The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has implemented measures to save energy and cut carbon emissions, with the goal of reducing the research institution’s electricity consumption by around 6 percent.
The measures are expected to help the ITRI reduce its carbon footprint by 4.6 million tonnes, which is equivalent to planting 400,000 trees, the institute said.
Peng Shen-hsuan (彭申炫), head of the engineering division of the institute’s administrative services department, said that the program focused in part on the air conditioning and lighting systems.
The measures include keeping air conditioners at no lower than 26°C to 28°C, as well as integrating the pipes for air conditioning and cold water, which should cut the institute’s electricity bills by 30 percent, Peng said.
The institute has also replaced standard incandescent light bulbs with more environmentally friendly T5 fluorescent light bulbs, which is expected to cut electricity costs by 30 percent, he said.
The institute has also installed motion-sensor lighting as well as timers in outdoor areas and hallways and has replaced 50 watt halogen spotlight lamps with energy-saving 5 watt light-emitting-diode (LED) spotlights, which should cut the amount of electricity used on this lighting by 80 percent to 90 percent, he said.
Meanwhile, Tsai Ying-hsiung (蔡英雄), director of the ITRI’s administrative services department, said the institute was developing a power distribution control system that was expected to cut electricity costs by about NT$12.8 million per year.
Huang Yi-hsiao (黃奕孝), head of the environment and health research division at the institute, said most companies had equipment like copy machines and dispensers for drinking water, but most managers were unaware of how much electricity they consume. He said that automated shut-down devices and timers on such machines could help a company save about 20 percent on its electricity bills.
The ITRI is also installing displays in elevators that show how much electricity the elevator has consumed that day to encourage staff to take an eco-friendlier form of transport: the stairs.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
RSS