The Taipei City Council passed a statute May 31 requiring that office buildings and places of business using large amounts of electricity keep their air conditioning at or above 26 degrees Celsius.
The statute on energy saving and carbon emissions reductions by businesses, the first such municipal law in Taiwan, must be registered with the Executive Yuan and is expected to take effect July 1, according to the city’s Department of Economic Development. There will be a six-month buffer period to give businesses time to adjust, after which places of business whose air conditioning is below 26 C will be subject to fines ranging from NT$10,000 (US$313) to NT$50,000.
In the initial period the statute will apply to businesses using over 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, or paying electricity bills over NT$300,000 monthly. There are now approximately 540 such large power consumers among the city’s supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets, hotels, department stores and office buildings.
The DED estimates that large customers make up 0.2 percent of the businesses in Taipei, in 2009 using roughly 2.57 billion kwh, or 38 percent of the city’s electricity. If they cut their power consumption back by just 1 percent, the annual electricity supply for 7,000 households could be saved. With this much room for carbon reductions, large customers have to be brought under regulation.
The largest electricity wastage in large businesses occurs when the air conditioning temperature is set too low (below 26 C). DED visits to over 7,000 retail outlets and office buildings in 2009 and 2010 showed other important causes to be air conditioning escaping from the building, energy-inefficient lighting and lights turned on in porticos in the daytime.
Most department stores in Taipei said to save energy they already began two or three years ago to set air conditioning temperatures at 26 C in the summer, and so would comply with the city government’s policy.
Pacific Sogo Co. Ltd., Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store Co. Ltd. and Far Eastern Department Stores Ltd. Retail Group all stressed that their air conditioning is 26 C or higher, and they have installed various energy-saving and green appliances such as efficient light bulbs, indoor flowing water and water-saving devices. (THN)