The government plans to change the voltage for home appliances from 110 to 220 to save electricity and comply with world norms, a Chinese-language newspaper said yesterday.
The newspaper said the state-run Taiwan Power Co has completed an evaluation of volt conversion. It is now up to the Ministry of Economic's Energy Commission to decide when to launch the project.
"South Korea has begun the conversion and Japan will follow suit. If Taiwan sticks with the 110v, it will become the `orphan among world electric appliances,'" the paper said.
In European countries, home appliances use 220v. In this country, all home appliances use 110v except air conditioning systems which use 220v.
"Taiwan began to consider voltage conversion more than 10 years ago, but has not taken the step yet. Now that South Korea has almost finished volt conversion, the government is in a hurry," it said.
South Korea finished its evaluation of voltage conversion in 1963, launched the conversion in 1973, halted production of 100v machines and equipment in 1978, introduced dual-volt in 1980 and completed volt conversion for 1,100 homes in 1995, the newspaper said.
South Korea hopes to finish voltage conversion for all homes before 2005, the paper said.
Taiwan, Japan, China and many other Asian countries still use 110v.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai