Asian Factories See Sense and Savings in Environmental Certification亞洲工廠注重節能：越綠色越有利

亞洲工廠注重節能：越綠色越有利


環境MIKE IVES2014年01月09日





英特爾耗資10億美元建成的工廠，其環保和可持續措施遠高于越南法律要求。


Justin Mott for The New York Times



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越南胡志明市——英特爾(Intel)着手在越南建芯片工廠時，發現了一個怪現象：當地法律並不能規範建設過程的每個方面。

比如，政府沒有針對化學製冷劑的使用出台全面的標準，在美國，環境保護局(Environmental Protection Agency)通常會對此加以規範。事實上，當地官員還就這個問題諮詢過英特爾，問它有沒有一些想法可能對其他在越南經營的製造企業有益。

然而，如今英特爾耗資10億美元（約合60億元人民幣）在距離胡志 明市中心約10英里（約合16公里）遠的地方建設的工廠，採取的環保和可持續措施遠高于越南法律的要求。這座2010年投產的工廠里，運行着越南最大規模 的太陽能陣列。該公司管理人員稱，新的水回收系統將很快幫助該公司節約多達68%的水資源消耗。工廠也在積極爭取獲得美國綠色建築協會(US Green Building Council)的認證。

英特爾沒必要做這麼多，但工廠總經理謝莉·博格(Sherry Boger)表示，公司採取這些措施的動力很簡單：「事實證明，有利於環境的事，也能給公司帶來好處。」

綠色建築專家稱，過去五年，西方跨國公司開始在發展中國家建造更加 環保的工廠，它們的亞洲供應商有時也會這麼做。全球領先的認證機構美國綠色建築協會報告稱，目前在亞洲只有大約300家製造工廠得到了「能源與環境設計先 鋒獎」（Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design，簡稱LEED）認證，或者正在等待認證。

亞洲的能效顧問稱，很難估算一棟通過綠色認證的廠房，一般能幫一家 跨國公司節省多少能源或金錢。但專家表示，在亞洲取得綠色認證的趨勢可能會很強，原因是如此多的消費品和工業產品都在這個地區生產，如果這種做法得到普 及，將會節省大量能源。而一些工廠的數據表明，那些獲得認證的工廠，節約能源的成效頗為顯著。

比如，博格說，英特爾向全球1500個項目投入了5900萬美元資 金用於改善可持續性，該公司在全球的能源支出因而節約了1.11億美元。這些項目因此而減少的二氧化碳排放量，相當於12.6萬個美國家庭平均每年產生的 二氧化碳總量。博格補充道，英特爾越南工廠里運行的耗資110萬美元的太陽能陣列，每天減少的二氧化碳排放量，大約相當於500輛越南摩托車的排放。

梅利莎·梅里韋瑟(Melissa Merryweather)說，2011年的一項能效調查發現，與一般的工廠相比，越南南部一家通過LEED認證、專門為耐克(Nike)生產鞋子的工廠 消耗的電力和燃料少18%，用水量低53%。梅里韋瑟是該項目的首席可持續顧問。這家工廠屬於泰光維納(Taekwang Vina)，後者是韓國製造商泰光產業與越南合作夥伴創立的合資公司。

美國消費品巨頭高露潔-棕欖公司(Colgate- Palmolive)的發言人斯蒂芬妮·克拉克(Stephanie Clark)提供的統計數據也表明，該公司在全球的七家通過LEED認證的工廠減少了建築垃圾，也降低了水和能源的消耗量。克拉克還表示，公司另外四座這 樣的環保工廠正在建設中，而該公司網站上顯示，它在全球共計11個通過LEED認證的項目，占公司製造工廠的三分之一，其中有五座在亞洲。

馬來西亞綠色建築聯盟(Malaysia Green Building Confederation)稱，自2009年以來，馬來西亞政府為大約75萬平方英尺（約合70萬平方米）的廠房面積進行了認證，約佔其批准的總建築面 積的1%。位於舊金山的非營利性機構能源基金會(Energy Foundation)的中國建築項目主任莫爭春(Kevin Mo)說，到2012年底，中國官方共給742座建築頒發了認證，其中包括八座工廠，而另外一些工廠還在等待認證。

世界銀行(World Bank)面向私營部門的下屬機構國際金融公司(International Finance Corporation)負責綠色建築的行業專家普拉桑特·卡普爾(Prashant Kapoor)表示，印度很多工廠的所有者都擔心停電的問題，在那裡，對於工業能效升級的需求也在提高。他還說，由於在印度對能效升級的需求現在很穩定， 該國國內一些承包商已經開始把節能升級作為其專項業務。

可持續性方面的專家稱，西方跨國公司的目標消費者很看重綠色生產，而與這些公司不同的是，大多亞洲國家的製造企業通常看不到申請第三方認證能帶來什麼明顯的好處。不過，一些公司還是在建設更環保的設施，或者投資進行節能改造，目的是降低能源消耗或應對政府即將出台的法規。

法國能源諮詢公司施耐德電氣(Schneider Electric)新加坡辦公室的專業服務主任傑克遜·成(Jackson Seng)說，他經手的工廠能效升級業務，提高到了五年前的四、五倍。能效升級通常包括能源審核、安裝能耗監測軟件、更換電機，後者經常會消耗工廠的很大 一部分電力。

傑克遜·成說，自己90%的客戶進行升級改造的目的是降低能源成本，而不是改善公司形象，或者提高獲得LEED等國際認證的可能性。

翻譯：谷菁璐

Asian Factories See Sense and Savings in Environmental Certification

By MIKE IVESJanuary 09, 2014

Intel’s $1 billion plant, about 10 miles from downtown Ho Chi Minh City, embraces environmental and sustainability measures far beyond those required by Vietnam’s laws.

Justin Mott for The New York Times

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HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — When Intel went about setting up its chip factory in Vietnam, it found an oddity: Local laws did not govern every aspect of the building.

The government had no comprehensive standards, for instance, on refrigerant chemicals, which in the United States are typically regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. In fact, officials asked Intel whether the company had any ideas on the subject that might be useful to other manufacturers operating in the country.

Yet today, Intel’s $1 billion plant, about 10 miles from downtown Ho Chi Minh City, embraces environmental and sustainability measures far beyond those required by Vietnam’s laws. Opened in 2010, the complex has the country’s largest operating array of solar panels. Company officers say a new water-reclamation system could soon help it reduce water consumption as much as 68 percent. It is also vying for certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Intel didn’t have to go to these lengths, but the motivation for these measures is simple, said the complex’s general manager, Sherry Boger: “It turns out, what’s good for the environment is also good for business.”

Western multinationals — and in some cases, their Asian suppliers — have in the last five years started to build more environmentally sound factories in developing countries, green-building experts say. The U.S. Green Building Council, a leading global certifier, reports that only about 300 manufacturing facilities in Asia are certified or waiting for certification through its rating tool, called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED.

Efficiency consultants in Asia say it is difficult to estimate how much energy or money an average multinational saves by having a green-certified factory building. But the certification trend is potentially significant in Asia because so many consumer and industrial goods are manufactured in the region, offering enormous potential for energy savings if the practice becomes widespread, experts say. And a trickle of factory data suggests the energy savings at certified facilities are significant.

Intel, for example, has reduced its global energy bill by $111 million since 2008 as a result of $59 million worth of sustainability investments in 1,500 projects worldwide, Ms. Boger said. The projects have offset carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to the amount produced by 126,000 American households per year, she added, and Intel’s $1.1 million solar array at the Vietnam facility offsets each day an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to that emitted by about 500 Vietnamese motorbikes.

In 2011, an efficiency survey found that compared with a typical factory, a LEED-certified shoe factory in southern Vietnam that produces exclusively for Nike uses 18 percent less electricity and fuel and 53 percent less water, according to Melissa Merryweather, the lead sustainability consultant for the project. The factory is owned by Taekwang Vina, a joint venture of the South Korean manufacturer Taekwang and a Vietnamese partner.

Stephanie Clark, a spokeswoman for the American consumer products giant Colgate-Palmolive, provided statistics indicating that the company’s seven LEED-certified factories worldwide had reduced construction waste and lowered water and energy use. Ms. Clark added that four more such factories were under construction, and the company’s website shows that its 11 total LEED projects worldwide — five of them in Asia — represent about a third of the company’s manufacturing sites.

Malaysia’s government has certified about 750,000 square feet of factory space since 2009, according to the Malaysia Green Building Confederation, representing about 1 percent of its total building certifications. And Kevin Mo, director of the China buildings program at the Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, said the Chinese authorities had certified eight factories out of 742 total buildings by the end of 2012, with other factories in the pipeline.

A market for industrial efficiency upgrades is also growing in India, where many factory owners worry about power outages, said Prashant Kapoor, principal industry specialist for green buildings at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank. He added that demand for upgrades was now consistent enough there that a few domestic contractors were beginning to make it their specialty.

In contrast with Western multinationals, whose target consumers value a green approach, most domestic manufacturers in Asia typically do not see palpable benefits in applying for independent certification, sustainability experts say. Some are building greener, however, or investing in efficiency retrofits as a way of reducing energy consumption or in response to pending government regulations.

Jackson Seng, professional services director at the Singapore office of Schneider Electric, a French energy consulting firm, said he fielded four or five times as many requests for efficiency upgrades at factories as he did five years ago. Upgrading typically includes energy audits and installation of energy monitoring software, as well as replacing electric motors, which often consume a vast proportion of a factory’s power supply.

Mr. Seng said that 90 percent of his clients were motivated by a desire to reduce energy costs, rather than to polish their corporate images or improve their chances of earning an international certification like LEED.