Chiller Optimisation Helps Philips Win Green Mark Platinum

Philips Lumileds Singapore is the first manufacturing plant in Singapore to be awarded the Green Mark Platinum by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) for Existing Buildings. The Chiller plant optimisation, under taken by Barghest Building Performance (BBP), achieved a 27% improvement in the plant’s efficiency. A comprehensive lighting replacement project, installing the latest generation of LED lighting, is expected to achieve overall 40% efficiency. Read More

Media release (19 January 2015):

Energy Efficiency Efforts Win Green Mark Platinum for Lumileds Singapore

Philips Lumileds Singapore is the first manufacturing plant in Singapore to be awarded the Green Mark Platinum by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) for Existing Buildings.

Four key areas that contributed most to achieving the Green Mark Platinum award were:

•             The Chiller plant underwent optimisation to achieve an average plant efficiency of 0.64 kW/RT (indicating the amount of power required to produce a unit of cooling)

•             Extensive use of LED throughout the building, leading to an improvement in lighting power budget compared with Singapore Standards Code of Practice

•             Extensive water recycling efforts leading to huge water savings and achieving Pub’s Water Efficient Building (Gold) certification

•             Encouraging sustainable operation and management through recycling efforts as well as educational and awareness programmes involving employees, contractors and vendors

The achievement is a worthy recognition for all involved parties, according to Mr James Day, Manufacturing Director of Lumileds Singapore.

“Philips Lumileds Singapore is very proud and honoured to be the first manufacturing plant in Singapore to receive the Green Mark Platinum award from BCA.  It is a wonderful feeling to know that we are making such a positive impact on the environment”, Mr Day said.

Tang Wai Meng, Facilities Director at Philips Lumileds Singapore, said that while a key goal for the company was to improve the overall operational efficiency and in particular address the air conditioning chiller plant efficiency, it had to be done without disruption to the 24 hour functioning of the LED production factory and desirably without involving any major equipment replacement. This was a major challenge considering that the current chiller plant is 14 years old.

“We were happy to complete our energy efficiency exercise without any replacement of equipment or operational disruption, achieving a 27% improvement in the chiller plant’s efficiency, which resulted in significant savings in energy and costs”, Mr. Tang said.

Projected chiller plant room energy savings amounted to 3,510,562 kWh or in monetary terms, S$702,112 in energy costs for a year.

The optimisation solution supplied and installed by Barghest Building Performance (BBP) involved introducing minute level adjustment of pumps and cooling tower fans to deliver the needed cooling in the most energy efficient manner. It also involved introducing meters and instrumentation in line with BCA Green Mark requirement for effective measurement and verification. The newly installed system also includes features of remote monitoring, auto reporting and alarms for improved day to day operation.

In order to ensure sustained savings over time, Philips Lumileds Singapore entered into a long term performance contract with BBP. The performance contract avoided any upfront cost to Philips Lumileds, with BBP being only paid upon showing measurable performance improvements. Verification of efficiency improvement is done on a monthly basis by independent third party, DNV GL through the DNV GL Clean Technology Centre in Singapore.

In addition to the chiller efficiency improvements, Philips Lumileds also looked at other energy efficiency opportunities, and being in the LED business, lighting was an obvious area to look at.

A comprehensive lighting replacement project, which focused on installing the latest generation of LED lighting, was launched. The improvement in lighting power budget compared with code is expected to reach 40%.

Although the Green Mark Platinum award is a milestone for Philips Lumileds Singapore plant, the site team is continuing their ongoing efforts of improving operations and reducing environmental impact.  It is continuing its programme started three years ago to reduce energy intensity, reduce water usage and increase environmental awareness of all stakeholders.

The next planned project is to get BBP to undertake an evaluation of the plant and office Air Handling Unit (AHU) system with the goal of optimisation to reduce energy consumption.

These efforts are in line with the focus of the BCA  Green Building Master plans, which is to accelerate the ‘greening’ of existing buildings and further engagement with building occupants to bring Singapore closer to achieving the target of  ‘greening’ 80 percent of all buildings by 2030.

Mr Ang Kian Seng, Group Director, Technology Development, BCA said, “beyond focusing on the building infrastructure, we also want to get building owners, facility managers, tenants and occupants to play a bigger role in the green building movement.

“Achieving a sustainable built environment is a collaborative effort that requires commitment across the value chain, from policy makers, to developers, right down to the end-users. As such, there will be a greater emphasis on engaging and enabling stakeholder communities so that we can champion change together.”

About Barghest Building Performance

Barghest Building Performance (BBP) offers energy conservation solutions that help buildings operate their existing equipment optimally and thereby achieve long term measureable and sustainable energy saving. BBP provides solutions without upfront cost to clients and is paid through the savings achieved over the long term. Besides a primary focus on air conditioning systems, BBP offers a range of other energy efficiency related services including support in Green Mark Certification process. BBP team members have been involved in numerous energy efficiency projects, helping clients reach their Energy Efficiency and Green Mark Certification goals. Visit www.bbp.sg for more information.

Written by Ken Hickson for Barghest Building Performance (BBP) and issued by Sustain Ability Showcase Asia (SASA) with the approval of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and Philips Lumileds Singapore.