The nation is likely to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2050, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) told an environmental forum in Taipei yesterday, adding that the coal-fired facilities should be refined to reduce air pollution before then.
The forum was held at National Taiwan University by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the union’s establishment.
Phasing out coal-fired power plants has become the international community’s consensus and many countries, such as France and Finland, have announced their intentions to stop using coal-fired power, Chen said in his opening remarks at the forum.
France plans to shut down all its coal-fired power plants by 2023, while Finland is to ban the use of coal in energy production by 2030.
Unlike those two countries, which have other forms of energy, such as hydraulic and nuclear power, Taiwan could hardly do without coal-fired power in the short term, he said.
Nonetheless, Taiwan can learn from Germany, which also generates about 45 percent of its electricity from coal, and stop using coal-fired power by 2050, he said.
One of the union’s landmark achievements is preventing the commissioning of the Fourth Nuclear Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) in 2015, union member Tung Chien-hung (董建宏) said.
For the union’s members, the next objective is to realize the goal of a “nuclear-free homeland by 2025,” but they have to know that building more power plants is not the best way to do that, Tung said.
By contrast, former Tainan County commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) suggested that people join forces to build more renewable energy utilities and change the nation’s centralized electricity industry.
Union members should also embrace technology to make environmental reforms more efficient while transforming themselves from street protesters to a vanguard of the “knowledge economy,” Su said.
Before 2000, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was for decades the ruling party, environmental activists could draw media attention and formulate issues simply by pointing their fingers at KMT officials, former Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan chairman Chu Tseng-hung (朱增宏) said.
However, after three handovers of political power, activists should come up with a different strategy and discourse to promote reforms, especially in the “post-truth” era, when reality and truth are bendable, he said.
Although the Democratic Progressive Party administration is often willing to discuss environmental issues with non-governmental activists, what solutions can be expected is another question, Chu said.
Additional reporting by CNA
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS