Due to oil and electricity price hikes, the second wave of energy-saving home appliance subsidies introduced by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) in 2012 showed positive effects.
According to MOEA, total sales stimulated by the second wave of subsidies were NT$36.5 billion (US$1.26 billion). The subsidy program also helped related industries achieve an output value of NT$65.5 billion. Energy-saving home appliances can save up to 360 million kWh a year. The government plans to expand the program to bring positive effects for the environment and industries.
MOEA stated that beginning in February 2013, the government plans to provide subsidies for high-efficiency LED light bulbs in two stages. The subsidy will provide a total of 500,000 units of LED light bulbs and will save around 47 million kWh of electricity every year.
MOEA plans to provide 24 LED light bulbs to every social welfare agency before the Lunar New Year holidays. The second stage of the program will begin on April 1, 2013 to provide two LED light bulbs for every low- and middle-income household until the end of the month.
Furthermore, the Executive Yuan in Taiwan plans to invest NT$2.768 billion to switch 326,000 street lamps in Taiwan to LED lamps starting in 2012. The program is set to take three years. The project will save energy up to 143 million kWh per year and cut 87,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
According to the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan, LED street lamps have the highest brightness efficiency in terms of lumens/W. LED lighting has a brightness efficiency 60-110 lumens/W while high pressure sodium and metal-halide lamps have a brightness efficiency of 48-105 lumens/W and 42-83 lumens/W, respectively. Mercury lamps have the lowest brightness efficiency of 21-45 lumens/W. In addition, LED street lamps have the longest life span at 30,000 hours.
According to studies, Taiwan has a total of approximately 1.57 million street lamps, and high pressure sodium lamps account for 35.22% while metal-halide lamps account for 2.93%. Mercury street lamps currently account for 51.84% while fluorescent lamps account for 9.25%. LED street lamps only account for 0.77% currently.
