The creators of a “smart” container house that has appeared on the bustling streets of downtown Taipei hope to promote a lifestyle that brings people closer to nature and yet retains the comfort and convenience of modern life.
The house, built from a shipping container that measures 12m by 3.5m, was exhibited in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) from Aug. 11 to Sunday last week.
It is to be displayed at the Huazhong Riverside Park in the Wanhua District (萬華) this weekend, before being transported to southern Taiwan to join the 2017 Kaohsiung Building Show from Sept. 1 to 4.
HARNESSING NATURE
Solar panels on the roof of the portable house supply electricity to the building.
“As many as 12 solar panels can be installed on the roof, enough to generate sufficient energy for a small family,” said C-ing Studio (昕益室內設計) executive director Paul Shen (沈柏勳), who is one of the designers of the house.
The walls of the structure are built with materials that can absorb moisture and dissipate heat, said Joe Chen (陳旻宏), initiator of the project and executive vice president of Jon Yei E-Tech Co (中一電工科技), a building material company.
In the next stage, Shen said his company plans to install a rain storage system on the roof so that rainwater can be collected and reused for the shower and toilet.
‘INTELLIGENT’ SYSTEM
Another eye-catching feature of the house is its “intelligent home system,” which allows residents to control home appliances, lights, the security system and other household items using voice commands.
The system can automatically adjust the light and temperature levels inside the house to save energy, said Mimmy Huang, a marketing executive at Jon Yei E-Tech Co.
BIG DREAMS
Among those who have expressed interest in the house are designers looking for a studio and people hoping to start a creative coffee shop, hair salon or other business, she said.
However, Chen said he has bigger dreams.
The ultimate goal is to promote the idea that people should coexist with the environment, he said.
Although it may be difficult for ordinary people to own such a house without also owning a piece of land to place it on, Chen said his team is hoping to gradually promote a new lifestyle and a new business model in which owners could rent land from landowners and take their homes with them wherever they go.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure