City State Sets 80% Target for Green Buildings & Gas Switch

Singapore, which hosts the World Green Building Congress in September, is committed to have 80% of its buildings green by 2030, while a Singapore study shows that a fuel switch from electric storage heaters to gas continuous flow heaters may result in carbon emission reductions of up to 86% at the national level. Head of the Singapore Green Building Council Tan Tian Chong spoke at the Green Cities event in Melbourne.

Singapore only officially set up its Green Building Council late last year and it is committed to speed up the development of ‘green’ buildings in Singapore.

Here’s a report of its founding and action plans:

The new unit, the Singapore Green Building Council, is expected to increase collaboration between the private and public sectors in Singapore and push the building and construction industries towards environmental sustainability.

The council was set up with seed funding from Building and Construction Authority (BCA), but has also raised more than 10 times that amount from its private sector sponsors and members. The council has 141 founding members, including ‘diamond’ sponsors City Developments, CapitaLand and Keppel Land.

It aims to promote green building design as well as green practices and technologies, said its president Lee Chuan Seng.

Targets set out in the Singapore Sustainable Blueprint, which was released earlier this year, call for 80 per cent of all buildings in Singapore to achieve at least the basic Green Mark Certification by 2030. This is expected to reduce energy intensity by more than 30 per cent.

Buildings in Singapore are the second largest users of electricity after the industrial sector

‘The ‘greening’ of buildings will require concerted effort,’ said Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean yesterday. Mr Teo announced the formation of the Singapore Green Building Council at the launch of a green building conference and exhibition.

He added that the government will work in partnership with building owners to raise awareness on the energy efficiency of their buildings, and achieve savings in their electricity bills.

On its part, the Singapore Green Building Council will help lead and co-ordinate the industry’s efforts, in collaboration with the government, to accelerate the development of green buildings and improve energy efficiency in Singapore’s built environment.

It will also tap into an international community of green building experts through the World Green Building Council. The World Council has granted ‘emerging member’ status to the new Singapore Council.

The Green Building Council also aims to become a leader in exploring how tropical countries can embrace sustainable development. Mr Lee told reporters that most of the designs today have been developed for temperate climates.

But for a start, the Council plans to set up a system for certification within the next six to 12 months.

‘One of the things that hold back the development of green buildings in Singapore is that we don’t have certification; we have some green labelling system for products but it is not comprehensive,’ said Mr Lee. ‘So what we are trying to do now is start up some product directory. That will then move into certification.’

Gas Heaters, Clean Energy For a Greener Singapore By Associate Professor Lee Siew Eang

This independent study quantifies the positive effects of using Gas Water Heaters and provides a cost analysis (based on retail price) for reference.

Some of the key findings of the study are as follows:
• The fuel switch from electric storage heaters to gas continuous flow heaters may result in carbon emission reductions of up to 86% at the national level. This is equivalent to 0.5 million tons of carbon emissions annually;
• In terms of energy saving, the study shows that there is a potential savings of up to 64% in energy use with respect to total energy use for hot water generation in Singapore, when all households switch from electric storage heaters to gas continuous flow heaters. This saving translate to 700,000 MWh or S$149 million per year at the national level;
• The estimated carbon emission reduction as stated above is equivalent to the planting of up to 500,000 trees per annum to provide the carbon sink for the absorption of the same amount of carbon; or equivalent to the removal of 72,780 cars from the road;

• At individual level, a switch from electric instantaneous heaters to gas continuous flow heaters may result in savings ranging from 14% to 44% of the total hot water energy use. Similarly, a switch from electric storage heaters to the gas continuous flow heaters may result in a saving of up to 91%, in terms of energy cost, depending on the level of usage and temperature settings.

• A cost study has shown that for new developments, the increase in installation cost for a gas continuous flow heater may be recovered from energy saving within a period of 9 months for a small private apartment, and a maximum of 2.1 years for a large private apartment. For apartments the existing electric storage heaters have been retrofitted to gas continuous flow water heater, the payback period ranges from 1.5 years to 3.2 years for small private apartments and large private apartments respectively.

Source: www.sgbc.sg