In this sharing-economy era, platforms are being used not only to raise money for causes, but also to support the development of new and innovative products that might not otherwise make it to the marketplace. For a language like English with its 26-letter alphabet, creating a font is a relatively simple task. Doing so in…
High costs and stringent local content requirements are causing delays and plummeting profitability for Taiwan’s offshore wind projects. When President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, she announced a bold plan to set Taiwan on a path of energy stability while simultaneously phasing out nuclear power by 2025. With land use concerns limiting solar energy…
The next big thing in nuclear power just might be small – Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), that is. The global buzz about these smaller, more advanced reactors with improved safety characteristics has reached Taiwan. The question is, would it be enough to convince the Taiwanese to give nuclear energy another chance? “The inherent safety features…
Taiwan’s increased reliance on LNG and the recent steep rise in the cost of the fuel in global markets are putting growing financial pressure on Taipower. “Taipower cannot be allowed to collapse.” Those were the words of Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua on March 17 when she was questioned at the legislature about her…
Three pioneers of sustainable dining show that green food can be delicious, innovative, and elegant. Pan Tong-chen worked as an account officer at a bank before he made the unexpected decision to become an organic farmer. “It wasn’t my plan,” he says. “But when my wife fell ill, we decided to choose a life of…
Reaching net zero carbon emissions within the next 30 years would require a drastic energy transformation and extensive policy amendments. When President Tsai Ing-wen on Earth Day in April last year first announced Taiwan’s commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, my initial reaction as a reporter covering energy was one of skepticism….
Taiwan’s laws on women’s reproductive rights are an odd mix of progressive and outdated, producing widely disparate stories of joy and dejection. Mei-chun (not her real name) was in a quandary so difficult she felt she had no choice but to call all her friends with a desperate plea: did anyone know any way she…
For years, the National Health Insurance (NHI) system has been described as on the brink of insolvency. But is the NHI really at risk of collapsing? The year was 2007. Then-Deputy Minister of Health Chen Shih-chung – yes, the same man who 15 years later would shepherd Taiwan through the COVID crisis with minimal harm…
After three island-wide blackouts in less than a year, concerns about Taiwan’s power generation capacity and grid resilience continue to grow. Last September, an article in Taiwan Business TOPICS posed the question of whether Taiwan is facing a looming power crunch. Just half a year later, the question has changed to “is Taiwan’s power crunch…
Three recent island-wide blackouts have laid bare the degree of strain put on Taiwan’s grid and the people keeping it running. As a result, Taipower now finds itself in a race against time and budget to ensure the grid’s future stability. The immediate cause of Taiwan’s latest major blackout is indisputable – in fact, it…
