The lack of ambitious conclusions on renewable energy at the recent National Conference on Energy can be attributed to the reluctance of Taiwanese officials to learn about renewable energy, the Taipei Times was told by renewable energy campaigners in Germany.
In the last five years, the German Society for Solar Energy (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Sonnenenergie, DGS), has been contacted by not only Taiwanese government officials but also researchers.
Uwe Hartmann, chief executive officer of the DGS' Berlin Brandenburg section, said on Tuesday that Germany's up-to-date information on renewable energy R&D and strategies for public education have been passed on to Taiwan but nothing has happened.
"There is not enough knowledge in Taiwan about the use of renewable energy," he said.
He has visited Taiwan several times and has helped the Ministry of Education (MOE) design green buildings that use renewable energy and are energy efficient.
However, he said that the influence of such projects was limited. He said the level of solar radiation in southern Taiwan is excellent for solar-energy applications but so far there have been only small-scale solar-thermal energy projects.
"Even in the north, we think there is a potential for using solar energy. But obviously, the Taiwan Power Company [Taipower] has little interest in that," he said.
Hartmann said that delegations from the MOE, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Industrial Technology Research Institute and universities have frequently visited Germany to examine renewable-energy projects.
However, he said, the minimal changes in Taiwan's energy policies reflect the reluctance of certain government agencies to admit that renewable energy has advantages.
Hartmann said it had taken Germany more than a decade to reach the stage where planners, non-governmental organizations, architects and decision-makers are well-informed about tie between sustainability and the adoption of renewable energy.
About 10 percent of electricity in Germany now comes from renewable energy. Sixty percent of the markets for Germany's renewable industry are overseas, he said.
Nowadays, governments and society are pushing for more renewable energy in Germany and public education about renewable energy is a priority for not only federal and local governments but also power companies.
For example, a three-year-long Solar Lab exhibition at the Energy Forum in Berlin, which opened last October, is designed to inform people about conserving energy. More than 3,000 people have visited the lab -- sponsored by the Berlin Power company BEWAG -- so far.
"All devices at the lab are designed to help visitors clearly sense abstract energy. Students can tug at a mechanism powered by solar panels. People can observe revolving artistic work connected to solar modules," exhibition organizer Christof Hute said.
Hute calls the lab's design a kind of "solar art performance."
He has also displayed artistic solar devices outdoors at key tourist spots, such as the Brandenburg Gate, in order to reach more people.
In 2003 Berlin generated 10 times more solar current by photovoltaic systems than in 1995. There are also 3,900 solar-thermal energy systems in the city.
HANDOVER POLICY: Approving the probe means that the new US administration of Donald Trump is likely to have the option to impose trade restrictions on China US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to initiate a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors in the coming days as part of a push to reduce reliance on a technology that US officials believe poses national security risks. The probe could result in tariffs or other measures to restrict imports on older-model semiconductors and the products containing them, including medical devices, vehicles, smartphones and weaponry, people familiar with the matter said. The investigation examining so-called foundational chips could take months to conclude, meaning that any reaction to the findings would be left to the discretion of US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team. Biden
INVESTMENT: Jun Seki, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai’s EV arm, and his team are currently in talks in France with Renault, Nissan’s 36 percent shareholder Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the iPhone maker known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, is in talks with Nissan Motor Co’s biggest shareholder Renault SA about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker, the Central News Agency (CNA) said, citing people it did not identify. Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker, Honda Motor Co, are exploring a merger that would create a rival to Toyota Motor Corp in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. However, one potential spanner in the works is
SEMICONDUCTORS: Samsung and Texas Instruments would receive US$4.75 billion and US$1.6 billion respectively to build one chip factory in Utah and two in Texas Samsung Electronics Co and Texas Instruments Inc completed final agreements to get billions of US dollars of government support for new semiconductor plants in the US, cementing a major piece of US President Joe Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act initiative. Under binding agreements unveiled Friday, Samsung would get as much as US$4.75 billion in funding, while Texas Instruments stands to receive US$1.6 billion — money that would help them build facilities in Texas and Utah. The final deals mean the chipmakers can begin collecting the funding when their projects hit certain benchmarks. Though the terms of Texas Instruments’ final agreement is
Call it an antidote to fast fashion: Japanese jeans hand-dyed with natural indigo and weaved on a clackety vintage loom, then sold at a premium to global denim connoisseurs. Unlike their mass-produced cousins, the tough garments crafted at the small Momotaro Jeans factory in southwest Japan are designed to be worn for decades, and come with a lifetime repair warranty. On site, Yoshiharu Okamoto gently dips cotton strings into a tub of deep blue liquid, which stains his hands and nails as he repeats the process. The cotton is imported from Zimbabwe, but the natural indigo they use is harvested in Japan —
RSS