AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world’s No. 3 flat-panel maker, has earned gold certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for its 8.5-generation factory in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), a corporation executive said yesterday.
The 8.5-generation factory, the world’s first thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display-panel (TFT-LCD) hybrid fab, is one of just four facilities in the world to have been awarded the LEED gold rating. Among them, it is the largest in terms of facility size, AU Optronics chief executive officer Chen Lai-juh (陳來助) said.
The company expects to save 21 percent of its total energy consumption and reach a water-recycling rate of 90 percent, which is equivalent to saving 3 million tonnes of fresh tap water annually, enough to fill 1,430 standard swimming pools, Chen said.
LEED, developed by the US Green Building Council, is a voluntary, consensus-based rating system for developing sustainable high-performance buildings.
Since last year, AU Optronics, as Taiwan’s largest TFT-LCD manufacturer, has been committed to incorporating environmentally responsible decisions in its daily operations, such as promoting green innovations for research and development, production, transport and service, with the aim of becoming carbon-neutral by next year, the company said.
The company has pioneered advanced technology in building a wind-powered generator system through its ventilation shafts, which it is willing to share with other factory operators, Chen said.
Its waste recycling has also won high praise, with its recycling rate reaching 90 percent, he added.
The company is also promoting forestation, which, in combination with its energy conservation, will cut 87,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year — 330 times the quantity absorbed by Taipei’s Da-an Forest Park a year, Chen said.
Last year, the company saved about 230 million kilowatts of electricity consumption in its various facilities around the country. In addition, by installing greenhouse gas abatement devices, about 770,000 tonnes of carbon emissions were reduced per year, the company said.
It also saved up to 24.2 million tonnes of water last year, about one-eighth of the volume of the Shihmen Reservoir in Taoyuan County, Chen said.
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