The Energy Conservation Vanguard(a)|节能尖兵-看守荷包，看守地球

According to the Research Center for Environmental Changes at the Academia Sinica, Taiwan's average temperature has risen by 1.4°C over the last 100 years, more than twice the rise of 0.6°C in average temperatures worldwide. Clearly, climate change is a particularly pressing issue for Taiwan.

The Taiwan Green Productivity Foundation (TGPF) is home to an unusual institution—Taiwan's first carbon reduction clinic. The 10 "doctors" working at the clinic specialize in treating one of the ills of civilization: energy waste in commercial and residential high-rise buildings.

Created by TGPF at the request of the Taipei County Environmental Protection Bureau, the clinic exists to provide free energy-conservation consultations for the purpose of building a low-carbon society. Enthusiastically received by the public since it opened in 2008, the clinic's popularity stems partly from the fact that "patients" can consult with experts in six fields with just a single appointment, addressing their building's electrical, ventilation, lighting, water use, recycling, and heat exposure problems all at the same time.

The carbon doctors begin their diagnosis by looking at a patient's "medical record": the power bill. "Many people don't realize that there's an art to reading a power bill," says Lin Kuan-chia, one of TGPF's managers. He explains that TaiPower uses multiple formulas to calculate its customers' electrical bills. A typical household pays a per-unit rate multiplied by the number of units on the meter. Therefore, for the general public, saving power simply means remembering to turn off lights and unplug electronics that aren't in use. But the company's "contract customers," which include the communal facilities in multi-unit residential buildings, commercial high-rise buildings, hospitals, schools, and factories, are subject to three different rates—peak, off-peak, and semi-peak.

　　中研院环境变迁研究中心指出，过去 100 年来台湾平均增温摄氏 1.4 度，暖化速率是全球平均值 0.6度的两倍多。显然对台湾来说，因应气候变迁具有兵临城下的急迫性。

　　台湾绿色生产力基金会，有个与众不同的诊所——台湾的第一家减碳诊所，10名减碳医生专门治疗商办大楼和集合住宅耗电、耗能的文明病。

　　减碳诊所是台北县环保局为打造『低碳小区』而委托绿基会提供的免费节能咨询服务，自 2008 年开张以来，民众反应热烈，因为可以『挂一次号看 6 科』，同时解决大楼的电力、空调、照明、用水、资源回收、过热等问题。

　　减碳医生诊断病情，就由检视大楼的『病历』──电费单──开始。『很多人不知道，光是分析电费单就有很大学问，』绿基会林冠嘉经理解释，台湾电力公司计算电费的方式分很多种，一般家庭用户按表计费，用多少度电就付多少钱，民众只能靠随手关灯、拔掉不用电器的插头来节能。但是集合住宅的公共设施、商办大楼、医院、学校、工厂等『契约用户』，就有尖峰、离峰、半尖峰等 3 段时间的不同标准。