Environment
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Official Climate Action or Environmental Sustainability Strategies
YunTech Mid-Range Development Plan
YunTech’s environmental sustainability strategy is based on a 5-year mid-range development plan, including sustainable governance, environmental sustainability, social sustainability, economic sustainability, and its investment planning.
YunTech’s mid-range planning: vision, goal and strategy
YunTech has established the Mid-Range Development Plan for the Year 2021 to 2025 by building “an internationally renowned university that features innovative teaching and industrial connecting” as its vision (Figure 1). It aims to deliver excellent performance in four aspects: student cultivation, teacher development, university impact, and international influence. To realize its vision, YunTech set four goals including: (1) align the development of teachers and students with economic, environmental, and social needs, (2) make outstanding contributions to local and global well-being, (3) shape innovative, intelligent, friendly, and sustainable campuses, and (4) become one of the top 100 universities in Asia and the top 1000 in the world.
Figure 1. YunTech’s vision, goals and strategies
Action plan for realizing the university’s vision and goal
In order to realize the vision and goals, the action plan takes “parallel progress of both generation and digitalization” and “integration of both literacy and sustainability” as the guidance, and integrates the five development strategies into it (see Figure 2). This plan is an integrative system. The four action strategies, “objective-oriented teaching innovation”, “upgrade the capacity and feature of industry-academia collaboration”, “contribute to sustainability”, and “promote YunTech’s global reputation” reinforce each other. For example, upgrading the capacity and feature of industry-academia collaboration can support industry-connecting courses, students’ career development, and the practice of several SDGs. The spirit of sustainability will be integrated into objective-oriented teaching innovation and upgrading the capacity and feature of industry-academia collaboration. When all three action strategies are implemented successfully, the objective of promoting YunTech’s global reputation will be reached. Moreover, more talents and resources will be attracted to our university, and a positive reinforcing loop of sustainable development will be realized.
According to the integrative plan, the action plan includes four action strategies and respective objectives, and a total of 24 action plans (see Figure 2). Brief descriptions are as follows.
Figure 2. YunTech’s action plan
Objective-oriented teaching innovation
In order to pursue our vision and respond to social needs, the objectives include improving learning efficiency, literacy and adaptability, and cultivating talents needed by the industry. It includes three major facets. The first is innovation in teaching and learning for freshmen in response to changes in the quality of freshmen. The second is the industry-connecting teaching approach in response to the demands of industrial talents. The last is career guidance for improving literacy, adaptive employment, connecting the workplace, and cultivating ready-to-play talents for the industry.
Upgrade the capacity and feature of industry-academia collaboration
In order to pursue our vision and respond to the impacts of technological changes and generational differences, the objective of this action strategy is to develop new-generation technology, nurture new-generation talents, establish R&D teams, and finally develop YunTech’s features. Only by up surging the capacity of industry-academia cooperation can provide more opportunities for students to learn and practice knowledge and skill. The featured industry-academia cooperation is defined as that involving the technologies associated with 6 national core strategic industries endorsed by the National Development Council, such as information and digital industries, information security industries, precision health industry, green and renewable energy industry. YunTech hopes to develop technologies and cultivate talents to support national core industries.
Contribute to sustainability
We developed this action strategy to pursue our vision and respond to the impact of global sustainability issues. The 17 SDGs proposed by the United Nations embrace not only sustainable development but also the issues of university social responsibility and the publicity of higher education, which are the main topics of MOE’s Higher Education Sprout Project. For example, SDG 8 and SDG 9 cover the issues of placemaking and enhancing industrial efficiency. SDG 10 covers the issues of protecting socioeconomically and culturally disadvantaged groups. SDG 13 tackles the issue of climate change. SDG 12 covers the issues of waste reduction and disposal. SDG 2 covers permaculture. SDG 7 covers energy conservation and renewable energy. SDG 11 covers cultural asset conservation. All of these SDGs are that YunTech has been focusing on and practicing for a long time.
In terms of the governance of sustainability, YunTech takes “promote economic, social and environmental sustainability through the power of education and knowledge” as its vision, “the development of teachers and students meets the needs of the economy, the environment and society”, “make outstanding contributions to the well-beings of local and global societies”, and “establish an innovative, intelligent, friendly and sustainable campus” as the goals. We created the “Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee” as the highest governance unit to promote organizational culture and practice of sustainability, and established the “Sustainable Development and Social Practice Research Center” as the unit to manage sustainability actions. YunTech has been investing a lot of manpower and budget every year to contribute to sustainability. In the new five-year plan, YunTech will continue to devote to the enhancement of governance, environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and economic sustainability.
