Taiwan has tightened air quality regulations governing the production and use of alternative fuels to align with international standards, the Ministry of Environment said in a statement yesterday.
Stronger safeguards are needed for the nation to utilize solid recovered fuels, biofuels and waste-derived fuels to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 without adding to air pollution, the ministry said.
The new rules provide a uniform set of fuel composition standards for fuel manufacturers, speicify appropriate fuel types for various applications and air pollution control mechanisms that must be used, it said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Some manufacturers and end-users would be required to upgrade their equipment to retain their license, the ministry said.
The legal standards for heavy metal and dioxin emissions and combustion efficiency of boilers have been increased to conform with those established by the EU and other advanced nations, it said.
In addition, end-users must install sensors that have been linked to an appropriate regulator to continuously monitor dioxin standards and be held responsible for regular chimney inspections, the ministry said.
The revisions to the legal guidelines are intended to empower regulators end-to-end oversight of the industry’s supply chain with built-in redundancy of methods to ensure compliance, it said.
Separately, the Taiwan Science Media Center on Thursday called on the ministry to clarify its carbon emission reduction target over the coming years and raise carbon prices to a standard comparable to the best international practice.
Most Taiwanese experts agree that the government’s 2030 target to cut emissions by 26 to 30 percent compared with 2005 was too vague, said Hsu Hsin-wei (徐昕煒), associate professor of industrial engineering and management at National Taipei University of Technology.
Establishing a goal with excessive margins for error introduces uncertainty that a definitive target would not, he said, citing the center’s survey.
Taiwanese experts additionally agree that the carbon prices stipulated by the current system are too cheap to support even the ministry’s relatively unambitious 2030 goal, Hsu said, adding that the global target is slashing emissions by 42 percent.
The same poll suggests the nation’s architects believe their profession should promote designs that regulate heat without using air-conditioning, materials that require less carbon emissions to manufacture, and boast longer service life to avoid wastage, said Tsay Yaw-shyan (蔡耀賢), professor of architecture at National Chung Kung University (NCKU).
Cheng Tsu-jui (鄭祖睿), an assistant professor in NCKU’s Department of Transportation and Communication Management Science, said improvements in public transportation utilization rates are not catching up with the ever-increasing use of cars and motorbikes.
The government should begin considering measures that directly regulate the use of privately owned vehicles, including cars and trucks being utilized for commercial logistics, he said.
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