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
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS