National Taiwan University (NTU) and Academia Sinica — two of the nation’s foremost research institutes — also rank the highest in water consumption among academia, a recent survey by Taipei Water Department showed.
The survey showed that the university used about 110,000 tonnes of water each month last year, while Academia Sinica used an average of 89,000 tonnes.
The institutions together use about 2.5 million tonnes of water every year, which equals about half the storage capacity of Baoshan Reservoir (寶山水庫) in Hsinchu County.
National Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University last year used about 87,000 and 83,000 tonnes per month respectively.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) said that research institutes and universities that specialize in science use large quantities of water.
Universities with fields of research that span more disciplines also need considerable amounts of water to cover demands from international seminars, swimming pools and programs they offer to businesspeople, he said.
Academia Sinica General Affairs Office director Chen Hsui-tien (陳水田) said the institution last year paid NT$12.26 million (US$394,000) in water bills.
He attributed the institution’s large water demand to the amount of research conducted by its 7,000 staffers.
He said that it is understandable that Academia Sinica consumes more water than most universities, since its researchers perform experiments on a daily basis, while standard operations at the institution, such as extracting and insulating materials for experiments, often require water.
He said that several buildings on the site were designed as “green structures” and have rainwater storage tanks, so recycled rainwater can be used for some tasks.
Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) said the institution stopped supplying water to a fountain, and changed the water in its pool and watered its plants less frequently in the interests of conservation.
NTU Office of General Affairs director Wang Shu-keng (王樹根) said the university goes to great lengths to save water, as it spends more than NT$10 million on the resource each year.
SPEEDING ELETRIC VEHICLES: Available without license requirements, the low-cost vehicles, especially if illicitly modified, can often reach a dangerous speed The government should crack down on illegal electric bicycles and scooters, the non-profit Consumers’ Foundation said on Friday, citing research on the potentially dangerous speed of the vehicles. Electric bicycles and lightweight electric scooters have gained popularity as they do not require registration and riders do not need licenses, the foundation said, adding that as many as 40 percent of them can reach speeds exceeding the legal limit of 25kph for non-licensed two-wheelers. Some consumers also purchased legal electric vehicles and modified them to reach higher speeds, it said. “If the government does not step up efforts to confiscate these
DIPLOMATIC MOVES: Beijing is reportedly pressing the state after reports of forming links with Taiwan, while the ministry is also planning to reopen its office in Guam soon A representative office is set to open in Somaliland at the end of this month, at the earliest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday amid reports that Beijing is sending a diplomatic delegation to the east African country. The ministry on July 1 announced that Taiwan and Somaliland would establish representative offices, following a report by the Somaliland Chronicle Web site. It said at the time that the two nations did not plan to establish formal ties. Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi has instructed close confidants to explore the possibility of “mutual recognition between Taiwan and Somaliland,” the Somaliland Chronicle reported
A Belgian man who tested positive for COVID-19 in Taiwan last week is likely to have contracted the disease in Taipei in late June, National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Public Health vice dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday reported that the man, who is in his 20s, came to Taiwan for work on May 3 and tested positive on Wednesday last week as he was about to depart. The man in March reported loss of taste and smell, the center said, adding that he worked in Changhua County, but visited Taipei several times,
NEW CASE REPORTED: A man who returned from South Africa on a flight with the nation’s 460th and 461st cases has now tested positive for the disease The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that there is no need to test all arrivals to the nation for COVID-19, a policy the Executive Yuan supports. The center reported one new imported case, bringing the nation’s tally of confirmed cases to 477. The new case is a Taiwanese man in his 60s who on July 25 returned from South Africa, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also the CECC’s spokesman. The man had returned to Taiwan on the same flight as cases Nos. 460 and 461, reported on July 27, Chuang said. On July 24,
RSS