US officials and private-sector energy management specialists shared their experiences of boosting energy efficiency through private-public sector partnerships in Taipei yesterday, with one participant mentioning a possible cooperative project between state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Authority.
Nexant Asia Ltd vice president Peter du Pont said he had proposed to Taipower chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) during a meeting arranged by the Bureau of Energy on Thursday the idea of developing energy efficiency instead of building power plants.
Du Pont said he referred Hwang to the energy demand management plans he developed for the Thai authorities, which involved initiatives that helped the country reduce electricity consumption by 3,500 megawatts — the equivalent of seven coal-fired power stations — from a range of household appliances, including air conditioners, lighting and refrigerators, on a national scale.
He said he could arrange a fact-finding tour for Hwang, so that the Taipower chairman could learn about the energy-efficiency policies being adopted in Thailand and that Hwang welcomed the suggestion.
Sonrisa Lucero, a sustainability strategist at the Office of the Mayor for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, said that everyday electricity consumption by the public contributes a major part of the use of “dirty energy.”
To promote efficiency and raise people’s awareness of the amount of electricity being used, the city government publishes the information on a regular basis, she said.
She said the city government requires newly constructed buildings to set energy-efficiency goals and has developed an interactive app that enables tenants or property owners to compete against one another in terms of energy efficiency.
Paul Rode, senior vice president of the Related Companies in New York, said that the green retrofit of the Empire State Building, for which he served as project executive, cost US$20 million, of which the New York City Government contributed US$2 million.
The building has reduced its energy consumption by approximately 38 percent, which helps save between US$3.3 million and US$3.4 million each year, he said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
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