Bet you don't think about oil much, but we import quite a bit here on The Beautiful Isle. Taiwan's imports of oil surged this spring, according to the government.Taiwan consumed 4.0 million kiloliters or 25.15 million barrels of oil products in April, up 10.43% on year, the Bureau of Energy said in its latest monthly report.
Oil used for power generation continued to show the largest increase, rising 56.4% to 392,896 kiloliters from April 2005, the government said. Non-energy related oil consumption fell 7.6% to 135,375 kiloliters.
The island imported 31.63 million barrels of crude oil in April, down 5.0% on year from 33.28 million barrels, mainly due to repairs at Formosa Petrochemical Corp.'s (6505.TW) refinery, the bureau said.
Imported petroleum products surged 99.5%on year to 1.14 million kiloliters in April. This was mainly because some petrochemical plants ended their annual maintenance periods seven to 10 days earlier than scheduled, sharply increasing their naphtha demand, the Bureau of Energy said.
Taiwan actually does produce some oil domestically (there's oil in Miaoli), the vast majority is imported, the 2 biggest sources being Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
[Taiwan]
As i ride daily my bicycle on the road along the Cheng Kung University over the 200m separing the entrance of the uni to the carrefour i am taking, i can feel 3 different cold waves coming for the wide open doors of these shops having their ACs blowing 20degrees cold air till the other side of the road.
ReplyDeleteIt's refreshing if the the traffic light is red.
Power generation what?
Geothermal power could well be the answer to a large portion of Taiwan's power problems. There's plenty of very hot rocks about the place. It is though non polluting and so efficient but maybe people want to keep the urban smog....keeps the character of the beautiful isle...
ReplyDeleteregards, geoff C
This is going to be such a big issue for Taiwan over the next decade. It is a shame the politicians spend so much time squabbling over less important issues and fail to plan for the future.
ReplyDeleteFar better transport planning is required. The High Speed Rail might not really bring any benefits unless it is better integrated with mass transportation systems in other cities and used to reduce air travel on the island.
The government recently announced plans to build more bike paths, but unless it is part of a plan to reduce traffic on the roads then its affect will be little more than cosmetic.
As far as developing alternative energy sources geothermal and offshore wind are probably the best choices. Taiwan should also do more to use its high-tech manufacturing base to promote itself as a centre for the manufacture and development of renewable energy and energy-efficiency technology.
Yeah, wind is the way to go for me too, especially offshore. I have my students do papers on energy policy for taiwan every semester, just to get them thinking about the issue.
ReplyDeleteMichael