Greening Manufacturing Sector and Public Housing Energy Test-Bed

Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and
Water Resources Dr Vivan Balakrishnan launched a new training programme to
green the Republic’s manufacturing sector. The new initiative would help spread
critical knowledge to a large number of professionals within the sector and is
jointly developed by the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMa) and the
Workforce Development Agency (WDA). Businesses will be elegible for a 400 per
cent tax deduction on training costs under the government’s Productivity and
Innovation Credit scheme. Meanwhile, Panasonic and the government of Singapore are
working to create Asia’s first public-housing test bed for technology designed
to provide total energy solutions and, ultimately, link to a smart grid.

Published : Friday, August 12th, 2011

By : Jenny Marusiak

In eco-business.com

Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and
Water Resources Dr Vivan Balakrishnan has launched a new training programme to
green the Republic’s manufacturing sector.

Speaking at the annual Singapore
Environmental Achievement Awards (SEAA), where five local organisations were
commended for their efforts in sustainability, Dr Balakrishnan said the new
initiative would help spread critical knowledge to a large number of professionals
within the sector.

The scheme is jointly developed by the
Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMa) and the Workforce Development Agency
(WDA). Businesses will be elegible for a 400 per cent tax deduction on training
costs under the government’s Productivity and Innovation Credit scheme.

SMa said the new three unit programme,
‘Implement Sustainable Manufacturing’, will help managers evaluate and improve
the sustainability of their operations and supply chains, as part of a series
of courses on manufacturing. The course will be offered by the end of this year
and is expected to involve about 200 professionals over two years.

SMa president George Huang said the
federation is offering the training courses to encourage its 2,800 members to
improve productivity and reduce their environmental footprint at the same time.

“We hope our lead will inspire our members
and others to do more for the environmental cause,” he added.

Mr Huang noted that being ISO certified (by
the International Standards Organization) is now a basic requirement in the
international manufacturing arena, and that overseas buyers wanted to see that
environmental policies are in place. “Being green will be a requirement,” he
said.

Last month, SMa and WDA celebrated the
achievements of the Certified Productivity and Innovation (CPI) programme, a
project-led coaching initiative based on the globally recognised Lean
Manufacturing and Six Sigma operating standards. The average productivity
increase for the ten companies participating in the scheme was 15 per cent over
six months. The CPI scheme now has 35 members and is well on its way to its
target of 50 members over two years.

The success of the CPI scheme led to the
introduction of a scaled-down version targeted at small and medium –sized
enterprises (SMEs), called SME Qiang or “SME Quality Initiative to Assist and
Nurture Growth” programme.

SMa’s secretary-general Gwee Seng Kwong told
Eco-Business that the SMa/WDA formula for training, coaching and implementation
of better management practices was proving extremely successful and that chief
executives and other high level managers were active participants. He added
that based on positive feedback from clients, SMa has raised its targeted
number of participants in the Qiang programme from 200 to 500.

“Our challenge is to educate SMEs to embrace
the notion of going green, because it’s no longer a luxury. It’s survival now,”
said Mr Gwee.

Singapore’s manufacturing sector has slightly
more than 8,100 companies, 90 per cent of which are SMEs.

One of Singapore’s leading SMEs on
sustainability issues is GreenPac, a homegrown company that provides
environmentally-friendly packaging to industries world-wide. GreenPac won
yesterday’s SEAA Top Achiever award for the manufacturing sector.

Dr Balakrishnan said at the awards, held at
the Shangri-la hotel, that companies would face increasing resource constraints
in the near future and that businesses that differentiate themselves through
sustainable management would have a competitive advantage over those that do
not.

He also commended the other winners,
including Temasek Polytechnic (TP), which won the Top Achiever award for its
contributions within the services sector.

TP’s 30 hectare campus serves as a model for green buildings and boasts sustainability features such as rainwater harvesting, an in-house energy management system, a certified-green data centre, and the use of recycled water for its cooling towers and irrigation. The institution also supports clean energy research and development (R&D) through a partnership with Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB). Through its conservation measures, TP has saved about S$1.7 million on energy costs and S$105,000 on water costs annually.

Mr Lee Peng Hon, acting executive director of
SEC, said in a statement, “It is encouraging to observe how Temasek Polytechnic
and Greenpac have successfully demonstrated the adoption of environmental
sustainability with their core businesses. These SEAA Top Achievers are also
making a difference by driving the adoption of environmental sustainability to
global and local communities.”

Singapore technology firm HydroBall Technics
won the SEC-Senoko Energy Green Innovation Award for the HydroBall System, an
internationally patented automated cleaning system for air-conditioning tubes
in commercial and industrial buildings. Merit awards were presented to power
plant operator PowerSeraya and to international technology firm Seagate.

The awards were hosted by the Singapore
Environment Council (SEC), SMa and Singapore energy company Senoko Energy, with
additional support from the National Environment Agency, national water agency
PUB and WDA.

Mr Lee told Eco-Business the awards are first
and foremost meant to reward leadership, but also innovation, performance and
system and management. This year the awards have expanded to reward companies
who show high levels of transparency and sustainability reporting, he added.

It’s not just simply saving electricity and
water, said Mr Lee: “To help a company enhance itself we look at changing the
mindset and implanting sustainability into the management system.”

Source: www.eco-business.com

Panasonic to Run Asia’s First Green Home
Energy Project

By Leslie Guevarra

Published August 11, 2011Green Biz

Panasonic and the government of Singapore are
working to create Asia’s first public-housing test bed for technology designed
to provide total energy solutions and, ultimately, link to a smart grid.

The plan involves a block of public housing
units in Punggol Eco-Town. Singapore wants to transform the former fishing and
farming village into the country’s first green community, and last year it
began remaking the town as a living laboratory for green technology.

In Singapore, public housing is open to the
middle class, and more than 80 percent of residents live in
government-developed housing. A pilot in such an environment is expected to
provide a good example of how effective sweeping energy-saving systems would be
among the general public.

Panasonic is providing the technology for the
project, which is expected to be one of several — involving a variety of
companies — that will seek to address better management of energy and water
use, pollution and carbon emissions, as well as the evolution of a smarter grid,
transportation and buildings — a scenario that illustrates the concept of
VERGE.

The total energy solutions pilot, which is
scheduled to be underway by year’s end and conclude in 2013, will feature
solar, storage and efficiency systems from Panasonic including:

•Solar
Power: Rooftop photovoltaic panels are to power building services like
elevators, lighting and water pumps. The goal is to bring the commonly operated
areas as close to zero emissions as possible.

•Energy Storage: Lithium-ion batteries will
enable energy from the solar power system to be stored for use at night.

• Smart Meters, Monitoring and Demand
Response: By connecting government-owned smart meters to Panasonic’s Home
Energy Management System and its Smart Energy Gateway, residents will have an
in-home tool to help them reduce energy use and ease their draw on the power
grid during times of peak demand.

Panasonic’s President Fumio Ohtsubo and other
executives outlined the plan earlier this month. Here is a video clip of their
presentation:

Panasonic’s push into home energy management
comes as IT giants Google, Microsoft and Cisco are backing away from the
market. The move is the latest effort by Panasonic in a campaign to become the
top green innovator in electronics by 2018, when the company celebrates its
100th anniversary.

Source: www.greenbiz.com