In response to a government policy to promote public participation in the green energy rooftop program, Citibank Taiwan and Sunnyfounder are working together to install a 22.2 kilowatt-peak solar energy system on the rooftop of the St Camillus Long-term Care Center in Yilan County’s Sansing Township (三星).
Solar power generation can help institutions lower energy costs. Institutions can also apply for a Taiwan Renewable Energy Certificate (T-Rec) for the green energy they produce and sell it on an energy certificate exchange platform. The income can then be invested to meet the institutions’ operational needs. This is the first sustainable strategy bringing these two benefits together through one program.
“The government’s goal is that 20 percent of power generation should come from green energy by 2025. Solar energy will make up 70 percent of this volume,” Citibank Taiwan chairman Paulus Mok (莫兆鴻) said.
Photo provided by Citibank Taiwan
“Citibank, a leader in the financial industry, is taking the lead in responding to the government’s policy by promoting green energy in cooperation with non-profit organizations. Since 2017, Citibank has helped the Taiwan Black-foot Disease Socio-Medical Service Memorial House in Tainan and Jhanghu Junior and Elementary School of Ecology in Yunlin County’s Gukeng Township (古坑) install citizen power plants,” Mok said.
“We have also helped St Camillus Long-term Care Center in Yilan County’s Sansing Township install a solar power generation system for its own use and apply for a renewable energy certificate,” he said.
“In addition to bringing a stable income for the center, the project will hopefully also serve as a model for other businesses that want to join the green energy rooftop program, showing that it is more than just a slogan,” he added.
The solar energy system installed on the rooftop of the center generates 19,000 kilowatt-hours of green energy per year, saving the center NT$47,000 (US$1,521) in electricity bills.
By trading renewable energy certificates, the center also earns an annual income of NT$38,000.
In total, the energy produced by the green energy power station creates an economic value equivalent of approximately NT$85,000, while at the same time reducing carbon emissions by 10 tonnes each year — equal to the carbon sequestered by 45 trees — for the next 20 years as it implements the government’s sustainable energy policy.
“Since its founding, Sunnyfounder has successfully called on 9,000 people to invest in and completed 45 citizen solar power plants, and we continue to promote our innovative green energy public service model by using the force created by the care and concern from businesses and members of the public to install solar power systems for social welfare institutions, thus helping generate long-term stable income for them,” Sunnyfounder cofounder Chen Hui-ping (陳惠萍) said.
“Our cooperation with Citibank differs from the past approach as we work together to further develop the public service concept by creating the first green energy public service project that allows St Camillus to use the energy and also to sell the surplus through renewable energy certificates,” Chen said.
St Camillus Long-term Care Center director Huang Lung-kuan (黃龍冠) stressed that electricity costs constitute a major expense for such institutions, especially for medical equipment used in the treatment of chronic illnesses which consume a lot of power.
Huang added that the installation of the solar power generation system in cooperation with Citibank Taiwan and Sunnyfounder would provide St Camillus with a renewable energy source and more energy than it could use, which would help the center lower its energy costs.
Citibank Taiwan has long promoted corporate social responsibility and the pursuit of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals. Working with Sunnyfounder to help St Camillus install a solar power generation system and apply for renewable energy certificates allows the company to achieve three of the 17 goals — good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, and sustainable cities and communities, the bank said.
In addition, Citibank Group in 2014 announced its Sustainable Development Strategy and pledged to invest US$100 billion over a 10-year period focusing on renewable energy sources, green building, sustainable transportation and green bonds.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last