International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol calls energy efficiency the “first fuel.” As well as reducing energy consumption and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, improved energy efficiency can also cut energy costs, bringing multiple benefits in environmental, energy and economic terms.
Saving 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity is definitely better than using it. Electricity generation uses a large amount of energy resources and Taiwan’s limited production of energy resources means that generating more electricity would make the country even more dependent on imported energy resources than it already is.
In addition, electricity generation inevitably involves energy conversion losses, and line losses occur during the transmission and distribution of electricity from the power plant to the consumer. This means that using 1kWh of electricity requires generating more than 1kWh, which causes a greater negative impact on our ecology and environment.
Furthermore, investment in energy-saving equipment not only produces benefit in the same year, but can go on saving electricity year after year throughout the useful life of the equipment. So, if policies continue to encourage investment in energy conservation, the cumulative energy savings would be substantial.
There is a worldwide consensus about the importance of energy efficiency for achieving net zero carbon emissions. Countries around the world are busy setting energy efficiency targets as one of their policies for achieving net zero.
For example, the EU considers energy efficiency to be a key strategy for energy saving and carbon reduction, and the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive sets a target of reducing energy consumption in 2030 by 15.8 percent compared with 2020.
Although France generates nearly 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, its National Low-Carbon Strategy includes plans to significantly improve energy efficiency in industrial, residential and transport, and other sectors. Another example is Japan, whose Sixth Basic Energy Plan sets an ambitious target of reducing electricity demand in 2030 by 20 percent compared with 2013.
Taiwan’s government deserves credit for its aggressive promotion of energy saving measures to comply with international standards. This should not be ignorantly misrepresented as power shortages.
For example, based on the 2013 initiative to keep air conditioner temperatures at a moderate level, this year the government has gone a step further by setting a target ambient temperature of 23°C during meal times and 26°C at other times, which is expected to be met by 32 companies at more than 1,300 locations. To meet this target, these companies can obtain corporate specialist diagnosis and guidance from a team of experts.
Air conditioners and refrigerators are the main users of electricity in Taiwan’s residential sector. To improve the efficiency of home appliances, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has launched a subsidy scheme for replacing old appliances, offering up to NT$3,000 for each air conditioner or refrigerator replaced by an inverter-type unit that is rated in the top tier of the official five-tier energy efficiency scale.
Widespread installation of smart meters, combined with home and building energy management systems, would allow people to use a mobile phone app to adjust the timing of their domestic electricity consumption in accordance with the time-based tariff, thus achieving the dual effect of saving electricity and reducing peak consumption.
Changing to inverter-type home appliances, installing smart meters and developing energy management systems can promote the development of Taiwan’s energy-saving industry at the same time as saving energy for the whole nation.
The government is joining hands with industry and the public to promote energy saving, combining everyone’s strength to cut the risk of global climate change and advance toward the goal of net zero emissions. We should give the authorities credit for these efforts, rather than weakening the impetus of energy conservation by unfairly portraying energy saving measures as power shortages.
Lin Faa-jeng is a chair professor in National Central University’s Department of Electrical Engineering.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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