA to manage related affairs pertaining to the application of the Energy Star label in Taiwan.
"At the very beginning, we focused on getting office appliances to meet criteria set by Energy Star," said Leu Horng-guang (呂鴻光), director-general of the EPA's Bureau of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control.
Office equipment, Leu said, includes computers, monitors, fax machines, printers, copiers, scanners and multifunctional devices.
Leu said that many countries had already adopted standards relating to energy efficiency set by Energy Star as their either voluntary or compulsory labels for products. In other words, Energy Star has become an international symbol for commercial products worldwide.
Yu Ning (于寧), president of the Environmental and Development Foundation (環境與發展基金會), an organization authorized by the EPA to help enterprises in applying for the Energy Star label, said that a lot of local enterprises had realized that making products in line with with international criteria was a way to ensure opportunities to gain profits.
"That's why we have to pay attention to changes of standards set by Energy Star ... to ensure that Taiwanese products have access to the global market," Yu told the Taipei Times.
Taking PC monitors as an example, Yu said the US EPA was establishing new standards that existing CRT monitors produced in Taiwan would never meet.
But advanced energy-saving LCD monitors made in Taiwan would have no problem meeting the requirements, Yu said.
Charles Huang (黃鋆鋇), deputy secretary-general of Taipei Computer Association, said that a recent survey showed that consumers would accept advanced LCD monitors with higher energy efficiency, if the price was not higher that three times that of CRT monitors.
Huang said that each year Taiwan produces about 130 million computers, monitors and scanners and 95 percent of the output was sold overseas.
Knowing international trends, Huang said, Taiwanese manufacturers now are capable of producing energy-efficient machines.
EPA officials said that Taiwan would keep working with the US and participating in the establishment of new standards for products to ensure Taiwan a promising future in the global market.
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