The Kaohsiung City government has successfully turned decaying garbage in a closed landfill into a valuable source of alternative energy, with the largest methane power plant (
Four generators at the plant built at the municipal Hsichingpu (
As a landfill gas, methane is a productive fuel source that can be used to generate electricity rather than being allowed to escape into the atmosphere to contribute to global concentrations of greenhouse gases.
City officials' expectations are high for the plant because the landfill -- containing almost nine million tons of garbage -- should be able to produce fuel the plant for at least 20 years.
"Transforming hazardous landfill gases into useable fuel will create electricity as well as help solve our air pollution problems," said Chang Feng-teng (
The plant was designed by Cleanaway (
Cleanaway, under a 20-year contract with the Kaohsiung City government, will build three more generators in a bid to raise its total power capacity to 9500 kilowatts, supplying nearly 14,000 families every day in the future.
Since the landfill began operations in 1977, residents near the dump have complained of the terrible stench from what they claim have been improper methods of dealing with the waste, such as openly burning the refuse.
It was not until 1986 that city environmental officials began to treat the contaminated water that was seaping away from the dump. Prior to that time, the landfill was not properly insulated from the underlying soil and no provisions were made for collecting the methane gas that was escaping.
In the 1990s, the 48-hectare landfill became part of Kaohsiung's legacy of poor public management. The result was that in 1994 and 1995, several violent demonstrations were staged which created tension between local residents and the city government headed by Mayor Wu Tun-yi (吳敦義). At the time, Wu said that the landfill was nearly full and would be impossible to relocate.
Residents demanded that the former head of the environmental bureau, Wu Ming-yang (
When the landfill was finally closed in June 1999, the city government commissioned a study to turn the area in to a park.
In addition, a methane-fueled power plant was one of essential parts of the project.
Environmental official Chang said that the once putrid Hsichingpu Landfill would eventually be transformed into the "lungs of Kaohsiung," providing fresh air and an abundant supply of electricity.
The methane plant in Kaohsiung is the second in Taiwan. The Taipei City government built the first one last November at its Shanchuku Landfill (
It is also being operated by Cleanaway.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS