A motorist parks his car on a road in Tainan City, gets out and leaves the engine running. A remote-controlled model car with a miniature windmill attached on top sneaks up behind the idling car's exhaust pipe to measure the carbon dioxide emission, while an environmental inspector monitors and records data from a distance with the help of a video camera.
At a separate location in Tainan City, a factory illegally discharges wastewater into a river. A pair of volunteer environmental patrollers take note of the violation, inform city police and prosecutors who arrive to gather proof and arrest the factory owner.
The two scenarios outlined are award-winning environmental protection ideas from Tainan City's Environmental Protection Bureau. Winners of the competition, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), were announced yesterday.
The windmill and remote-controlled car is Tainan bureau's award-winning innovation in the “Existing Policies” category to catch drivers who leave their cars idling for more than three minutes but do not turn off their engines, bureau director-general Chang Hwang-jen (張皇珍) said.
“After we introduced the policy that motorists must turn off their engines when they leave their cars idling for three or more minutes, we tried several ways to capture proof of drivers failing to do so,” Chang said.
After several experiments, the city came up with the gadget, Chang said.
With the help of the video camera, the bureau has issued 55 tickets in the past year to environmentally neglectful drivers.
“Many other countries have promoted the idea of turning off car engines when drivers temporarily park their cars, but no measuring equipment had been developed to catch drivers who violate this policy,” Chang said.
“When we used this equipment to issue the first ticket in this category in Asia, Japan's NHK television channel came to interview us,” Chang said
In the “New Ideas” category, Chang's team came up with the idea of combining the bureau's inspectors with the police and the city prosecutor's office to catch illegal waste dumping.
“Factories are generally unintimidated by environmental inspectors; however, they are afraid of police and inspectors,” Chang said. “We persuaded the police and prosecutors to work with us and so far it has improved our success rate in catching illegal dumping.
Other winners include Taipei County, which placed second in the New Ideas category for promoting a low-carbon eco-tour in Pinglin Township (坪林),where tourists walk or bike along the Jingualiau River (金瓜寮) and are offered local and organic foods.
Kinmen County won second place in the Existing Policies category for re-organizing its botanical garden, which has attracted three new types of insects to the park.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
RSS