Taiwan has tightened air quality regulations governing the production and use of alternative fuels to align with international standards, the Ministry of Environment said in a statement yesterday.
Stronger safeguards are needed for the nation to utilize solid recovered fuels, biofuels and waste-derived fuels to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 without adding to air pollution, the ministry said.
The new rules provide a uniform set of fuel composition standards for fuel manufacturers, speicify appropriate fuel types for various applications and air pollution control mechanisms that must be used, it said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Some manufacturers and end-users would be required to upgrade their equipment to retain their license, the ministry said.
The legal standards for heavy metal and dioxin emissions and combustion efficiency of boilers have been increased to conform with those established by the EU and other advanced nations, it said.
In addition, end-users must install sensors that have been linked to an appropriate regulator to continuously monitor dioxin standards and be held responsible for regular chimney inspections, the ministry said.
The revisions to the legal guidelines are intended to empower regulators end-to-end oversight of the industry’s supply chain with built-in redundancy of methods to ensure compliance, it said.
Separately, the Taiwan Science Media Center on Thursday called on the ministry to clarify its carbon emission reduction target over the coming years and raise carbon prices to a standard comparable to the best international practice.
Most Taiwanese experts agree that the government’s 2030 target to cut emissions by 26 to 30 percent compared with 2005 was too vague, said Hsu Hsin-wei (徐昕煒), associate professor of industrial engineering and management at National Taipei University of Technology.
Establishing a goal with excessive margins for error introduces uncertainty that a definitive target would not, he said, citing the center’s survey.
Taiwanese experts additionally agree that the carbon prices stipulated by the current system are too cheap to support even the ministry’s relatively unambitious 2030 goal, Hsu said, adding that the global target is slashing emissions by 42 percent.
The same poll suggests the nation’s architects believe their profession should promote designs that regulate heat without using air-conditioning, materials that require less carbon emissions to manufacture, and boast longer service life to avoid wastage, said Tsay Yaw-shyan (蔡耀賢), professor of architecture at National Chung Kung University (NCKU).
Cheng Tsu-jui (鄭祖睿), an assistant professor in NCKU’s Department of Transportation and Communication Management Science, said improvements in public transportation utilization rates are not catching up with the ever-increasing use of cars and motorbikes.
The government should begin considering measures that directly regulate the use of privately owned vehicles, including cars and trucks being utilized for commercial logistics, he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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