Taiwan ranks first in the world, among countries with a population of 10 million or more, in the growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions, the director of the Research Center for Environmental Change at Academia Sinica said yesterday.
"As of 2005, [Taiwan's] growth rate was over 110 percent since 1990, the base year of the Kyoto Protocol," Shaw C. Liu (劉紹臣) said in the legislature's Science, technology and Information committee.
Liu was asked by the committee to brief legislators on the general situation of the country's carbon-dioxide emissions and to offer suggestions for countermeasures.
Legislators were largely uninterested in the topic, with only three of them attending the discussion.
The meeting lasted about one hour.
Liu told the committee that the country had gained a certain "notoriety" in the international community because of the significant increase in carbon dioxide emissions and the government's inaction on the problem.
Each person in Taiwan generated an average of 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005, four times higher than the global average, he said.
"That figure is likely to increase in next few years," he said.
Liu said the trend in Taiwan was "terrifying," especially in light of Japan's success in cutting emissions, as have some Western European countries.
Liu attributed the problem to "much too low energy prices" in Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chuang-chin (邱創進) was very receptive to the coments.
Economic affairs officials, however, were not as pleased.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥), who also attended the meeting, said the decision to raise the price of energy was a "highly political issue."
"Electricity and oil prices in Taiwan are lower than in other Asian countries ... but we can't propose a price increase until we have reached consensus," Shih said.
Responding to Shih, Chiu said that economic affairs officials should have dismissed the myth that cheap energy prices will lead to economic growth.
"It's the ministry's call [to come up with plan to combat global warming], but the ministry can't shake off its outdated way of thinking -- to encourage Petrochemical and steel factories -- that would produce great quantities of carbon dioxide emissions," Chiu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ye Fang-hsiung (
The ministry said that for every 10oC raise in room temperature in a household, about 6.2kg of carbon dioxide is produced. But "the term 6.2kg of carbon dioxide emissions might not mean anything to the public," Ye said.
"It's better to show how many trees would die from the increase. We have to allow the public to identify with the issue," he said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS