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KHH Enviros Newsletter –February 1, 2010
We’ve been back for a month and helped out with the Haiti Shake a Can Event.
The translation process of our website and soon (hopefully) all of our correspondence as well.
In March we’ll be heading to the Climate Change Summits in Ping Dong, Tai Jhong and Taipei.
Our recruiting events will begin this month with a trip to urban spotlight and Kaohsiung Central Park.
We’ll be going Sunday afternoon with the intention of simply rounding up some emails and gaining more support.
Please come out and show your green spirit!
Please check our Facebook site for the event or head to our website.
KHH Enviros team
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1. Green News from Around the Island
2. Green Tip – TaiPower Reading Your Bill
3. Recruitment Event This Sunday
4. YouTube Video – President Obama Calls For Clean Energy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Green News from Around the Island
Starting this month, the Water Resources Agency will provide a discount incentive for water users who cut consumption. A 15 percent water use reduction from the same period last year will get a 5 percent discount on their water bill. Those who cut water usage by between 15 and 30 percent will receive a 10 percent discount, and those who cut usage by more than 30 percent will get a 15 percent discount.
After three months and repeated offenses, the Chi-Shan Puppy Mill in Koahsiung County, was finally dismantled by the government. In October of last year, Kaohsiung Concern Stray Animal Association, or KCSAA, rescued more than 400 dogs from an illegal and disgusting puppy mill property and reported the owner to authorities. However, as the government did not dismantle the operation or insist the owner, Tong-Jun Wu, even pay a fine, Wu was fully operational again this January. KCSAA staged an approximately 100 person protest on January 21. Finally, the government went in and dismantled the whole breeding ground. The remaining dogs are in a shelter and are emaciated and sick again but at least not living in the mill anymore
Kaohsiung City prosecutors fear large amounts of toxic chemicals may have been pumped out by incinerators as a result of the alleged scam . Two companies in Pingtung County are under investigation by Kaohsiung City prosecutors for allegedly selling large amounts of activated carbon a compound used to absorb dioxin emissions in waste incineration that was of an inferior quality. Dioxins can cause a wide range of illnesses, including liver problems, impairment of neurological, reproductive and immune systems
Vegetarian meals are being featured in elementary school cafeterias in the Central Taiwan county of Ilan. Some 180 schools are involved in the pilot program, which sets aside one day each month for the vegetarian meals. About 40% of those school cafeterias are going vegetarian once a week. The schools are pitching the program as a way to cut down on the greenhouse gases that cattle release into the atmosphere
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) hosted an international forum to discuss carbon footprinting. Taiwan plans to put carbon footprint labels on products as an effort to help reduce carbon emissions. The two-day forum was held to discuss a method of calculating carbon emissions
The Formosan fruit bat, listed as an endangered species in 1989, was found multiplying on Turtle Mountain Island off Yilan County in Taiwan. Only a few members of the species had been seen in the past 30 years in Taiwan. The Council of Agriculture said they recently discovered 20 of the bats on the island
Taiwan's landmark skyscraper Taipei 101 has yielded its status as world's tallest building to Dubai's Burj Khalifa. But Taipei 101 plans to become the world's tallest green building next year. Taipei 101 applied for green building certification in October 2009 and should be certified in 18 months
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1. TaiPower – Reading Your Bills
Courtesy of Tim Higgs
Often times I've gone to look at my bills and not knowing how to read more than a few characters, any information that might've been important goes on the never ending To-Translate pile of stuff I'd like to know about this country, but will probably never get around to it.
Sound familiar?
Well, this month we take a look at Taipower electricity bills in an effort to de-mystify what you're looking at. As always, this is available on our website and blog.
A) Top Right Corner – CO2 Emissions
l Pretty straight forward, this is a record of how much CO2 you're responsible for emitting in Kilograms.
Mine this month was 87 公斤/Kg
B) Middle Paragraph
l The main paragraph of Chinese on the front of the page simply says that if you are late, than you must go down to Taipower in order to pay it.
l Some extra info here is that if you are late 2 days or less there's no extra charge.
If you are late 2 days to 2 weeks they will add 1% to your bill or 5NT (whichever is more).
If you are late longer than 2 weeks they will add 2% to your bill or 5NT (whichever is more).
C) Right Hand Chart
l This chart shows your meter reading for this period (本期） and last period （上其）.
l The difference between these numbers shows you how many kilowatt hours you used during this billing period.
l For example, this period for me 35411 – last period for me 35274. The difference is 137 Kw/h
D) Below the Chart (Right side middle)
l This is a simple adding together of your fee and discounts.
l 流动电费 is your total bill
l if you have discounts they will appear below.
l If you used less power than last year, they will give you a small discount
E) Next to your total (middle of the page)
l First number ( is the minimum charge.
l The second number is how many Kilowatt hours (Kwh) you used during this period.
l The third number is how many days were in this period
l The fourth number is the amount in NT of your bill from last year at this time
l The fifth number is how many days were in this billing period last year
l The sixth number is the percentage you saved from 2 years ago to last year
l The seventh number is the percentage of power you saved from last year to this year
l The last number is how much you saved in NT from last year to this year
F) Left and Middle of Page
l Customer number
l The date of your present bill
l The date of your next bill
l The date the power company will come and read your meter
G) Equation
l This equation is the simple formula needed to calculate your bill
l You Pay (NT$) = rate (NT$/Kwh) x Electricity Usage (Kwh)
We hope this helps clear up some of the fog that's provided by the lack of Chinese reading ability.
Don't feel bad though if you can't read it, your students probably couldn't read it either.
For more information, www.taipower.com.tw has an English site with some great explanations and information for foreigners.
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1. Recruitment Event This Sunday
We’ll meet this Sunday at Central Park MRT station exit 2 at 2pm. Please wear something GREEN.
We’ll give you some clipboards and signs. Your job is simple: go out and grab some emails and grow our group.
2. YouTube Video – Obama Calls for Clean Energy Legislation
Our YouTube series continues on.
This month it’s the hopefulness of President Obama possibly changing the American power generation infrastructure to something more sustainable.
If they change, the rest of the world will follow.
--
Chinese New Year is nearly upon us, have fun and be safe.
--Tim
Managing Director
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