Taipei 101 Is LEED Certified To Become The World's Tallest Green Building

Taipei 101 may no longer be the world’s tallest building but now it has another coveted title to#-Link-Snipped-# its credit-“World’s tallest green building”. In 2007 Burj Khalifa which is 828 m high surpassed the 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 had upgrades and renovations that have been tested by LEED for the certification. The owners of Taipei 101 took the service 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, upgrading the lighting, etc.

#-Link-Snipped-#The Taipei 101 last month received the LEED platinum status, the top rating that can be provided based on the performance of the building as a green building. It is the highest certification and top honor for green buildings. After the retro fitting the building achieved the LEED EBOM which is the accreditation that is provided for the existing buildings. It is also worth mentioning that this is the largest scale building with the LEED platinum rating with a total area of 148,645m2.

At the recent press conference held on 28^th, July, 2011, Mark MacCracken, chairman of the board, US Green Building Council said, “The USGBC knows that the retrofitting of buildings will have to happen to make a dent in the greening of the planet. There are now no excuses.  With Taipei 101 there is no model in the world that is bigger or taller. This is a monumental event.”

Adding further, Dr Sang Dae Kim, chairman of the board of trustees, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat said “Although tall buildings are commonly known as unsustainable, this building is setting an example on what tall buildings can do in terms of sustainability.”

“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.

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