Promote YunTech’s global reputation
The objectives of this action strategy is to connect global networks, demonstrate YunTech’s competitive features, and attract international talents to join the teaching and R&D teams. The action plan includes: bilingual learning, international exchange of teachers, overseas exchange of students, international talent recruitment, promotion of international prestige of academic and teaching achievement, bilingual administrative system, and employment guidance for international students.
The plan of resource investment
In YunTech’s budget allocation (see Table 1), in addition to the basic operation (260 million for current expenditure and 220 million for capital expenditure), we allocate about 193 million to four action strategies. In order to support the four action strategies, three vice presidents are in charge of forming research teams and establishing three university-level featured areas research centers including intelligent electric vehicle, net-zero carbon emission, and intelligent education, which are relevant to environmental sustainability.
| Action strategy | Capital expenditure | Current expenditure | Total |
| Objective-oriented teaching innovation | 18,647,951 | 78,889,508 | 97,537,459 |
| Upgrade the capacity and feature of industry-academia collaboration (precision health industry, green and renewable energy industry etc.) | 3,020,000 | 10,674,400 | 13,694,400 |
| Contribute to sustainability | 9,500,000 | 13,187,236 | 22,687,236 |
| Promote YunTech’s global reputation | 3,841,000 | 42,798,193 | 46,639,193 |
| University level featured areas research center (intelligent electric vehicle, net-zero carbon emission, and intelligent education) |
9,100,000 | 3,000,000 | 12,100,000 |
| Total | 44,108,951 | 148,549,337 | 192,658,288 |
YunTech Directions Governing for the Establishment of Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee
Created 2019/5/21 107學年度 第9次行政會議審議通過
- National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (hereinafter referred to as the school) in order to implement the management of sustainability and social responsibility, create a sustainable culture on the campus, integrate the spirit of sustainable development into education, research and development, operation, and social services, and improve the overall school recognition and implementation of the concept of sustainable development of the United Nations, specially formulated these measures, and set up “National Yunlin University of Science and Technology Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee” (hereinafter referred to as this committee)
- This committee has a number of people, with the principal serving as the convener. The composition of the committee is as follows:
- Ex-officio members: President, Vice President, Secretary of the Chief, Dean of Academic Affairs, Dean of Student Affairs, Dean of General Affairs, Dean of Research and Development, Dean of International Affairs, Director of School Development Center, Director of Sustainable Development and Social Practice Research Center, Environmental Safety Technology Director of the Center, Director of the Research Center for Water and Soil Resources and Disaster Prevention Technology, Director of the Industry-University Division, Director of the General Education Center, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, and Director of the Counseling Center.
- Election members: two staff representatives, one teacher representative from each college, and two student representatives.
- Advisory members: 2-4 experts and scholars in the field of university sustainable development, invited to attend if necessary.
The members are appointed by the principal for a two-year term, and they may be re-elected.
- The committee is responsible for:
- researching into, supervising and reflecting on the formulation and implementation of sustainability and social responsibility policies;
- reviewing relevant annual sustainability reports and keeping them for future reference;
- other affairs related to sustainable development and social responsibility.
- This committee may set up relevant task force. The director of the institutional research and planning center shall serve as the executive director, and a secretary and an officer shall be appointed. The task forces are responsible for issues, such as governance, environment, economy, society, education, annual reports, etc., and for the collaboration of units. The convener of the task forces shall be appointed by the principal as a member of the committee.
- The committee is convened once a year, and if necessary, an ad hoc meeting can be held at any time. The resolution should be attended by more than half of the total number of members, and more than half of the member present should agree to do so.
- The committee may invite related institutions, scholars and experts to serve as advisory members. When members from outside the school attend the committee’s meetings, an attendance fee will be paid separately. Part-time members of the school and related work are not paid.
- This method was adopted by the executive meeting and implemented after being approved by the principal. The amendment is also the same.
Sustainability Governance
Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee
http://en.yuntech-csr.tw/visions-and-strategies/management-mechanism/
YunTech set up Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee (Figure 3) in 2019 for pursuing the following goals: to implement the management of sustainability and social responsibility, to shape a sustainable culture, to integrate the spirit of sustainable development into teaching, R & D, operation, and social services, and to enhance the recognition and implementation of sustainable development. The committee assembles once a year, but the principal can convene meetings at any time when necessary. The committee reports directly to the highest level governing unit.
The committee issues sustainability planning every year. The aspects of the plan include sustainability governance, economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and social sustainability.
Climate action/environmental sustainability strategy
Focused issues
Based on the 17 SDGs and considering the characteristics of Taiwan and YunTech, we focus on the following issue of environmental sustainability:
- Water Resources Protection/Management and Wastewater Treatment (SDG 6)
- Research and develop high energy efficiency/renewable energy technologies, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions (SDG 7)
- Proportion of low-carbon energy use, climate change education/advocacy, cooperation with governments to share climate action/response plans, carbon neutrality/net-zero emissions (SDG 13)
- Freshwater Ecosystems (Irrigation, Water Management/Conservation) Education/Maintenance, Plastic Waste Reduction, Wastewater Treatment (SDG 14)
- Sustainable land use education/advocacy, ecosystem/biodiversity maintenance and education, and toxic waste disposal (SDG 15).
Management policy
- Goals
- Short-term goals: Improve water resources protection, management and wastewater treatment inside and outside the school, improve waste reduction and treatment, reduce energy consumption and increase the proportion of low-carbon energy use, and increase education and publicity on ecology and climate change. Carry out greenhouse gas inventory, declare net zero emissions, and develop high energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon-negative technologies to gradually achieve net zero emissions.
- Long-term goals: achieve sustainable campuses and promote local and global environmental sustainability.
- Commitment
- Implement pollution prevention and waste reduction.
- Greenhouse gas reduction.
- Improve environmental education and advocacy.
- Invest in energy and carbon reduction technologies.
- Work with communities, governments, NGOs, and global partners to respond to environmental changes.
- Policy
- Allocate resources, plan environmental sustainability action plans, implement the target-action-investment-performance assessment cycle, and gradually achieve environmental sustainability goals and commitments.
Research Center for Sustainable Development and Social Practice
YunTech established Sustainability and Social Practice Research Center in 2020 for pursuing the following goals: integrate resources of sustainability initiative, call for proposal of sustainability action, and plan and monitor performance of sustainability. YunTech solves actual problems that face communities by the teachers and students from different colleges and fields with Research Center for Sustainable Development and Social Practice as its core. The main focuses of the center include SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 11, SDG12, SDG 13, and SDG 17.
Example of outcomes in environmental sustainability
Disaster prevention from climate change
In the recent years, flood and strong winds caused by climate change have threatened people’s lives and property. In 2019-2020, YunTech assisted the Central Government Disaster Prevention Science and Technology Research Center in carrying out the disaster risk integration plan, providing basic data of disaster prevention, transmitting local disaster situation, and doing disaster prevention research and development, etc. In this way, relevant meteorological data can be analyzed before the disaster occurs so as to predict where the disaster would take place and how serious the disaster would be, which helps the government make pre-disaster preparation or evacuation plans beforehand.
The disaster prevention project is not only dedicated to climate change adaptation (SDG 13), but also to the improvement of disaster prevention and rescue publicity. It performed disaster prevention operations in local governments, and strengthened people’s awareness of cherishing the environment and water resources (SDG 6), so as to convey the essence of school education.
| The basic training of disaster prevention and rescue for relevant relief personnel |
The training on the utilization of Emergency Management Information Cloud (EMIC) |
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| The Map for Potential Soil Liquefaction | The Map for Potential Flood Disaster |
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| The Map for Potential Earthquake Disasters | Emergency Evacuation Map |
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| The Map for Social Welfare Institutions and Potential Various Disasters |
The Distribution Map of Flood Hazard Areas |
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Research and industry-academia collaboration project
| Department | Name | Topic | Category | Title |
| Engineering Science and Technology | 許智傑 | Energy | Project | 高效能低功耗負電容負電阻電阻式記憶體與薄膜電晶體元件技術開發 |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 吳知易 | battery & storage | Article | Graphene induced crystallinity and hydrous state variations of ruthenium oxide electrodes for superior energy storage performance |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 吳子和 | battery & storage | Article | Boosting proton storage in layered vanadium oxides for aqueous zinc−ion batteries |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 粘譽薰 | battery & storage | Project | 以ZrO2, rGO, TiO2奈米複合纖維修飾染料敏化太陽能電池的光電特性及其阻抗分析 |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 王怡仁 | battery & storage | Project | 反應性多面體倍半矽氧烷寡聚物（POSS）/磺化聚醯亞胺（SPI）複合材料與網狀結構體質子交換膜的製備及其應用於燃料電池可行性的評估 |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 林智汶 | battery & storage | Project | 利用細菌纖維素(BC)與纖維素奈米纖維(CNF)研製直接甲醇燃料電池專用質子交換膜 |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 林春強 | battery & storage | Project | 奈米碳管/石墨烯複合材料以氮電漿處理後再濺鍍氧化鋁以改善鋰離子電池之負極材料的初始庫倫效率 |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 鄭宇伸 | biamass&hydrogen | Article | Differential effects of inorganic salts on cellulase kinetics in enzymatic saccharification of cellulose and lignocellulosic biomass |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 康嘉麟 | carbon capture | Article | Multi-scale modeling and study of aerosol growth in an amine-based co2 capture absorber |
| Chemical and Materials Engineering | 周宗翰 | hydrogen | Article | Formation and characterization of hydrogenated soybean lecithin/TPGS nano-dispersions as a potential carrier for active herbal agents |
| Future Technology Research Center | 王槐銓 | Biomass & hydrogen | Article | Co-pyrolysis of microalgae and other biomass wastes for the production of high-quality bio-oil: Progress and prospective |
| Future Technology Research Center | 夏沙哈 | carbon capture-AI | Article | Modeling of carbon dioxide solubility in ionic liquids based on group method of data handling |
| Future Technology Research Center | 羅艾希 | hydrogen-AI | Article | Intelligent computing for the dynamics of fluidic system of electrically conducting Ag/Cu nanoparticles with mixed convection for hydrogen possessions |
| Future Technology Research Center | 陳文照 | solar | Project | 電鍍銅/鋁摻雜氧化鋅作為矽異質接合太陽能電池電極之研究 |
| Future Technology Research Center | 王行達 | solar | Project | 使用金屬輔助蝕刻法及後處理提升鑽石切割單晶矽太陽能電池之能量轉換效率 |
| Bachelor Program in Interdisciplinary Studies | 維克蘭沃利 | Biomass & hydrogen | Article | Comparative studies on thermochemical behavior and kinetics of lignocellulosic biomass residues using TG-FTIR and Py-GC/MS |
| Bachelor Program in Interdisciplinary Studies | 張瑞呈 | hydrogen | Article | Aspect Ratio-Dependent Charge Carrier Dynamics in Matchstick-like Ag2S-ZnS Nanorods for Solar Hydrogen Generation |
| Bachelor Program in Interdisciplinary Studies | 章詠湟 | hydrogen | Project | 大面積排列式三維結構的高催化活性1T相過渡金屬二硫族化物於電化學產氫之研究 |
| Computer Science and Information Engineering | 郭文中 | Energy | Project | 智慧電網設施之資安規範的先期研究 |
| Information Management | 許中川 | solar-AI | Project | 短期太陽能電場發電量預測與用電負載量預測研究 |
| Electronic Engineering | 薛雅馨 | battery & storage | Article | Stable local bit-line 6 T sram architecture design for low-voltage operation and access enhancement |
| Electronic Engineering | 夏世昌 | battery & storage | Article | A 0.3 V PNN based 10t SRAM with pulse control based read-assist and write data-aware schemes for low power applications |
| Electronic Engineering | 夏世昌 | battery & storage | Article | Stable local bit-line 6 T sram architecture design for low-voltage operation and access enhancement |
| Electronic Engineering | 許明華 | battery & storage | Article | A 0.3 V PNN based 10t SRAM with pulse control based read-assist and write data-aware schemes for low power applications |
| Electronic Engineering | 許明華 | battery & storage | Article | Stable local bit-line 6 T sram architecture design for low-voltage operation and access enhancement |
| Electronic Engineering | 林士弘 | battery & storage | Project | 太陽能電池檢測技術與產業應用 |
| Electronic Engineering | 賴志賢 | Solar energy | Project | 以黑磷烯修飾二氧化鈦光陽極應用於染料敏化太陽能電池 |
| Electronic Engineering | 周學韜 | Solar energy | Project | 以金奈米粒子之侷部表面電漿修飾二氧化鈦_石墨烯之複合式介孔層薄膜製備鈣鈦礦太陽能電池 |
| Electrical Engineering | 華志強 | solar energy | Project | 再生能源電廠系統健康之診斷研究 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 黃培興 | hydrogen | Article | Investigations into the Evaporation Efficiency and Hydrogen Production Rate of Methanol-Water Fuels in a Steam Reformer Tube |
| Mechanical Engineering | 施國亮 | hydrogen | Project | 特殊水氫化作用設備裝置下柴油引擎性能提升之測試 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 許伯堅 | Solar energy | Project | 具混合電池之太陽能系統之匹配設計及充放電電流控制研究 |
| Construction Engineering | 文一智 | battery & storage | Article | Thermal equilibrium safety assessment of storage and transportation for 2,2’-Azobis(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile) initiator required for polymer resin in construction industries |
| Safety,Health and Environmental Engineering in Disaster Prevention and Environmental Engineering | 溫志超 | Biomass & hydrogen | Article | Anionic congo red dye removal from aqueous medium using Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) fungal biomass: adsorption kinetics, isotherms, thermodynamics, reusability, and characterization |
| Safety,Health and Environmental Engineering in Disaster Prevention and Environmental Engineering | 林啟文 | Biomass & hydrogen | Project | 以微生物燃料電池為基礎之污染整治技術開發以提升受污染地下水之復育成效研究 |
| Safety,Health and Environmental Engineering in Disaster Prevention and Environmental Engineering | 徐啟銘 | carbon capture | Article | Damage effects on coal mechanical properties and micro-scale structures during liquid CO2-ECBM process |
| Safety,Health and Environmental Engineering in Disaster Prevention and Environmental Engineering | 王銘生 | carbon capture | Article | Study of Thermal Power Plant’s Intelligent Fire Detection and Suppression System Via Wireless Sensor Network and Carbon Capture and Storage Technology |
| Safety,Health and Environmental Engineering in Disaster Prevention and Environmental Engineering | 洪肇嘉 | hydrogen | Project | 複合二氧化鈦光觸媒於液相及氣相產出氫氧自由基及效率之研究 |
| Safety,Health and Environmental Engineering in Disaster Prevention and Environmental Engineering | 楊茱芳 | hydrogen | Project | 以共植種方式進行稻稈熱酸水解液之解毒與生物轉化以回收有價化合物並提升厭氧發酵產氫效能之研究 |
Departments with Degree Courses Directly Related to Environmental Sustainability
Departments with degree courses directly related to environmental sustainability at YunTech include
- Department of Environmental and Safety and Health Engineering (BS, MS, PhD)
- Master Program of Environmental Safety Technology and Management (in-service master’s program)
- Master Program of Health Industry Management (in-service master’s program)
- Master Program of Placemaking and Intelligent Design (in-service master’s program)
- Department of Cultural Heritage Conservation (BS, MS).
Regarding university development, YunTech aims to fulfill its university social responsibility (USR) as a world citizen based on its medium-term development plan and SDG 17. Consequently, YunTech has outlined its vision of “promoting economic, social and environmental sustainability through the power of education and knowledge”; it has set its goals of “cultivating students’ ability to understand and solve sustainability issues”, “making outstanding contributions to both local and global sustainability issues”, “building a sustainable campus” and “enhancing global sustainable partnerships and prestige”; and it has formulated the strategy of “integrating the spirit of sustainability into teaching, research and development, and establishing international connections”.As mentioned above, YunTech aims to fulfill its social responsibility. Therefore, with the essence of university education as its principle, YunTech integrates on-campus resources; its colleges make concerted efforts to promote development projects about SDGs, setting SDGs for each college, running courses in sustainability practice, holding international seminars about SDGs, and participating in local and governmental sustainability activities. The essence of a university is to provide education, so YunTech ensures that its students have access to quality education (SDG4). With quality education as its core, it gradually promotes other 16 SDGs.
YunTech aims to fulfill its social responsibility. Therefore, with the essence of university education as its principle, YunTech integrates on-campus resources; its colleges make concerted efforts to promote development projects about SDGs, setting SDGs for each college, running courses in sustainability practice, holding international seminars about SDGs, and participating in local and governmental sustainability activities.
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College of Engineering |
★Total number of courses related sustainability and social practice = 57
★2020 Total Number of Project= 78
★2020 Total Number of Research =87
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College of Management |
★Total number of courses related sustainability and social practice = 106
★2020 Total Number of Project= 18
★2020 Total Number of Research =87
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College of Design |
★Total number of courses related sustainability and social practice = 18
★2020 Total Number of Project= 38
★2020 Total Number of Research =29
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College of Humanities and Applied Sciences |
★Total number of courses related sustainability and social practice = 73
★2020 Total Number of Project= 13
★2020 Total Number of Research =34
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College of Future |
★Total number of courses related sustainability and social practice = 73
★2020 Total Number of Project= 13
★2020 Total Number of Research =34