The budget to fund energy research and development in Taiwan will be doubled in four years time and the country will strive to cut greenhouse gas emissions to the 2000 level by 2025, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday. In a report to the Legislative Yuan on the formulation and implementation of new national energy policies, MOEA officials said the energy R&D budget will be increased to NT$10 billion (US$308.64 million) in four years time. Under the new plan, the country's carbon dioxide emissions will be gradually reduced to the 2008 level by 2020 and hopefully even earlier, by 2016, the MOEA said. The plan calls for the aggressive development of clean energy that will account for about 15 percent of the country's total electricity capacity by 2025. It also calls for a reduction in gasoline consumption by public offices and schools, hopefully by 7 percent by 2015. The MOEA said it will continue to push for the upgrade of energy resources and production facilities to achieve greater efficiency. This will involve replacing old power generators with new models that use Best Available Technology (BAT) and complying with regulations on limiting emissions, in line with the overall strategy, MOEA officials said. The ministry said it will also seek to enter international energy cooperation agreements on the import of clean coal and the development of carbon capture and storage technology and facilities. Meanwhile, the MOEA said its incentive measures to encourage less electricity consumption have born fruit -- as evidenced by the fact that some 3.44 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity was saved nationwide in the first 11 months of this year. 'That figure is roughly equivalent to half of the total electricity consumed by Kaohsiung City residents in a year, ' an MOEA official said. 