World’s Tallest Green Building is Taipei 101

Like a giant bamboo jutting out of the earth,
the 508m-high Taipei 101 was once the world’s tallest building. Now it has a
new feather in its cap: the tallest green building, being awarded the top, or
“platinum”, standard in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(Leed), a United States-developed certification system. Among other things,
Taipei 101 scored high marks on water and energy efficiency, indoor
environmental quality and waste reduction.

Lee Seok Hwai – Straits Times & Jakarta
Globe  | August 10, 2011

Taipei 101 skyscraper is seen through a
natural park setting in Taipei, Taiwan. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Taipei. Like a giant bamboo jutting out of
the earth, the 508m-high Taipei 101 was once the world’s tallest building.

Last year, the eight-year-old icon of Taiwan
lost that title to Dubai’s 828m-high Burj Khalifa. However, it now has a new
feather in its cap: the tallest green building.

Last month, the structure was awarded the
top, or “platinum”, standard in Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (Leed), a United States-developed certification system for
green buildings. Among other things, Taipei 101 scored high marks on water and
energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and waste reduction.

For example, plants in and around the
building, which resembles a huge bamboo with its stacked segments and green
windows, are watered with harvested rainwater. Sixty-one per cent of its waste
is recycled, and all lighting, toilets and taps have been replaced in the past
two years to minimise energy and water use, said spokesman Anne Wang.

At the award ceremony on July 28, Premier Wu
Den-yih said: “The building is the pride of Taiwan and a model for others
to follow.”

Thousands of buildings on the island are
trying to catch up in the green stakes. Government agencies, corporations and
schools have been shrinking their carbon footprint through conservation
measures similar to Taipei 101′s.

Indeed, all new government buildings are
required to obtain a Green Building Label (GBL), a home-grown assessment based
on nine criteria, from energy and water conservation to biodiversity, before
construction can even begin.

According to the Taiwan Architecture and
Building Centre (TABC), 864 completed buildings have qualified for GBL since
2000 and another 2,340 proposed buildings have obtained provisional GBL based
on their design plan. Of these, about 89 per cent are public structures.

“All completed government buildings must
pass our checks before they can be inaugurated,” said Ke Lih-wen, a TABC
engineer responsible for the program.

One of the most stunning examples is the public
library in Beitou, a leafy district in the north of Taipei. The three-story,
NT$120 million (S$5 million) wooden building uses balconies and vertical wood
grating to cut the amount of heat that enters the building.

In addition, the building collects rainwater
to water plants and flush toilets, uses eco-friendly paint, and has solar
panels that can generate 16kw of electricity.

It attained the highest, or
“diamond”, standard of GBL in 2007.

Together, all the GBL buildings will cut
nearly 600 million kilos of carbon dioxide emissions each year, equivalent to
the effect of 42,375ha of man-made forest, said Mr Ke.

Water savings are estimated at 42 million sq
m, enough to fill 16,747 standard swimming pools.

The private sector has taken its own green
initiatives.

Flat panel display maker AU Optronics’
fabrication facility in Taichung, central Taiwan, scored the Leed platinum
certification earlier this year. Chunghwa Telecom, the largest telecom services
provider in Taiwan, is installing photovoltaic cells on some of its buildings
to produce its own solar-powered electricity.

For Taipei 101, the Leed honour is the reward
for two years of improvement works at a cost of NT$60 million and 10,000 man
hours. But it expects to save millions of dollars a year on electricity and
water consumption.

Its environmental-friendliness has rubbed off
on the nearly 10,000 occupants of the skyscraper.

About 84 per cent of them take public
transport to work, compared to the city-wide average of 34 percent.

Source: www.thejakartaglobe.com