The RE100 international initiative has become a trend in carbon reduction. Including TSMC, 21 Taiwanese companies have joined RE100 to date, committing to using 100% renewable energy and achieving this goal no later than 2050. However, the industry believes that achieving RE100 is challenging due to factors such as insufficient domestic green electricity supply, high energy storage costs, and the unified electricity and electricity certificate system.
How is Jinghua Industrial, the first RE100 textile company in Asia Pacific, embracing the green electricity era?
Founded in 1992, Jinghua Industries boasts a vertical industry chain integrating textile dyeing and finishing with garment manufacturing. Its core products are fleece fabrics and functional fabrics for outdoor sporting goods. It is the first textile company in the Asia-Pacific region to sign the RE100 initiative and the sixth company in Taiwan to do so.
"At first, I thought RE100 was just a renewable energy facility that needed to be built," Huang Yanxiang said with a wry smile. Jinghua Industries, headquartered in Taiwan, has factories both domestically and internationally, including weaving, dyeing, and garment factories. Its domestic locations alone consume approximately 26 million kWh of electricity annually, with the Toufen and Dayuan plants generating 12 million and 14 million kWh respectively. The combined contracted capacity of the two plants is approximately 4,000 kW. Anything over 5,000 kW is considered a large electricity user by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
In 2020, Jinghua became a member of RE100, pledging to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2040. The interim goals are to achieve RE35 and RE65 (renewable energy accounts for 35% and 65% respectively) by 2030 and 2035, respectively. How can the traditional textile industry transition to renewable energy, embrace the green electricity era, and advance towards RE100?
Carbon reduction starts with energy conservation. Intelligently monitor carbon emissions and energy consumption data, setting a target of 3-5% annual electricity savings.
The first step for a company to "go green" is to take inventory of its energy usage. General Manager Huang Yanxiang pointed out that Jinghua has introduced intelligent equipment to monitor production conditions and understand the energy consumption and carbon emissions of different processes. After obtaining relevant information, it can start optimizing processes and enter the key stage of carbon reduction.
Huang also emphasized the importance of energy conservation. While energy-saving measures are common across the manufacturing industry, Jinghua uses inventory and energy monitoring systems to identify energy-consuming equipment within existing processes and replace them. For example, they employ AI-powered energy-saving air conditioning system software and replace outdated chillers.
Looking at Jinghua's green electricity planning path, if the electricity conservation target is set at 3-5% per year and 100% renewable energy is achieved in 2040, annual electricity consumption will drop to 15.96 million kWh. The less electricity used, the easier it is to achieve RE100.
Jinghua has also established a "Sustainable Development Committee" to lead the sustainable development work of corporate operations, extending the existing corporate social responsibility (CSR) department to incorporate the concept of sustainability, and subdividing it into labor safety, public security, carbon rights management and energy management under the committee, introducing sustainable thinking from product development to operations.
Source: Environmental Information Center (https://e-info.org.tw/node/235169)
