“Flora Expo Blue” Fails to Materialize: Does the Gov’t Still Want to Generate Power with Lungs?

 “Flora Expo Blue” Fails to Materialize: Does the Gov’t Still Want to Generate Power with Lungs?

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

November 11, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

With the opening of the Flora Expo at the beginning of the month, Taichung City had blue skies; the Environmental Protection Bureau (EPA) of Taichung City released a press release, saying that "it had successfully coordinated with the Taichung coal-fired power plant to reduce the load, which was the first case in the 27 years of the plant’s history." The media poked fun at the government for deliberately creating "Flora Expo Blue." However, two days later, the air of the whole island of Taiwan seriously deteriorated because of climate factors; in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area an orange alert even appeared. The EPA in Taipei issued a message, ordering all coal-fired power plants across Taiwan to reduce loads to the tune of 8,500 MW, equivalent to the generating capacity of 1.5 Taichung power plants, for cutting emissions, but even with the load reduction of coal-fired power plants, it could not create "Flora Expo Blue."

The air pollution in central and southern Taiwan is shocking; blue skies are no longer there. From the north to the south, all nearly have the crossing of violet, red and orange alerts, representing serious air pollution. The maneuverings of "Flora Expo Blue" obviously had its limits; with changing climate, it was not easy to disperse air pollution. If power consumption rises, it would be difficult for the whole island of Taiwan to escape the fate of worsening air pollution. The Tsai government's energy policy wants to comprehensively abolish nuclear power, replacing it with green energy; even before green energy is in place, it will first decommission the reactors of existing nuclear power plants, but with the disuse of pollution-free nuclear power, coal-fired power plants can only generate power to full capacity. The worsening air pollution in central and southern Taiwan is crystal clear.

For the sake of its “nuclear-free” totem, the Tsai government has let coal-fired power, the greatest source of air pollution, keep increasing; the Tsai government should not keep defending the indefensible; instead it should jettison the nuclear-free dogma, and professionally and pragmatically review and revise its energy policy. Don't make the public forever live in smog, and "generate power with lungs"!

Attachment : none