In the 20th century, mankind achieved impressive results in industrial development. However, excessive reliance onfossil fuels caused serious damage to the global environment, creating the greenhouse effect and causing a rapid transformation of climatic patterns. Average global surface temperature is forecast to rise by around 1.4°C to 5.8°Cover the period from 1990 to 2100.Ocean levels will rise by 11cm to 77 cm, and 18% to 35% of living species will be threatened with extinction.
In the future, solar energy will be the world's main source of electric power. The widespread adoption of solar power will make a significant contribution towards the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, thereby helping to reduce the greenhouse effect and prevent or mitigate a dramatic worsening of climatic conditions. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) forecasts that, by 2030, photovoltaic electricity generation will make it possible to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by over 100 million tons, equivalent to the output of 300 coal-fired power plants (assuming an average annual generating capacity of 750 MW per plant), or the entire carbon dioxide emissions of India in 2004. 。
Gintech Energy Corporation has been manufacturing solar cells since 2005. Gintech is dedicated to promoting the widespread adoption of photovoltaic electricity generation technology throughout the world, with the aim of making a significant positive contribution to environmental protection. In 2008, Gintech plans to produce solar cells with a total capacity of around 220 MW. Once installed in photovoltaic modules, assuming four hours of sunlight per day (at 1,000 W/m2) 365 days a year, these solar cells will provide electricity totaling 320 million kWh per year. This will help to reduce annual global carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 192,000 tons, equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide that can be captured by 578 square kilometers of Chinese cedar forest. Gintech's output in 2008 will thus create environmental benefits equivalent to the creation of an area of forest 1.7 times as large as Alishan National Scenic Area (which covers an area of 327 square kilometers).
Currently, only around 400 square kilometers of Chinese cedar forest remains in Taiwan. The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions deriving from Gintech's output of 220 MW of solar cells in 2008 will exceed the contribution to carbon dioxide capture made by all of the Chinese cedar forests in Taiwan.
(On the average, every kWh of electricity produced by a photovoltaic system can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 0.6 kg. A single Chinese cedar tree can capture approximately 14.4 kg of carbon dioxide per annum; the figures given above assume a distance of 6.57 m between trees.)
