Rainwater Capture

Even though water is so cheap, some of my neighbors think it's worthwhile collecting rainwater. The lady who lives here says she uses it for mopping the floor and watering plants - not, it seems, for flushing the toilet.

Illegal Dumping

Water-saving toilets can do a lot for the environment. Toilets that biodegrade after a few years would be another great invention (biodegradeable ceramics are already used in medicine). Why oh why do people have to dump them in the countryside? Is there some Taiwanese superstition connected to toilets, like there is with dead cats?

Greening Your Taiwan Home

The always-excellent Tree Hugger has an article called Greening Your Rental. Most of it is applicable to Taiwan.

The ten ways in which you can reduce your impact on the environment through your home are: Location (live near your place of work, and/or near somewhere with public transportation); Living in a small or shared abode (but apartments in Taiwan seem to be getting bigger); Working with your landlord to increase energy efficiency (you can do some things yourself, such as plugging drafts to make air-conditioning more efficient); Good lifestyle habits (turning off appliances when they're not being used); Using renewable power (Taiwan is a good place for solar stoves, but I've never seen one in the flesh; you'd need a big balcony or access to the roof); Replacing incandescent lights with compact fluorescents or LEDs (but what happens to incandescent bulbs that go into the trash?); Saving water (even if the pricing system offers no incentive); Redecorating only with eco-friendly paints; And buying secondhand furniture (there aren't many used-furniture stores in Taiwan, but dumpster diving is a possibility).

Green(ish) Buildings In My Neighborhood

The building on the right is the Yang Kuei Memorial Literature Museum, a newish cultural facility about three kilometers from my home. It has a handful of green features: The site has about 30 young trees; rather than slather blacktop all over the site, they've use small square stones for the parking area (this allows rainwater to permeate into the ground naturally, reducing the risk of flooding); and parts of the exterior are covered with wooden slats, which should reduce heat gain on sunny days. I've no idea if the stones used around the building were retrieved from a derelict site or quarried. Like most Taiwanese buildings, the structure is basically concrete, and there's no rainwater harvesting or solar-energy system.

The other building is a police station. It too has a water-permeable parking area; the grass growing between the slabs is certainly more attractive than standard asphalt. Also, there are solar thermal panels on the roof (just about visible in the photo) for hot water - a good idea, as policemen often shower at the end of a shift.

According to this article in the government's Taiwan Journal, the majority of green buildings in Taiwan were built by the public sector. It's Part 2 of a two-part report; Part 1 is here.

Water-saving Super Toilets

A Taiwanese professor has invented a water-saving toilet that uses just four liters of water per flush, two-thirds of the amount used by other water-efficient toilets. Regular toilets, apparently, use about nine liters per flush.

According to the report, the toilet will be manufactured in China and go on sale in the US next year. But don't expect them to appear anytime soon in Taiwan's green buildings. The report says the toilet is unlikely be introduced to Taiwan's market in the near future, "because the price... would be significantly higher than that of a standard unit and the size of the domestic market is limited."

And, as has been pointed out again and again, Taiwan's ridiculously low water prices mean there's no incentive to invest in water-saving technology.

Recycling Bricks

Here's something I saw the other day in Tainan City: A wall being built using recycled old bricks to provide bulk, and cut down on the amount of concrete needed. It's nothing new, but it's better than the empty oil cans which have been used in some buildings in Taiwan (including some which fell down in the 9-21 Earthquake).

I wonder if the bricks came from the original wall on this site, or were trucked in a significant distance?

Just as some people are trying to cut down their food miles, others now care about construction-material miles. However, the building that has been acclaimed as Taiwan's greenest, Beitou Library in Taipei City, is made largely of wood imported from North America. Also, it lacks racks where cyclists can lock up their bikes.