Taipei: The Fisheries Research Institute has made a significant advancement by developing a technology that drastically reduces the power required to cultivate a methane-cutting alga, Asparagopsis, by over 90 percent. This breakthrough aims to make the cultivation process more economical as announced by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).

According to Focus Taiwan, Asparagopsis is traditionally cultivated using blowers to continuously mix air into water tanks, which consumes large amounts of electricity. The institute has innovated a system that utilizes solar panels to generate power, replacing conventional blowers with an energy-efficient variable-frequency waterwheel. This new system significantly reduces energy consumption during the cultivation process by more than 90 percent.

While global efforts to combat climate change have primarily targeted carbon dioxide emissions, reducing methane emissions presents an immediate opportunity to slow global warming. Livestock is a major source of methane emissions, and the institute's research indicates that adding 5 percent Asparagopsis powder to cattle and sheep feed can reduce methane emissions by 99.78 percent, based on an in vitro bovine rumen fermentation test.

The institute is planning to promote this new power-saving system to private aquaculture farmers in an effort to encourage a green transition within Taiwan's livestock sector, moving towards a low-emissions environment.