US officials and private-sector energy management specialists shared their experiences of boosting energy efficiency through private-public sector partnerships in Taipei yesterday, with one participant mentioning a possible cooperative project between state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Authority.
Nexant Asia Ltd vice president Peter du Pont said he had proposed to Taipower chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) during a meeting arranged by the Bureau of Energy on Thursday the idea of developing energy efficiency instead of building power plants.
Du Pont said he referred Hwang to the energy demand management plans he developed for the Thai authorities, which involved initiatives that helped the country reduce electricity consumption by 3,500 megawatts — the equivalent of seven coal-fired power stations — from a range of household appliances, including air conditioners, lighting and refrigerators, on a national scale.
He said he could arrange a fact-finding tour for Hwang, so that the Taipower chairman could learn about the energy-efficiency policies being adopted in Thailand and that Hwang welcomed the suggestion.
Sonrisa Lucero, a sustainability strategist at the Office of the Mayor for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, said that everyday electricity consumption by the public contributes a major part of the use of “dirty energy.”
To promote efficiency and raise people’s awareness of the amount of electricity being used, the city government publishes the information on a regular basis, she said.
She said the city government requires newly constructed buildings to set energy-efficiency goals and has developed an interactive app that enables tenants or property owners to compete against one another in terms of energy efficiency.
Paul Rode, senior vice president of the Related Companies in New York, said that the green retrofit of the Empire State Building, for which he served as project executive, cost US$20 million, of which the New York City Government contributed US$2 million.
The building has reduced its energy consumption by approximately 38 percent, which helps save between US$3.3 million and US$3.4 million each year, he said.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
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