In a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions, all agencies and public schools under the Taipei City Government are to purchase only electric scooters from now on, the Taipei Environmental Protection Department said yesterday.
Department official Yan Ling-chen (顏伶珍) said Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had signed off on the rule, making Taipei the first city in the nation to implement the rule.
Yan said that traditional scooters contribute to global warming and poor air quality, as each scooter emits an average of 415.9kg more carbon dioxide and 0.18kg more PM2.5 — pathogenic airborne particulates measuring up to 2.5 micrometers — than an electric scooter does in one year.
She said that although the number of registered electric scooters in Taipei has risen from 3,831 in 2013 to 5,713 last year, that still constitutes only a small proportion, 0.6 percent, of the scooters in the municipality.
She said that schools and agencies under the city government have a total of 2,258 scooters, of which only 44 are electric, adding up to a paltry 2 percent of all scooters used by public servants.
That indicates the government could step up its commitment to embracing environmentally friendly vehicles, she said, adding that she hopes that by gradually phasing out gasoline-powered scooters in the public sector, the private sector would then follow suit.
The city has 370 charging points at MRT stations, parking lots and stores selling electric scooters, and the number is expected to reach 400 by the end of this year, she said.
The Taipei Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said it had added electric scooters under the city’s procurement guidelines to be observed by all agencies for fiscal year 2017.
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
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
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
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