Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFCC, 台北金融大樓公司), which operates the Taipei 101 skyscraper, yesterday said it plans to spend between NT$50 million and NT$60 million (US$1.6 million and US$1.9 million) to replace all the traditional fluorescent tubes on the skyscraper’s external walls to LED lighting in the next three years as part of its efforts to conserve energy.
The company’s remarks came after purchasing 1.01 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of “green” power — which cost NT$1.07 million more than traditional power sources — from state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) in April, increasing the consumption of energy generated from renewable resources.
“Taipei 101 will not always be the tallest green building in the world, but we are trying to become the paragon for global green buildings,” Taipei 101 president Chou Te-yu (周德宇) told a press conference, referring to the firm’s pledge to conserve energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Chou said the purchase of 1.01 million kWh of green power would meet the electricity demand for the lighting of the skyscraper’s external walls for one year.
Apart from the purchase of green power and the planned replacement using LED lighting, the company is considering increasing the number of solar panels installed, Taipei 101 spokesperson Michael Liu (劉家豪) said.
Last week, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) said it would buy 100 million kWh of green power, accounting for almost 13 percent of what Taipower could offer this year, while I-Mei Foods Co (義美) said it would purchase 2.5 million kWh of green power.
The amount of green power that had been purchased by enterprises and individuals totaled 119 million kWh in the first half of this year, up 27 times from the same period of time last year, Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) said.
Deng said that the purchase of 119 million kWh of green power is expected to reduce nearly 60 million kilograms of carbon footprint, equivalent to the carbon absorbed by 6 million trees in one year.
In an attempt to encourage more enterprises and individuals to buy electricity generated from renewable resources, Deng said the government reduced the green power price to NT$1.06 per kWh from last year’s NT$2.64 per kWh.
Deng said the government plans to increase power contribution from renewable energy resources from this year’s 11.6 percent to more than 25 percent by 2030 to diversify the nation’s energy resources and contain the rising risk of power shortages.
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