Taiwan Government Introduces Significant Energy Policy

Taipei, July 30, 2008 (CENS)--Premier Liu Chao-hsuan recently announced the government would promote an energy policy to reduce consumption of fossil fuels, cut carbon-dioxide emission and develop energy technologies.

Liu said over the next four years the government would encourage the 100,000 taxicab drivers islandwide to retrofit their cars to use natural gas or a mix of natural gas and petroleum, replace all the incandescent lamps at government organizations with compact fluorescent lamps, change the remaining 460,000 incandescent traffic lights islandwide to LED types, install solar hot water panels in 140,000 residences, and raise the number of electric motorbikes to 100,000 islandwide.

The government is estimated to spend NT$1-2 billion (US$33-66 million at US$1:NT$30) on LED traffic-light investments. For taxicab-modification plan, the government plans to subsidize each driver NT$25,000 (US$833) on the change.

The government estimated around 22 million incandescent lamps were still at service in government organizations, households and private corporations throughout the island. Once these lamps are replaced by energy-saving lamps, around 500,000 metric tons of CO2 emission will be removed from the island and NT$4 billion (US$133 million) in revenue will be added to efficiency lighting-fixture industry.

The government's energy-technology plan will chiefly focus on inspiring development of solar-energy industry and developing new energies like photovoltaic and geothmeral power.

According to senior officials of the Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the government will put national resources into new technology developments with all-out efforts. They said to foster the island's solar-energy industry the government had decided to open a certification laboratory in Industrial Technology Research Institute in cooperation with TUV of Germany to help Taiwan's manufacturers acquire certificates on their exports.

The government will promote electric motorbike usage in Taiwan with user subsidies. Also the government will complete establishment of inspection standard for electro- bikes by the end of Aug., making such standards the world's first of its kind.

To inspire more enterprises to invest in energy-conservation equipment, the Executive Yuan, Taiwan's Cabinet, approved the proposal to increase the preferential-loan to NT$50 billion (US$1.6 billion), up from NT$10 billion (US$333 million)