How buildings can generate energy & save it at the same time

From 1 – 3 September 2014, the Singapore Green Building Week (SGBW) will play host to international green building experts, policy-makers, academics and built environment practitioners, for a congregation of ideas, collaboration and learning, to achieve a shared vision of a greener planet through the green-building movement. Read More

As a preview for the Singapore International Green Building Conference we introduce one session on Solar PV and solar leasing and a profile on key note speaker and building energy efficiency researcher Stephen Selkowitz.

Solar PV and Solar Leasing

In a workshop session on Solar PV – Technology, Application, and the Economic, Solar Leasing For The Rooftop and Beyond is set out by Samridh Goyal, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Solar Horizon. He will draw attention to the fact that Singapore is at the dawn of its solar horizon.

Solar PV has been identified as the most viable clean energy source for Singapore, given our vast rooftop footprint & ample sunshine. Emerging new models such as ‘Solar Leasing’ enable companies & businesses to adopt solar with no financial or operational risk.

Singapore is leading the regional push towards a “Sustain-Urban” future. BCA’s Green Mark scheme is a renowned certification for any aspiring Green Buildings. Moreover, EDB’s recently announced “SolarNova” program, anticipates up to 350 MW (S$ 700M) of rooftop Solar capacity by 2020 on Government buildings alone.

The high-upfront cost of Solar PV and long-term operational hassle are the main deterrents for Green Building’s to adopt solar energy. The emergence of innovative service providers such as Solar Horizon offering a variety of zero-cost Solar Leasing solutions is helping to de-risk Solar adoption for companies in Singapore and pave the way forward for Singapore as a Solar City.

The presentation provides a detailed overview and breakdown of the challenges, opportunities and benefits of Solar leasing for Green Buildings and integration of Solar PV within Singapore’s urban landscape – for the rooftop and beyond. There is a strong focus on innovative new Solar Leasing models (above and beyond traditional Power Purchase models) that make it easy for businesses to Go Solar.

Other speakers in the session look at Power Purchase Agreements  (the Sports Hub Case Study by Christophe Inglin, Managing Director, Phoenix Solar) and Third Party Solar PV and the Green Building Movement in Singapore by David Fullbrook, Senior Consultant, DNV GL.

More information on the full programme and speakers go to www.sgbw.com.sg

Building towards a ‘zero energy’ future

By Vaidehi Shah in Eco-Business.com (12 August 2014)

In the lead-up to the International Green Building Conference 2014, Eco-Business speaks to leading building energy efficiency researcher Stephen Selkowitz on the challenges of building green in the tropics and the future of zero energy buildings.

Building owners who have saved energy and money by installing glazed windows on their property to keep out the sun’s heat can thank Stephen Selkowitz for developing the coatings that make these savings possible.

Dubbed “the Steve Jobs in the world of energy efficient buildings”, the American researcher on building energy efficiency has spent much of his 36-year long career looking at ways to reduce the energy lost through building envelopes – that is, the windows, walls, and roofs that separate the building interior from the outdoors.

For two decades since the late 1980s, he led a research team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which developed “low-e” or low-emissivity window coatings that reduced the amount of heat that passes through glass.

Selkowitz also helped take the product from the laboratory to market by working closely with governments, architects and contractors. Today, this technology is used in buildings across the world and has saved US$7.7 billion in energy costs to date according to the US National Academy of Scientists.

Selkowitz was also the brains behind the “most advanced building efficiency simulator in the world” – the Facility for Low Energy Experiments (FLEXLab) launched in 2013. This unique facility consists of four testbeds where users can trial energy efficient features such as skylights, window materials and cooling systems on a small scale before implementing them in commercial projects.

For his ground-breaking work, Selkowitz – who leads the Windows and Envelope Materials Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s building technology and urban systems department - received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the laboratory in 2012. He was also given an award of excellence by McGraw Hill Construction’s industry publication, the Engineering News-Record, earlier this year.

Selkowitz will be speaking on sustainability leadership at the opening plenary of the upcoming International Green Building Conference (IGBC), a three-day event organised by Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) which will convene over 1,000 professionals from the sector in the first week of September in the city-state.

In the run-up to IGBC, Selkowitz talks to Eco-Business about the unique challenges that Singapore’s hot and humid climate poses to building energy efficiency, the possibility of a future where zero-energy buildings are the norm, and how energy efficient innovations can make the leap from laboratory to market.

Singapore’s hot and humid environment poses a unique set of challenges in maintaining indoor environments at comfortable levels. What are some technologies and architectural concepts that can help achieve this in the most energy efficient way possible?

There are three major challenges to managing indoor environments in hot, humid climates.

The first is to aggressively control the incident sunlight and diffuse light from the sky so that enough daylight is admitted to offset electric light – but no more, since that would only add to cooling loads. This can be done with proper window design, glass selection and shading controls. The shape and orientation of the overall building, and adjacent landscaping, is also part of this challenge.

The second is to minimize unnecessary internal heat gains since they only make the cooling loads higher.

The third challenge is to address the fact that different parts of a building have different cooling needs, based on different occupancy levels. So cooling systems must not only be energy efficient in terms of cooling hardware, systems design and operational controls, but they should also meet the realistic comfort needs of occupants.

Source: www.eco-business.com