The government will push for the development and application of clean, recycled energy to alleviate Taiwan's reliance on fossil fuels, 98 percent of which are imported from abroad, Bureau of Energy Chairman Yeh Hui-ching (
The Executive Yuan plans to allocate NT$3 billion (US$96.77 million) each year beginning in fiscal year 2006 to finance the research, development and application of clean, recycled energy, which includes solar power, biomass energy, wind power and marine energy, Yeh said.
Yeh made the remarks during a speech on energy policy at the opening of the Academic Workshop on Energy Economics Across the Taiwan Strait sponsored by the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.
Yeh said reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels is the only way to lessen the risks regarding import sources and price fluctuations.
Yeh said that since Taiwan's self-produced energy resources are scarce, the country's imports of fuels have increased noticeably over the past 20 years as the domestic economy has expanded, from 88.8 percent in 1984 to 97.9 percent last year.
In the same period, per capita electricity consumption also surged, from 2,595kwh in 1984 to 9,131kwh last year, marking a 3.52-fold increase, Yeh said.
One of the reasons why Taiwan's energy consumption has increased over the past 20 years is probably because energy prices have been relatively lower than most of the other major economies in Asia, Yeh said, adding that the lack of economic incentives to encourage energy conservation was another reason.
Pointing out that currently the country still lacks mandatory measures to reduce energy consumption while manufacturing industries requiring high amounts of energy remain the backbone of Taiwan's industrial sector, Yeh said the government and the private sector must work together to increase energy resources and promote conservation.
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