Seeking to escape the summer heat, 31-year-old housewife Tsai Yi-wen (蔡依文) went to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store’s Xinyi branch on Friday afternoon to cool off. What awaited her, however, was not so cool.
After complaining to a store employee about the unusually high temperature she encountered on entering the store, she was informed that the department store had set its air conditioning to a higher temperature to comply with a statute recently enacted by the Taipei City Government, which requires more than 500 office buildings, department stores and hypermarkets to keep their air conditioning at 26°C or above.
“It’s ridiculous, I am sweaty inside a department store. I support the public sector’s efforts to conserve energy, but keeping air conditioning at above 26°C isn’t much help — and it’s a disturbance to the public,” Tsai said.
The regulations, which target businesses consuming more than 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, is the city government’s latest energy-saving attempt. Although businesses have been given a six-month period to adjust, starting from January next year, businesses whose air conditioning is set below 26°C could be fined between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000.
Pacific Sogo Co, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store, Taipei 101 Mall and other major stores said they would abide by the new regulations.
However, local residents have not welcomed the city government’s efforts and both the Taipei Citizen Hotline and Taipei mayor’s mailbox have received many complaints about the policy since it took effect on July 1.
Discontent grew after it was found that air conditioning for Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) office was set at 25°C earlier this month, while the temperature indictor in the lobby of Taipei City Hall was often above 30°C.
“This is unfair. The Taipei mayor should set an example and follow the regulations he established,” said a civil servant working at Taipei City Hall surnamed Chen, who declined to give her full name.
Shrugging off the concerns about the temperature at the mayor’s office, Taipei City Government spokesperson Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏) said the statute asked for an indoor temperature of 26°C “on average” and that different thermometers could give different readings.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) accused the city government of having double standards and urged it to discuss the necessity of implementing the new regulation by taking the public response into consideration.
“We’ve already warned the city government about the difficulty of implementing such regulations and the negative reactions this might attract. It is also ridiculous to set limits for private businesses and not the public sector,” he said.
Chou Ruei-fa (周瑞法), director of Taipei City’s Air Conditioner Technician Association, also criticized the statute, urging the city government to include more details in the regulation, including the standard method to be used to measure temperature and explaining why the limit has been set at 26°C.
“Indoor temperature readings at one location can be different if different types of thermometers are used. Besides, whether 26°C is a comfortable and appropriate temperature for human beings is arguable,” he said.
As temperatures in Taipei City soared to more than 38°C earlier this month and the city could yet experience hotter days, the city government should be more flexible in setting limits on indoor temperatures and air conditioning, he said.
Taipei City’s Department of Economic Development, which established the regulation, said the statute was passed by the Taipei City council and that the temperature standard was determined via cross-departmental discussions.
Commissioner of the department Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文) said the 500 businesses used about 2.57 billion kilowatts last year, or 38 percent of the city’s electricity consumption. Those businesses could save enough electricity to supply about 7,000 households by reducing their power consumption by 1 percent.
He said it would take some time for the public to adjust to the regulations on air conditioning in major stores and the city government had no immediate plans to change the regulations.
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