A motorist parks his car on a road in Tainan City, gets out and leaves the engine running. A remote-controlled model car with a miniature windmill attached on top sneaks up behind the idling car's exhaust pipe to measure the carbon dioxide emission, while an environmental inspector monitors and records data from a distance with the help of a video camera.
At a separate location in Tainan City, a factory illegally discharges wastewater into a river. A pair of volunteer environmental patrollers take note of the violation, inform city police and prosecutors who arrive to gather proof and arrest the factory owner.
The two scenarios outlined are award-winning environmental protection ideas from Tainan City's Environmental Protection Bureau. Winners of the competition, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), were announced yesterday.
The windmill and remote-controlled car is Tainan bureau's award-winning innovation in the “Existing Policies” category to catch drivers who leave their cars idling for more than three minutes but do not turn off their engines, bureau director-general Chang Hwang-jen (張皇珍) said.
“After we introduced the policy that motorists must turn off their engines when they leave their cars idling for three or more minutes, we tried several ways to capture proof of drivers failing to do so,” Chang said.
After several experiments, the city came up with the gadget, Chang said.
With the help of the video camera, the bureau has issued 55 tickets in the past year to environmentally neglectful drivers.
“Many other countries have promoted the idea of turning off car engines when drivers temporarily park their cars, but no measuring equipment had been developed to catch drivers who violate this policy,” Chang said.
“When we used this equipment to issue the first ticket in this category in Asia, Japan's NHK television channel came to interview us,” Chang said
In the “New Ideas” category, Chang's team came up with the idea of combining the bureau's inspectors with the police and the city prosecutor's office to catch illegal waste dumping.
“Factories are generally unintimidated by environmental inspectors; however, they are afraid of police and inspectors,” Chang said. “We persuaded the police and prosecutors to work with us and so far it has improved our success rate in catching illegal dumping.
Other winners include Taipei County, which placed second in the New Ideas category for promoting a low-carbon eco-tour in Pinglin Township (坪林),where tourists walk or bike along the Jingualiau River (金瓜寮) and are offered local and organic foods.
Kinmen County won second place in the Existing Policies category for re-organizing its botanical garden, which has attracted three new types of insects to the park.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
RSS