Making the production process in factories environmentally friendly would not necessarily increase costs, but rather can help companies save money and build a safer environment for workers, experts said Wednesday. 'Adopting a green production process does not mean that a company's costs will definitely rise, ' Terry Tsao, president of the Asian operations of a global industry association SEMI, told the Central News Agency on the sidelines of a semiconductor trade show in Taipei. 'For example, AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) actually saved more money after streamlining its product packaging process to a more environmentally friendly model, as this enhanced its efficiency, ' he said. Huang Chien-chang, vice president of Taiwan's Safety and Health Technology Center, told selfnews at the fair that his center has recently helped one local information and communications (IC) factory to improve the efficiency of its exhaust system, which will result in cost savings of up to NT$10 million (US$313,000) a year. Huang said that on a recent visit to 19 LED factories he noticed that the 'overly designed' pure-water production systems at some factories have hugely increased costs and water consumption. 'These factories use pure water to wash their flat panels or chips, but some big companies lack experience and use overly designed systems to produce pure water, ' he said. ' This ends up costing them a thousand times more money.' He also said that the energy inefficiency in local factories could endanger workers' safety. 'We used software to determine why factory facilities are not energy efficient and to our surprise, some of the causes are potential safety problems,' Huang added. For example, some of the factories' exhaust systems that are high energy consumers could cause fire accidents or even explosions, but they fail to produce the desired result, he said. These safety concerns often prompt companies to choose energy-saving equipment or machines, he added. 'Some companies do not really want to save energy, but they are more likely to change their minds once they understand there could be safety problems,' he added. Some Taiwanese companies, including the world's largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) , believe that the eco-friendly cooperation between high-tech firms and their equipment and material suppliers will help maintain competitiveness. Hsu Fang-ming, deputy director of TSMC's corporate environment, safety and health division, recently told reporters that such cooperation is necessary as limited global resources and the future implementation of carbon tax will raise manufacturing costs in the industry. In April this year, TSMC, Taiwanese chip giant United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) , local memory chipmaker Macronix International Co. and AUO helped form SEMI Taiwan's commission on green production for the high tech industry. SEMI is an association that serves the manufacturing supply chains for the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries. At the SEMICON Taiwan trade show that opened Wednesday in Taipei, the association set up a new section featuring green production process and management. UMC, Macronix International and other companies are expected to give presentations at the fair on their current practices and future goals for energy conservation and carbon reduction. 