Cabinet passes 'sustainable energy policy guidelines'
Author:Central News Agency
Article Source:Central News Agency 2008/06/05
Publish Date:2008.06.10
The Cabinet on June 5 passed a new set of policy guidelines to promote the sustainable use of energy, following the principles of "high efficiency," "high value-added," "low emission, " and "low dependency (on foreign fuel sources)."
The guidelines were reported to the press by Government Information Office Minister Vanessa Yea-ping Shih at a press conference after the Cabinet adopted the "sustainable energy policy guidelines" at a regular meeting.
Shih said that Premier Liu Chao-shiuan hoped that Taiwan can create a new "low-carbon" economy that balances economic development, environmental protection and social justice by following the new energy policy.
According to Shih, Liu also demanded that unclear power should be included in the options of "no-carbon-emission" energy source and that the delayed fourth nuclear power plant should be completed as soon as possible.
In the meeting, the Cabinet also established several substantial steps to carry out the policy, Shih said, adding that the government will overhaul the energy structure by raising energy utilization efficiency, encouraging "clean" energy, and promoting energy conservation.
On energy efficiency, the government has set the goal of raising energy efficiency by 2 percent for each of the next eight years so that the nationwide energy intensity in 2015 would be 20 percent lower than the levels in 2005 and that the energy intensity in 2025 would be 50 percent lower than the 2005 level.
For clean energy, by deploying clean energy with low or no carbon emission, the government expects to lower the nationwide emission volume back to the year 2008 level some time between 2016 and 2020, and back to the year 2000 level by 2025.
Meanwhile, the percentage of low-carbon energy in the total energy generated in Taiwan would increase from 40 percent at present to 55 percent in 2025, according to the guidelines.