17 municipalities in Taiwan awarded for their effort in protecting the environment

An awards ceremony was held on April 12th, 2018 to recognize the 17 municipalities that have achieved outstanding results in environmental protection in 2017.

The awards were given to the following municipalities: Taipei City, New Taipei city, Taoyuan City, Taichung City, Tainan City, Kaohsiung City, Yilan County, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Changhua County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Pingtung County, Taitung County, Hualien County, Keelung City, and Hsinchu City.

As Taiwan EPA points out, the 17 award-winning municipalities have achieved significant results in promoting environmental protection. Local governments of the winning municipalities were recognized for having launched innovative environmental solutions that are tailored to local needs.

Taipei City
Local government of Taipei City has come up with an innovative solution to install air quality monitoring devices on skyscrapers. These devices can constantly change their monitoring plans and positions in different circumstances. In addition, a low pollution zone was set up to demonstrate how multifunctional environmental quality monitoring vehicles work.

New Taipei City
The local government of New Taipei City has collaborated with iMAP to establish an online pollution map that shows air pollution level at construction sites. By integrating the data of monitoring stations and construction sites, the level air pollution at construction sites has been effectively controlled.

Taoyuan City
The local government of Taoyuan has launched the first ever online reporting system which allows users to get their applications regarding air pollution fees done in just 30 minutes. The overall quality of the air-pollution control reporting system has been significantly raised.

Taichung City
A Green Energy Eco-Park at Waipu, Taichung, which was established in 2017, demonstrates how compost and crop gasification are being used to generate electricity.

Tainan City
The local government of Tainan has launched a subsidiary scheme to phase out two-stroke motors. Owners of two-stroke motors are encouraged to turn in their motors now and earn subsidies for buying greener vehicles. A total of 317,000 two-stroke motors have been abolished in the past six years.

Kaohsiung City
The local government of Kaohsiung City has placed much emphasis on the remediation of the Ai River and Fengshan River. Automatic and real-time monitoring devices were installed to effectively protect the rivers and their surroundings.

Yilan County
Consultants and local communities have been brought together to find solutions to save energy for households. 120 coordinators were trained and performed diagnosis on the use of electricity on around 2,000 households.

Hsinchu County
The local government of Hsinchu County has launched a plan to encourage businesses to adopt areas and maintain the air quality of that particular space. Businesses that have adopted areas were awarded with tax reduction. This scheme has saved Hsinchu County a budget of 1.542 million dollars in 2017.

Miaoli County
The major sources of pollution in Miaoli County, including the Tongshaw Electricy Plant of Taipower, Chang Chun Group, and China Petrochemical Development Corporation, have phased out organic systems and installed preventive equipment to lower the amount of emissions.

Changhua County
The Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research of National Central University has been collecting remote sensing images to calculate the level of air pollution emitted from burning crop straws. By analyzing the pollution maps of past years, the research team is able to know the when and where high levels of air pollution will take place.

Yunlin County
Taiwan’s first natural gas industrial park was established in Yunlin. Local government of Yunlin County has signed a 2-year memorandum with the Association of Yunlin-based Technology Enterprises. Starting in 2018, the Yunlin Technology-based Industrial Park has been assigned as the demonstration zone of adopting the gas boilers.

Chiayi County
The Alishan train and sweeping motors that runs on downtown streets have been installed with smoke filters.

Pingtung County
Starting in June 2017, the local government of Pintung County has partnered with China Motor to launch a subsidiary scheme in Liuqiu. The scheme encourages owners of two-stroke motors to turn in their old ones to the government and get discount for getting new ones. By the end of December 2017, a total of 177 registrations have been submitted.

Taitung County
A group of people was assembled to promote solar power. Government-owned buildings were installed with PV-ESCO to generate solar power to achieve low-carbon emissions.

Hualien County
Haulien Harbor has recently been recognized as an Eco-Harbour. Six coastal electricity generators have been built to reduce air pollution emissions.

Keelung City
A regulation regarding the restrictions on the usage of drift gill nets has been established. For the first time, using the drift gill nets requires registration. The new regulation has already taken effect and the local government of Keelung City hopes this will reduce the amount of wastes, particularly fishing nets, in the ocean.

Hsinchu City
Six new innovative solutions have been adopted to address environmental issues in Hsingchu, including reusing scrapped vehicles, designing a storage box for personal belongings, dispatching scuba divers to collect sea wastes to protect marine environment.

Taiwan EPA has collaborated with local governments in 2017 to tackle environmental issues. Taiwan EPA hopes this environmental assessment will encourage local governments to proactively take actions on protecting the environment and meet sustainable goals.



Souce:https://enews.epa.gov.tw/enews/fact_Newsdetail.asp?InputTime=1070412144044