With ISO 50001, organizations now have an additional tool to manage energy use for commercial and industrial facilities. The international framework, established in June, could potentially influence up to 60 percent of the world's energy use.

While U.S. companies are now beginning to apply the standard, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced today its Fab 12 Phase 4 data center in Hsinchu Science Park has completed certification for ISO 50001, becoming Taiwan's first high-density data center to adopt the framework.

TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor producer, will use the framework for data and control systems in factory automation, supporting both manufacturing and R&D. The company expects by complying to ISO 50001 standards, the data center's power consumption will be reduced by 8 percent, conserving 2.21 million kWh of electricity and eliminating 1,350 tons of carbon emissions per year.

TSMC also plans to apply ISO 50001 standards to future data centers -- as well as all manufacturing facilities -- identifying the most innovative energy-saving designs in construction. All told, the company says it can conserve 59.62 million kWh and eliminate 36,490 tons of carbon emissions per year.

"[We] plan to strengthen our green supply chain by systematically integrating power management effectiveness into our purchasing evaluations, considering both initial costs and power consumption over the equipment life cycle to control energy usage at the source," said the company in a statement.

Headquartered Hsinchu, Taiwan, TSMC announced a partnership in September to produce the A6 processor chip for Apple's next-generation iPads and iPhones.

The basis for ISO 50001 came out of the environmental management framework ISO 14001 -- as well as the European standard EN 16001 published last year -- and is intended specifically to address energy performance. After receiving certification from a third party, companies can then develop a consistent methodology for minimizing energy use.

Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore has developed the Green DC Standard, similar in wording to ISO 50001 and targeting energy efficiency in data centers. Singapore attracts high-profile data center operations, included those by Google, Amazon Web Services, and others.

Photo provided by TSMC