With the summer fast approaching, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday shared with the public ways to fight the heat while keeping the planet cool.
“Because most electricity in Taiwan is generated by coal-burning plants, the best way for the public to help reduce the nation’s carbon emissions and fight global warming is to reduce unnecessary usage of electricity,” director-general of the EPA’s Air Quality Protection and Noise Control division Hsiao Hui-chuan (蕭慧娟) said.
Before reaching for the switch to turn on air conditioners, Hsiao asked that people try opening their windows first.
“Windows are the best ventilation systems in domestic homes; when you open your windows and turn on electric fans, you can reduce indoor temperatures by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius,” she said.
“Remember to clean the vents of your air-conditioners regularly to improve their output efficiency, and pair them with the usage of good old fans,” she said. “If you must turn on the air conditioner, keep it at 26°C to 28°C. By increasing the system by 1 degree, you save 6 percent of its electricity consumption.”
People who live directly below a rooftop should consider employing their green thumbs as rooftop floras can help them reduce indoor temperature considerably and save big dollars on their electricity bill, she said.
“Another easy but lesser known tip is to trade your conventional light bulbs for energy conserving ones – 90 percent of the electricity used in conventional bulbs is emitted as heat instead of light, which means that to offset the heat they emit, your air conditioner must generate extra output,” she said.
Hsiao also suggested that when buying air conditioning units, people should buy systems that are energy-efficient and money-saving.
Variable frequency air conditioners are best, she said, adding that some units carry clearly labeled energy efficiency ratios.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift