Green Building Certification In Taiwan

The number of buildings in Taiwan receiving or being pre-approved for green building certification in a single year has risen almost 70 times in eight years, to 349 in 2008 from five in 2000, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said yesterday.

Considerable progress has been made in promoting sustainable buildings since the Ministry of the Interior launched a green building program in 2001, the CEPD said.

As of September this year, 2,295 buildings have been certified as "green buildings, " and they have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 521,000 tons annually and saved users NT$2.16 billion in electricity and water costs.

Source: Taiwan News, 2009-11-07, Link

Taipei 101 To Be World’s Tallest Green Building

Taipei 101, famous for being one of the world’s tallest buildings, is set to get some major eco-upgrades in an effort to save money, reduce its impact, and gain the much coveted title of “World’s Tallest Green Building.” In 2007, the Burj Dubai surpassed Taipei 101 in terms of height, but the Taiwanese building won’t give up the fight, throwing down $1.8 million in energy efficiency upgrades, which are expected to yield $20 million annually in savings and make it the Earth’s greenest building that’s also closest to the heavens!

Over the next 18 months, the skyscraper will undergo significant energy efficiency upgrades and will also seek LEED Gold certification for existing buildings. The certification will largely depend on the building performance after the upgrades and renovations take place. The owners of Taipei 101 are teaming up with SL+A International Asia Inc., Siemens and EcoTech International Inc. to complete the eco-upgrades, which were just announced this week.

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Source: Inhabitant, 2009-11-05, Link