Ever heard of the Zero Energy Building (ZEB) in Singapore? Linking back to the previous post, green buildings are now becoming more popular due to the benefits that it can bring. Moreover, green buildings are essential towards our goal to being a sustainable nation. To achieve, green buildings certification, green energy technology being integrated into buildings to reduce their energy consumption.
ZEB is the first in South-East Asia to be retrofitted from an existing building. The building can achieve this through a mixture of green building technology such as natural ventilation and lighting as well as harnessing green energy such as solar energy (BCA, n.d.). Fully dependent on solar energy, the building was able to save up to S$84,000 annually in energy cost.
The Building Construction Authority defines green energy or known as renewable energy as energy that is derived from natural processes and replenished constantly. Unlike non-renewable sources of energy like fossil fuels, renewable energy does not pollute the environment.
Being a small and resource constrained country, Singapore imports most of our energy needs, increasing our global footprint. To be a sustainable city, the government is exploring various ways to utilise renewable source of energy. There are a plethora of choices of renewable energy to choose from, however as we are not well-endowed with many natural resources we are not able to depend on many renewable energies. As the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) mentioned, commercial winds turbines are not able to be used to generate energy as wind speeds in Singapore is below the ideal wind speed that is required. Moreover, being a port city, much of Singapore’s sea space is used for ports and anchorage hindering tidal energy generation. Additionally, having a high population density and scarce lands limits our opportunity to sustainably grown domestic biomass (NCCS, n.d.).
However, despite all these limitations, one thing that Singapore is blessed with the amount of sunlight that we received. Lying near the equator, we received a high average annual solar irradiation. According to NCCS (n.d.), we received an average solar irradiation of 1,500 kWh per square meter making solar energy one of the renewable source of energy. Albeit this high amount of solar irradiation, the deployment of solar energy is still limited. As mentioned before, Singapore land constraint is a serious issue when dealing with renewable energy. The deployment of solar energy requires the installation of solar energy which requires a large amount of space. Due to space constraint, it is a challenge to maximise solar energy in Singapore. Aside from land constraint, high cloud coverage and urban shading also poses a challenge for us to make use of this green energy (NCCS, n.d.).
Singapore is still young in the clean energy sector as it is trying to develop its renewable source of energy. Currently, it is insufficient for Singapore to reply mainly on solar energy as a reliable source of energy. Nonetheless, the government is aiming to increase solar deployment to around 350MWp of electricity by 2020 (NCCS, n.d.). By 2030, Singapore hopes that solar energy will contribute about 8% of its total energy sources.
As we have limited options for clean and green energy, Singapore government is carrying out intensive research and development (R&D) with various agencies to improve solar energy efficiency as well as other sources of green energy. One prime example will be having the Housing Development Board (HDB) to jump on the bandwagon of green energy. New HDB estates such as the Treelodge in Punggol and future HDB estates such as the Bidadari and Tengah estates are to have solar panels installed at the roof tops to provide electricity to the flats. Besides that, there is also an interagency collaboration between the Public Utility Board (PUB) and the Economic Development Board (EDB). Both the EDB and PUB has collaborated to install floating photovoltaic cells in reservoirs to leverage on the direct sunlight that is shine into the reservoirs (NCCS, n.d.).
As mentioned in my previous blogpost, green energy is an essential component in greening building. As the BCA aims to certify at least 80% of buildings in Singapore, green energy is being utilised such as using the photovoltaic cells. Green energy is clearly a crucial element in green buildings as can be seen in 313 Somerset; solar panels are being installed to supply the green building with green energy.
There is still a long way to go before Singapore can make use of green energy efficiently and effectively. The Economic Development Board (2016) mentioned that Singapore’s government is investing heavily in R&D efforts for Urban Solutions and Sustainability with being $900million set aside for R&D alone in the public sector. R&D efforts are looking promising with our Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) being a leader in crystalline silicon cell research which is an element in solar panels. As the EDB mentioned, Singapore is also a “living lab” as the government is making its urban infrastructure available to both local and foreign companies so that they can develop and test green technology in Singapore.
With the plethora of inputs into the green energy sector, Singapore government is certainly taking a serious outlook on the green industry as Singapore tries to commit to its goal towards cutting its global carbon footprint.
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Resources:
Zero Energy Building. Building Construction Authority (BCA). Retrieved 7 September 2016, from https://www.bca.gov.sg/zeb/whatiszeb.html
National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) – Singapore’s Approach to Alternative Energy. (2016). Nccs.gov.sg. Retrieved from https://www.nccs.gov.sg/climate-change-and-singapore/national-circumstances/singapores-approach-alternative-energy
Building Planning & Massing. (2010) (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.bca.gov.sg/greenmark/others/bldgplanningmassing.pdf
The Green Fight - Green Building & Green Energy in Singapore 