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Outdone by an tower extending over 800 meters in Dubai, the world’s former tallest building, Taipei 101, wants to become the highest green structure by completing a checklist of clean energy standards, a spokesman said on Monday.

Taipei 101 will spend T$60 million ($1.9 million) over the next year to meet 100 criteria for an environmental certificate that it would hold over Dubai, spokesman Michael Liu said.

The office-commercial tower that reigned for five years as the world’s highest building at 509 meters (1,670 feet) expects the U.S-based Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design to give it the certificate in 2011.

“We’re focused now on becoming a Taiwan landmark, that won’t change, and on going green. We’d be the tallest building to get a green certificate,” Liu said by telephone.

Taipei 101, he said, would work with its 85 office tenants to cut electricity and water use, while encouraging them to recycle more refuse. Annual utility savings should total T$20 million.

Restaurants would be asked to bring in supplies from as close as possible to reduce transportation.

“We can reduce power, trash and water by more than 10 percent,” he said. “We’re already pretty green. In principle there’s no major problem.”

The Taiwan skyscraper, complete with an observation deck popular with tourists, has already met 60 of the checklist items, including double-paned windows to retain cool air.

Google has introduced Google PowerMeter which can show consumers their electricity consumption in a secure Google gadget. Google is trying & testing this product with many utility partners in USA, India, Germany, and Canada.

According to Google

Its nearly impossible to make informed choices about electricity. This is a problem but also a huge opportunity for us all to save money and help the environment by reducing our power usage. Studies show that access to your household’s personal energy information is likely to save you 5–15% on your monthly bill. Even greater savings are possible if you use this information to see the value of retiring your old refrigerator, installing a new air conditioner or insulating your home. The potential impact of large numbers of people achieving similar efficiencies is even more exciting. For every six households that save 10% on electricity, for instance, we reduce carbon emissions as much as taking one conventional car off the road.