Taipei 101 is the World’s Tallest ‘Green’ Building
Those who stand tall now cannot but bow their heads and turn green with envy. Taipei 101 towers above all with the coveted title, “World’s tallest green building”. In 2007 Burj Khalifa (828 m high) transcended Taipei 101 (506 m high) to become the world’s tallest building. Taiwan has invested $1.8 million in energy efficiency upgrades which are expected to yield $20 million annually in savings or 14.4 million kilowatt-hours of electricity or an 18 percent energy-saving, over three years and thus made Taipei 101 the world’s tallest green building.
The building’s upgrades and renovations have been tested by LEED for the certification. The owners of Taipei 101 took the services of SLA International Asia Inc., Siemens and EcoTech International Inc. to complete the eco-upgrades. The upgrades include making the major energy systems used for heating, cooling and ventilation more eco-friendly.
The Taipei 101 last month received the LEED platinum status, the highest certification and top honor for green buildings.
At the press conference on 28 July, 2011, Mark MacCracken, chairman of the board, US Green Building Council, said, “With Taipei 101 there is no model in the world that is bigger or taller. This is a monumental.’’
“The efforts made by Taipei 101 show that environmental protection will save more on costs and create earnings in the future,” said Harace Lin, president of the Taipei Financial Center Corp., which owns the building.
This has now set the new trend for the skyscrapers. Presently, 40% of newly built skyscrapers have submitted for the green building status.
(via CrazyEngineers)
