An alliance of non-governmental organizations yesterday said it would start monitoring a NT$3 billion (US$95.8 million) energy conservation project implemented by the Executive Yuan in March.
Green Citizen Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) told a news conference in Taipei that he and his fellow environmental campaigners would start visiting local governments across the nation to learn what measures they have taken to cut electricity use.
The Executive Yuan project aims to fund conservation efforts undertaken by local governments.
Photo: CNA
Local government efforts are to be evaluated based on whether a panel comprising environmental campaigners and experts from the public are introduced; whether bylaws to facilitate conservation efforts are formulated; whether local governments have identified the areas where the most electricity is consumed; and how many resources the governments allocate to achieve energy efficiency, Hung said.
Local governments that cap power consumption until the end of September and consider the energy needs of disadvantaged residents would receive “bonus points,” he said.
Energy conservation plans proposed by local governments are mostly half-formed and lack strategies to boost civic participation, he said.
Citing a similar project initiated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in South Korea in which the municipal government issued subsidies to residents who installed solar panels on their roofs and reportedly saved an amount of energy equivalent to the installed capacity of a nuclear power plant, he said that public engagement would play a pivotal role if the Executive Yuan project is to yield any satisfying result, and called on central and local governments to introduce policies to streamline public efforts.
A project that commands such a large sum should be sustainable, and establishing city bylaws would create a legally binding and well-defined course of action, he said.
Publishing white papers on local government energy policies and founding governing bodies to monitor conservation progress could be included in such bylaws, he added.
The state-run Taiwan Power Co should improve its insufficient data and dutifully publish information regarding the nation’s power consumption by identifying the industries that use the most energy, he said.
Yang Shun-mei (楊順美), secretary-general of antinuclear group Mom Loves Taiwan, said that the only government effort to promote the energy consumption project she has seen so far is a poster in a community laundry shop.
She said that the government announces similar projects every year, but this is the first time that a project has been given such a large amount of money and that it must not be limited to chanting slogans.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with