The G8.5 fab owned by AU Optronics (AUO) and located in Houli of Central Taiwan Science Park, has been granted LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) thus becoming the first ever TFT-LCD Plant to receive LEED platinum certification globally.
Among the eight high-tech facilities that have been granted LEED certification in the world three of the facilities are owned by AU Optronics. Dr. Kuei-Peng Lee, a Professor at National Taipei University, has provided consultancy for AUO in the project.
For the purpose of achieving the stringent standards of LEED Platinum certification the G8.5 fab in Houli has cut down its energy consumption by 49,7% around 11.7% more than its other LEED Gold-certified fab facility. It erected digital electricity and water meters over an e-platform to improve the efficiency of water usage. The made to order type of dual pressure compressed air system allowed the building to save over 40 million kWh of electric power every year than a single pressure air system. It installed quality air-conditioning systems in place of standard energy saving facilities. It installed mercury free LED lights in the fab area and erected 30 kW solar panels over the rooftop of the dormitory, which can generate enough power to supply 320 households to meet a part of its power demand. The building collects almost of 90% of the water generated in the building. It has installed a 600-ton tank at the rooftop to collect rain water and utilizes the water collected from its air-conditioning systems to water the plants in the building. The toilets in the building utilize 100% recycled water. In total, the building saves around 300 thousand tons of fresh water every year, which is enough to fill 150 standard swimming pools. The building has also planted around 34,000 trees at the building site to cut down greenhouse gas emissions.
Through the implementation of all its energy saving measures the building will save around 600 million kWh of electric power annually, which can be equated to cutting down of around 400 thousand tons of carbon dioxide discharges or planting of new tree saplings in 100 places having areas equivalent to the central park of New York City.
Source: http://auo.com/