Environmentalists staged a protest in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday, calling on Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) to step down if he could not stop power rates from rising.
The second stage of a government plan to raise electricity rates is scheduled to take effect in October. Chang has not yielded to lawmakers’ suggestion to postpone the plan.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee on Monday, Chang said that the power rate hike in October would save energy and reduce carbon emissions.
He added that about 67 percent of general households and 33 percent of small companies would not be affected by the rate increase.
Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), a National Taiwan University professor and member of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, yesterday said that a representative of a foreign energy company who visited Taiwan in March has said it can sell Taiwan natural gas at a reasonable price.
If Taiwan Power Co accepted the company’s offer, it could lower its power generation cost from natural gas to about NT$3.5 per kilowatt-hour — instead of the company’s claim that it costs NT$5.7 per kilowatt-hour to generate electricity from the same source, Kao said.
Nuclear-Free Homeland Alliance executive director Lee Cho-han (李卓翰) said that nuclear power is the most expensive source of energy, both in terms of economic cost and social cost, but the government tends to overestimate the cost of electricity from natural gas or other renewable energies.
Lee said the government should conduct a thorough investigation of energy waste in the country and enforce energy-saving methods that could reduce total electricity consumption by 39 percent, based on the National Science Council’s National Science and Technology Program on Energy.
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
Taiwan yesterday expelled four China Coast Guard vessels that entered Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Lienchiang County (Matsu) shortly after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced the start of its “Joint Sword-2024B” drills around Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a statement that it had detected two China Coast Guard ships west of Nangan Island (南竿) and another two north of Dongyin Island (東引) at 8am yesterday. After Chinese ships sailed into restricted waters off Matsu shortly afterward, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch deployed four patrol vessels to shadow and approach the vessels, it said. The incidents pushed up to 44 the number
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
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