Has to happen. It’s just terrible for politicians to have to do their job in a society that have already been enabled by said politicians. It’s a hard band aid to pull off. But, eventually, has to happen. Seems incredibly beneficial that the government is taking in house energy production serious now. Lots to complain about for sure, but it needs to happen if we want stable energy down the line rather than relly pretty much entirely on importing it. At no time on history has it been a good idea to completely rely on others for ones bread and butter (and energy)!
As mentioned above, food is also heavily subsidized here. It’s getting worse. Hence lower quality, simpler ingredients and massive environmental damage.
They pay out loads to producers, manufacturers, consultants, r&d, exporters, retailers etc. I haven’t seen much in the way of social welfare in Taiwan, it’s mostly economic welfare. With food, it’s REALLY intense how many people get a slice of teh pie without doing much of anything beneficial.
That’s already well established for a long enough time and with a logical (and simple) enough reasoning that most people don’t really make too much trouble about it.
What’s interesting is why. What does summer do? Seems the main culprit is climate controlled areas. Eg. AC?
Loads of folks bitch and moan and leave their ac on 24 7. Sometimes even for rooms they may only visit once a day…or less. I still, 2024 winter, see stores running AC with open doors to the streets. Trying to cool down the roadways? It’s still way too cheap if this behaviors is still not illegal.
Actually want you want is properly sized ac unit. Most ac are grossly oversized for their cooling load. If you are alone in your room and your ac short cycles, it’s oversized.
Inverter ac actually fix this by lowering their cooling ability so it actually runs nonstop.
You don’t want to short cycle because not only is it bad for the ac, it’s also very wasteful on electricity use. It’s better to have ac that runs nonstop keeping your room at the desired temperature than one that runs for 2 minutes then shuts off. The extended runtime means the room is being dehumidified. When the room is not humid you can have higher temperature setting and it will still feel good. 26 at a low humidity feels better than 22 at high humidity.
Actually what I want (Taiwan needs) is closed doors for retail spaces, proper insulation, and less waste. The issue isn’t the unit. We’ll, not the ac unit. The unit inside people’s skull is another matter, which is why its so ridiculous here!
Insulation isn’t done because we are not fighting a 40C temperature difference in the winter 5 months a year. In Canada for example you do need insulation because otherwise all the energy in the world couldn’t hear a home. In Taiwan a 10C temperature difference is the most we ever see. I’m guessing insulation simply don’t make as much difference, and as long as you avoid the obvious heat source (this being the sun, it makes enormous difference) you don’t need a ton of cooling here.
But I’m guessing the real problem is that even if stores are paying more than 30,000nt a month for electricity, it’s not enough to make a real difference.
By the way rooftop addition is so popular here precisely because it is insulation, it blocks out the sun and so it eliminates obvious heat source from the top floor. The draft through the rooftop carries away any heat from the sun.
In big cities sure, the shade alone cools. Feel the walls, and understand why things trigger on. They be hot outside hi rise type areas.
It is indeed true, businesses that just spew ac air outside all day are doing so because they remain in the green. Which is my above point: electricity isn’t expensive enough for people to give a shit.
That doesn’t mean I am saying raising prices is the fix. Such black and white mind sets are why we are currently so insanely fucked up. There are loads of ways to help remedy this situation. Likely none of which encourage entitled people to vote for the politician that points out the obvious.
That isn’t what insulation is. Insulation is about air spaces and barriers. What you describe is shade, that means protection from direct sunlight. Which is also a pretty no brainer way to build for certain buildings. And this is happening now, grass roots style.
We just replaced three air conditioning units in our house. One large and two smaller ones. Those 10+ year old aircon’s were less efficient and had small issues. With upcoming price increases it was easier to justify 120k expense.
You’re probably already aware, but isn’t there some kind of government subsidy for replacing old AC units with new ones?
No idea about the specifics, but my landlady mentioned it when she replaced one of the units in my apartment last year because it was broken (it wasn’t particularly old either — it looked pretty modern, not one of those yellowed, decrepit, and noisy units you often see in Taiwanese rented apartments).
What I’m saying is perhaps the reason insulation aren’t used in Taiwan is because the temp difference is too small to justify the expense. Shade is likely sufficient. In fact in many hot countries shade is often enough without needing air conditioning if humidity is low.
In the cold you have to burn stuff for heat.
Honestly the only thing you will gain as far as efficiently is if the ac can adjust cooling power (inverter), otherwise there’s not a huge difference between a r410a inverter or a r32 inverter. If the unit is good and the charge is proper replacing a perfectly good system is a waste of money to get a 1 percent efficiency.
Firewood is quite expensive in terms of labor though, but I’m not sure the cost in modern society compared to gas, oil, or electric heating (I heard the UK outlawed all forms of heating except electric, and electricity is insanely expensive in the UK).
If your home is uninsulated like Taiwan and it’s -10 outside, all the firewood in the world won’t heat your home.
I don’t think that’s the reason. It seems more rralted to construction costs. There is probably some justification for things like moisture buildup and pathogens, which the government has, is and should be researching. But not just for infrastructure longevity, it would be cool if they also cared about health. But that reality of rampant fungal growth in games in Taiwan the government won’t touch with. 20 foot pole.
Taiwan could benefit greatly from better infrastructure quality, including insulation. But both quality and long term planning aren’t really the norm here yet. Something we the people should keep insisting on.
Ps. Beick/concrete thin walls I. Direct tropical sun are hits as balls. Many regions of Taiwan have wall sweat due to various climatic norms like burning winds. Given the understanding of such realities, it seems silly not to plan ahead for them.
Well, sure it would, with all the firewood in the world. It’d just be inefficient because of the high rate of heat loss. I get your point though, notwithstanding the hyperbole.
Humidity needs ac to remove. And you want it running near continuously, not short cycle.
People install a 4 ton unit for a cooling load that only demands 2 tons and they wonder why their home is uncomfortable as hell, and why their electric rate is so high.
Proper sizing of ac unit is more important than a new unit.
I have no idea how to insulate homes in Taiwan. I can’t do anything about it if it’s a rented house, and that the stuff is expensive doesn’t help. It will take decades for it to pay for itself.
Proper construction is never unimportant. I am not saying new ac units aren’t better. I am saying large scale businesses opening their large glass doors to the roadside while blasting out AC powered climate controls is beyond retarded. The laws and regulations might be better tackling just wreckers wastage before we can even start pointing fingers of legitimate personal use.
At the same time, cooling a kitchen with blasting gas stoves is still fucking dumb. No 2 ways about it…
The literal insanity of waste we see in Taiwan is an issue. That’s first tier problem solving. Which AC units and construction regulations might be considered 2nd tier to some. Pricing probably 3rd. But all are important. The government and companies have made more efficient AC units. There is no reason not to make more efficient everything g else, including infrastructure
I dont know any taiwanese blasting ac in the kitchen at all. In fact many taiwanese I know don’t even use ac much at all. Like they don’t even use it during sleep. You must know some wealthy taiwanese.
I think humidity definitely bothers me way more than heat though. If the room is 27 but with low humidity, it will feel fine.
This will only be achieved with a much smaller ac running near continuously. I mean like half ton or less for a 4 ping room.
That’s great to hear. I see it on the daily unfortunately like reeeaallly bad waste. Not even about comfort, just about ignorance and they can afford it. It’s rather alarming to see this attitude.
I agree, humidity is another issue. Makes heat different. Makes cold different too. Proper construction and barriers could help this one would think.
like reeeaallly bad waste. Not even about comfort, just about ignorance and they can afford it. It’s rather alarming to see this attitude.