| dc.description.abstract | To protect human health and environment, various environmental accords, such as Kyoto Protocol and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive have been developed. In Taiwan, electronic industries such as semiconductor and optoelectronic manufacturers act as the key driving force for economic development and play important roles in “Two Trillion, Twin Stars plan”, an industrial development project funded by Taiwan Ministry of Economy. However, the increases of these industries cause serious environmental issues. Semiconductor industries contribute 10% of the total PFCs (Perfluorochemicals) emissions nationwide, which has high Global Warming Potential (GWP) and long life cycle in the atmosphere, and is one of the regulated greenhouse gases in Kyoto Protocol. On the other hand, heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium6+, PBB, and PBDE, used largely during electric processing and appeared in the final electronic products, are bioaccumulative and could cause permanent damage to living organisms, and therefore are restricted in RoHS by European Union.
This study uses purposive sampling and selects members in Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, Optoelectronic Industries, and component and part suppliers of optoelectronic industries as target audiences. With supporting documents from wafer manufacturers, the data are analyzed by using descriptive statistics and Chi-Square Test of Independence to learn the actual implementation of greenhouse gases reduction and RoHS Directive in Taiwan electronic industries.
From the results we found that over 50% of the interviewers did not understand greenhouse gases “reduction models” and “emission trading”. The degree of concern on the compilation of RoHS information is varied for different industries. When asking the reason to implement these norms, to management level, it is more important to follow the world trend (72.2%) and promote corporate image (54.5%) than to comply with the regulations (50%); while to non-management level, meeting customer satisfaction (64.1%) and complying with the regulations (51.3%) are more important than promoting corporate image (41%). The difference also reflects when changes are required to make. Management level considers primarily in finance and customer feedback (each 14.8%) but non-management level pays more attention to adequacy of manpower (13%). It is also found that non-management’’s understanding to both Kyoto Protocol and RoHS is higher than management ones (57% vs. 25% and 21.1% vs. 9.5%, respectively). Plant working personnel have better knowledge in greenhouse gases than RoHS Directive. Around 75% of the interviewers would like government to provide relevant information via e-newsletter/website. Meanwhile, 80.7% of the companies that took the survey have not had control in greenhouse gases emission and 67.2% of them have not planed in implementing RoHS. For those already take action in reducing greenhouse gases emission mostly choose saving energy (37.8%) as the primary control method; and for those have plan to comply with RoHS Directive they mainly request certification evidence from suppliers (33%). These results are very useful in the future for Taiwan government to assist electronic industries to comply with the international accords. | en_US |