To have an environmental friendly building may be a new concept at TKU, but not so in many industrial countries, such as those in Europe or the US. Being environmental friendly can mean many things that include installation of energy-saving devices, such as solar panels, automatically adjusted window shutters, and better insulated building materials. Sometimes even well designed and well-sealed windows can be a simple but crucial step toward saving energy effectively. Unfortunately, simple concepts as such are scarce in Taiwan. Therefore, even though TKU is making a small step by setting up some solar panels outside the Architecture Department, it is a significant one for promoting a better and greener campus throughout the island.

This small step the Department is making is the installation of some blue solar panels on the front door, the rooftop and windows of the departmental building. However, the budget of such an installation is far from small. According to Wang Wen-an, the professor responsible for this green project, it has cost over NT$ 2,830,000. Nearly half of it came from the subsidies provided by the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOIA), while the rest was shouldered by the university and a private construction company. This project, even though proposed by the Department, was a part of an overall “greener, safer, and healthier campus” project promoted by the MOIA. The solar panel project in Tamkang is still at its trial stage. Yet, when the results prove to be positive, there will be more similar ones to follow.

These satellite controlled solar panels can be adjusted automatically to poise in the best angle with the sun for the most effectively collection of sunlight to store in the hundreds of cells built in the panels. This stored energy will be used to operate the ventilators in the departmental building of all time, and as a result of that, more energy will be saved and environment will be less polluted, too.

There are altogether 12 opaque single crystal solar modules installed on the roof and 6 of them on the windows. They can absorb sunlight most effectively when sun shines on them directly, whereas the transparent non-crystal solar modules installed on the front door can absorb maximum sunlight even in shade.

Apart from the Architecture Departmental building, similar devices will be installed in the Sung-tao Girl’s Dormitory and buildings in the Lanyang Campus. Imagine having a shower with solar-powered energy while staying in Sung-tao? Not bad, eh.(~ Ying-hsueh Hu )