About
Establishment of the Environmental Education and Sustainable Technology Research Center
National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) is the only university in central Taiwan awarded a top-tier research distinction by the Ministry of Education. To align with environmental education policies and the Environmental Education Act, an environmental education institution was established in June 2017 to enhance public awareness of environmental issues, promote environmental ethics, and encourage green living, with the ultimate goal of achieving sustainability. In response to emerging policies such as 2050 net-zero emissions, circular economy, sustainable development, green remediation, as well as industry demands, the National Chung Hsing University Environmental Education and Sustainable Technology Research Center (hereafter referred to as the "Center") was officially established in June 2022. The Center aims to enhance environmental literacy among all citizens, cultivate environmental ethics and learning communities, and provide training for professionals in environmental systems analysis. This training strengthens environmental planning and management practices, improves the decision-making and professional abilities of industry professionals, and focuses on developing cutting-edge technologies such as alternative energy, carbon-negative systems, resource regeneration, digital technologies, and industrial waste/pollutant remediation. The Center operates as a university-level affiliation to NCHU, which addresses the challenges of climate change and the rapid advancement of smart industries.
The Center possesses certified environmental education personnel and has a partnership agreement with the Asia Pacific ESG Action Alliance. The Center is tasked with developing sustainability courses and providing sustainability-related guidance for the Alliance. Additionally, in collaboration with the Soil and Groundwater Remediation Technology Alliance, established in 2019, the Center has hosted several technical seminars and application workshops on remediation technologies. Through service-to-industry, the Alliance has brought together over 30 environmental engineering consulting and construction firms, creating a robust platform to facilitate industry adoption of the technologies developed by the Center. Furthermore, other members of the Center have expertise in other cutting-edge technologies for carbon-negative systems, circular economy, and environmental sustainability. These highly specialized faculty members and their research teams will contribute to the Center to ensure a strong academic foundation for implementing environmental education and industry promotion.
The Center is located on the 4th floor of the Circular Economy Research Building in Zhongxing New Village, Nantou, with 1,410 m2 of research space. The space includes offices for individual divisions, a digital interactive classroom, and a digital teaching material production studio. These resources aim to align with trends in remote learning, serving as a platform for cloud-based environmental education in the future. Moreover, the inclusion of multimedia lecture halls allows the Center to organize large-scale training courses and seminars. These facilities aim to foster collaboration among industry, government, and academia in the environmental engineering field. Additional planned spaces are ongoing, such as a cloud-based interactive consultation meeting room, a service-to-industry discussion room, and a technology display room. Demonstrations, presentations, and displays will promote the core values of the Center to industry partners.
Core Objectives
The core objectives of the Center are:
- Environmental education and corporate ESG sustainability course offerings.
- Renewable energy integration and carbon-negative technology development. This includes: alternative fuels, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and smart grid deployment etc., which can be used to align with net-zero policies.
- Circular utilization technologies for agricultural and industrial waste to promote reduction of overall waste and the cradle-to-cradle (C2C) circular economy model.
- Green technologies for environmental remediation and pollutant management. These efforts aim to provide the government and industries with novel solutions to reduce pollution risks and accelerate the restoration of contaminated sites, maximizing resource utilization.
- Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and environmental modeling technologies. These advancements aim to integrate digital information, data-driven environmental governance, and environmental risk assessment tools to meet the demands of big data.
The establishment of the Center will contribute to completing several key objectives, such as net zero, circular economy of resources, sustainable planning and management, environmentally friendly practices, and big data integration technologies. By adhering to these initiatives, the Center will aid domestic industries in achieving their sustainability goals to align with global standards for sustainable operations.