The Kaohsiung City government has successfully turned decaying garbage in a closed landfill into a valuable source of alternative energy, with the largest methane power plant (
Four generators at the plant built at the municipal Hsichingpu (
As a landfill gas, methane is a productive fuel source that can be used to generate electricity rather than being allowed to escape into the atmosphere to contribute to global concentrations of greenhouse gases.
City officials' expectations are high for the plant because the landfill -- containing almost nine million tons of garbage -- should be able to produce fuel the plant for at least 20 years.
"Transforming hazardous landfill gases into useable fuel will create electricity as well as help solve our air pollution problems," said Chang Feng-teng (
The plant was designed by Cleanaway (
Cleanaway, under a 20-year contract with the Kaohsiung City government, will build three more generators in a bid to raise its total power capacity to 9500 kilowatts, supplying nearly 14,000 families every day in the future.
Since the landfill began operations in 1977, residents near the dump have complained of the terrible stench from what they claim have been improper methods of dealing with the waste, such as openly burning the refuse.
It was not until 1986 that city environmental officials began to treat the contaminated water that was seaping away from the dump. Prior to that time, the landfill was not properly insulated from the underlying soil and no provisions were made for collecting the methane gas that was escaping.
In the 1990s, the 48-hectare landfill became part of Kaohsiung's legacy of poor public management. The result was that in 1994 and 1995, several violent demonstrations were staged which created tension between local residents and the city government headed by Mayor Wu Tun-yi (吳敦義). At the time, Wu said that the landfill was nearly full and would be impossible to relocate.
Residents demanded that the former head of the environmental bureau, Wu Ming-yang (
When the landfill was finally closed in June 1999, the city government commissioned a study to turn the area in to a park.
In addition, a methane-fueled power plant was one of essential parts of the project.
Environmental official Chang said that the once putrid Hsichingpu Landfill would eventually be transformed into the "lungs of Kaohsiung," providing fresh air and an abundant supply of electricity.
The methane plant in Kaohsiung is the second in Taiwan. The Taipei City government built the first one last November at its Shanchuku Landfill (
It is also being operated by Cleanaway.
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
RSS