This study will look into the energy use of a densely-populated, compact town in Singapore and assess the technical feasibility, cost-effectiveness and commercial viability of different technologies for energy reduction in Singapore. A key objective of the study is to propose systems-wide solutions that go beyond energy-efficiency measures that operate only at the individual equipment level. This can be done through better systems integration across the residential, buildings, transport and info-communication sectors.

The study, which will take about a year to complete, is important as cities already house more than half the world’s population and consume more than half the energy produced in the world. Cities such as London and Munich have also conducted similar studies.

Commitment to resource efficiency

Singapore stood out in the 2011 Asian Green City Index study for its environmental targets and its efficient approach to achieving them. In the Singapore Sustainable Blueprint , Singapore has committed to reducing our energy intensity by 35%, by 2030. To meet our energy efficiency target, the E2PO agencies have been introducing a series of energy efficiency programmes and efforts. For example, the Energy Efficiency National Partnership programme was introduced in April 2010. It seeks to support industrial efforts in energy efficiency through workshops and conferences and the provision of energy efficiency-related incentives, recognition and resources, such as energy efficiency benchmarking studies for industry.

Leveraging technology to enhance energy efficiency

This study with Siemens will help Singapore meet the energy efficiency target by giving a better assessment of the energy reduction potential of towns and trials on a wider scale in the long run. Technologies identified in this project will be assessed by the E2PO agencies for future trials and wider deployment in Singapore.

Mr Andrew Tan, CEO of NEA said, “This study is part of our efforts to promote a more energy efficient Singapore. By assessing our energy consumption patterns for residential and commercial buildings, transportation and infocomm services for existing towns such as Tampines, we can optimise energy reduction across different sectors and systems. We hope that the results of this town-level study will provide us with new insights of the possible technology solutions that are scaleable, practical and replicable, not only for Singapore but other cities with existing infrastructure.”

Mr Lothar Herrmann, CEO of Siemens Asean-Pacific, added, “The study presents a great opportunity for Siemens-NEA to work together to unveil measures to reduce energy consumption in Singapore in the near future. Our broad offering of sustainable city solutions, and experiences in working on the Green City Index, a series of studies that examines cities’ environmental performance, provides us with the necessary expertise to work on this study holistically.”

“We are pleased that Siemens, a world leader in sustainability solutions, is using Singapore as a global demonstration site, leveraging Siemens’ full suite of energy modelling and technological capabilities”, added Mr Goh Chee Kiong, Director Of Building & Infrastructure Solutions and Cleantech from the Singapore Economic Development Board. “This project is well aligned with Singapore’s intent to be a ‘living lab’, where companies can develop, test and commercialise green solutions in a real life environment, in partnership with our government agencies.”

Source and Image: NEA

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Singapore, 20 April 2012 – Members of the public will now be able to better monitor their energy consumption and adjust their usage to save energy and money. The National Environment Agency (NEA) has developed two new mobile applications (apps) – “NEA Energy Audit” and “Life Cycle Cost Calculator” – to help the public track energy consumption and calculate the overall energy costs over an appliance’s lifespan. In addition, an Android version of NEA’s popular “myENV” has also been released.

These new apps were launched at today’s Youth for the Environment Day at Dunman High School, graced by Guest of Honour – Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.

These efforts aim to use technology to enhance NEA’s public outreach by sharing environmental information on mobile and social media platforms. By leveraging technology to keep the public informed, they can be empowered to practise good environmental habits. For instance, the new energy efficiency apps will help people save on energy consumption and money. Members of the public can also contribute positively to the environment by reducing energy usage, thereby helping to mitigate climate change.

App Solutions To Save Energy

Households can play their part to reduce greenhouse gases and fight climate change when they conserve energy. The “NEA Energy Audit” mobile app allows households to find out which appliances are the top energy users at home and estimate the monthly energy costs incurred by each appliance. Households buying new energy-intensive appliances such as air-conditioners, refrigerators and clothes dryers can also use the “Life Cycle Cost Calculator” app, also developed by NEA, to estimate the overall costs that different models are likely to incur over the appliance lifespan. Tracking such overall costs is important as the energy costs incurred can be many times of its purchase price (See Annexes A & B for details and screenshots).

“myENV” Android Version

Together with the new energy efficiency apps, an Android version of NEA’s popular myENV has also been released. Rolled out in July 2011, NEA’s myENV iPhone application has generated about 68,000 downloads thus far. Users are able to obtain updates on air quality, weather information, as well as dengue clusters. They can also provide feedback to NEA on any environmental lapses.

Android users can now download “myENV” from the Android market and receive these latest environmental news updates and information for free.

The “NEA Energy Audit” and “Life Cycle Cost Calculator” are currently available on iPhone, and can be downloaded from the App Store for free. In the future, the applications may be extended to other platforms such as Android and iPad.

Members of the public are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions on the applications by emailing nea_contact@nea.gov.sg, or calling 1800-225-5632.

Source: NEA

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Singapore now has a new Energy Conservation Bill, which aims to introduce mandatory energy management practices for large energy users in the industry and transport sectors.

The Bill also consolidates laws on energy efficiency under one Act.

The Energy Conservation Act will be jointly administered by the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources and the Transport Ministry.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishan, will oversee the measures for the industry and household sectors while the Minister for Transport, Lui Tuck Yew, will oversee the transport sector measures under the Act.

Moving the Bill in Parliament on Monday was Dr Balakrishnan.

He told the House that Singapore imports all its energy needs to fuel the economy.

He said: “The more we grow, the more we need to think of conserving energy and using it efficiently. Otherwise, we will pursue an ultimately unsustainable growth path. Today, countries face a stark choice – to compete aggressively for finite resources – this is not a viable option for a small city state with no natural resources like ours – or to advance towards a more energy efficient economy and more sustainable pathways to prosperity.”

He stressed that for Singapore to continue being prosperous and secure, it must learn how to get more power, mobility, lighting, heating and cooling from less energy.

The key is to minimise wastage by focusing the minds of corporations and citizens on building and achieving breakthroughs in energy efficiency through more rigorous energy management practices.

Dr Balakrishnan stressed that this has to be a national effort.

Hence, Singapore’s efforts on improving energy efficiency have been focused on raising awareness, building capabilities and incentivising the adoption of energy efficiency practices.

From next year, the Act will require that all large energy users in the industry and transport sectors that consume more than 15 gigawatt-hours of energy equivalent each year have to appoint an energy manager.

They will also have to monitor and report energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and submit energy efficiency improvement plans.

Dr Balakrishnan said: “Large energy users in the industry and transport sectors were consulted by MEWR, MOT, NEA (National Environment Agency) and EDB (Economic Development Board) on the energy management practices to be mandated.

“In December 2011, the draft EC (Energy Conservation) Bill was released for consultation and subsequently revised to incorporate feedback received. MEWR and MOT, together with our statutory boards, will continue to engage stakeholders on the implementation details of the Bill.”

The Bill also consolidates several existing standards.

These include the Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) and Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for household appliances, and the Fuel Economy Labelling Scheme (FELS) for passenger cars and light goods vehicles under the Environmental Protection and Management Act (EPMA).

Meanwhile, eight MPs spoke in support of the Energy Conservation Bill, including opposition and nominated members.

Several had proposals on how to move Singapore towards the goal of being more energy efficient.

The Workers’ Party suggested a greater shift towards use of renewable energy sources.

Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore’s land scarcity and lack of natural resources mean it is an alternative energy-disadvantaged country.

So setting targets for renewable sources would be unrealistic.

Other suggestions made to push companies towards eco-friendliness include help to develop their expertise in this area, rebates for eco-minded firms and also tiered-tariffs so higher energy users pay more for electricity.

Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Environment and MP for Nee Soon GRC, said: “To facilitate this transition, I would like to call on the government to adopt a humane perspective in allowing companies to coherently infuse into such a framework by providing the relevant assistance and support.

“This could be in the form of guidance and advice on management practices as well as providing grants for the expected costs some of these companies may incur in its journey towards realising an efficient energy-management culture.”

Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam said: “I suggested two tax rebates actually, for companies which achieve their energy-efficiency targets as well as those that attain the energy-efficiency certification that they will be assessed under. So, even though the tiered tariffs might result in some high energy users paying a bit more for their energy, this could be actually returned to the companies through the tax rebates.

“And in fact the tiered energy tariffs that will be imposed on the higher energy users could serve as a further incentive for them to reduce their overall bill, which actually would benefit them overall, economically.”

Dr Balakrishnan said: “If I take your proposal to add another levy on top of the market price, it is a real burden on our industry sector. And if you say, well, let’s just only target the big consumers, then you can start playing games by having a big company decide it has got multiple subsidiary units and qualifying for the low rate.

“All these are regulatory games, which I believe are counter-productive. The key point is that you have the right pricing for energy, it makes sense for everybody to save energy.”

Source: Channel NewsAsia

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Singapore families are dismal when it comes to recycling and using energy efficiently, so much so that the Environment and Water Resources Ministry is seeking the help of experts to change their habits.

Consultants are being asked to carry out two studies to find out why people do not do what they should and set out an effective communication strategy to coax them to change their ways. One is on recycling, and the other, energy efficiency.

These studies to bring about behavioural change are a first by the ministry, and in line with its goals to manage waste sustainably and reduce carbon emissions per dollar of gross domestic product.

The tenders for both projects closed earlier this week. The ministry said the studies must be completed within four months of the contracts being signed. It declined to give further details.

Five companies are bidding for both projects, while one company is eyeing only the recycling study.

Tender documents obtained by The Straits Times stipulate that both studies have to carry out a face-to-face survey of a representative sample of 2,500 people from the five community development councils.

The surveys will help pinpoint the specific behaviour to adopt, identify the best group of residents to target for change, as well as set outand monitor a communication strategy to encourage them to pursue the desired behaviour more often.

Each study also has to probe beyond the commonplace explanations of why people do not do the right thing, ‘by looking beyond notions of laziness and inconvenience’, said the tender.

The recycling study has to focus on the recycling of glass, plastic and paper in households, it added.

These items account for 53 per cent of domestic waste each year, falling far short of their potential to be recycled.

For instance, up to 90 per cent of paper tossed out by households could have been recycled, but only 52 per cent is. Such recycling is crucial as Singapore has limited space for landfills. For instance, the landfill island of Semakau, which takes in ash from waste incineration, is expected to meet the country’s needs only till 2045.

Also, the recycling rate for all waste has some way to go to meet the target set in the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint. The goal is for a rate of 65 per cent by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2030.

But last year, it was 59 per cent. Worse, in categories like plastics, it was a mere 11 per cent, and for glass, 29 per cent.

As for energy efficiency, the study is targeting the use of air-conditioning at home as it accounts for 30 per cent of a household’s energy use.

In all, households account for about one-fifth of Singapore’s energy consumption.

The ministry’s latest move further bolsters existing measures to coax Singaporeans to ‘go green’.

It is a good effort, said Professor Ho Teck Hua, head of the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Behavioural Economics.

‘But it can’t be a campaign for everybody,’ he added. ‘Maybe you’ll need multiple campaigns.’

For instance, Housing Board dwellers are more likely to respond to high electricity prices by cutting their electricity use than people living in private property, he said.

Prof Ho also suggested that manufacturers of air-conditioners add a default button on the remote controls to make it easy to set the machines to run at an efficient 25 deg C.

Waste management company Veolia Environmental Services gives residents points for recycling that they can exchange for coupons to make purchases at retailers like Home-Fix.

Since the scheme was introduced last July, the amount of recyclables collected in the Pasir Ris-Tampines and Tanglin-Bukit Merah sectors has risen from 210 tonnes to 524 tonnes a month.

Source: The Straits Times

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New commuter facilities such as overhead bridges, pedestrian underpasses and taxi stands will soon come with ‘green’ features to conserve energy.

LED lighting will also be installed at existing overhead bridges and other facilities whose fluorescent lights need replacing.

This announcement was made yesterday by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), which added that since February, it had installed LED lights and intelligent lighting detection systems at 50 overhead bridges islandwide.

Among them are one along Still Road South near Tao Nan School, and another near Block 233 in Boundary Road.

According to the LTA, using LED lights at these bridges reduces their monthly energy consumption by up to 50 per cent, compared to the energy used by fluorescent lights.

The total energy saved in a year by using LED lights at those 50 bridges is equal to the energy consumption of 18 households living in five-room Housing Board (HDB) flats, an LTA spokesman said.

In an intelligent lighting detection system, sensors located along the staircase of each bridge will detect when a pedestrian passes by and automatically switch on the lights. Lights go off after 10 minutes if no one passes by.

On average, there are 40 lights on an overhead bridge and 70 per cent of these will be switched off in this system.

The LTA said it would progressively implement this lighting detection system on new overhead bridges in Singapore, reducing energy consumption at each bridge by up to 15 per cent.

Though some lights on the bridges will be switched off between midnight and 7am, the LTA said the new system would be safe for pedestrians.

Lights at the overhead bridges’ entrances and staircases will remain switched on for security reasons.

The LTA spokesman added that these new features were a ‘feasible and cost-effective’ way to save energy.

Moving forward, LTA said it would outfit new facilities such as overhead bridges, pedestrian underpasses, linkways, bus shelters and taxi stands with LED lights.

Adjunct Professor Chong Chee Leong of the School of Science and Technology at SIM University said LED lights not only reduce energy consumption but are also functional and cost efficient.

He said: ‘Coupled with today’s emerging environmental awareness, where there is a growing demand for efficient energy lighting, expanding the use of LED lights is a step in the right direction.’

A separate trial to determine the feasibility of implementing LED street lamps in the road network is ongoing.

LED lights are already being installed in several housing estates.

Last year, 10 town councils embarked on a project to replace some 340,000 fluorescent lights in corridors and staircases.

Source: The Straits Times

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Thousands geared up in Singapore on Saturday to mark the global environment initiative Earth Hour, organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature.

More than 370 organisations have pledged to take part in efforts to save the planet.

Royal Plaza on Scotts started its celebrations with the lighting up of soy candles.

Then it’s lights out at Orchard Road, where non-essential lights in buildings were switched off for at least an hour from 8.30pm.

Meanwhile, ION Orchard decided it will go dark for 10 hours.

Minister for Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said: “This shows the power of an idea, an idea that our world is precious. Each and every single one of us can make a difference and collectively, we can make a big difference. The world as we know is under stress and under challenge. We will have to do our bit to make sure that our children, our grandchildren will inherit a world that’s worth preserving and looking after because it’s precious.”

Into its fourth year, celebrations for this year’s Earth Hour will expand beyond the main event in Orchard Road.

The movement, which aims to promote Earth-friendly practices, will also be marked by festivities at West Coast and Marina Bay.

Source: Channel NewsAsia

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It may last only an hour, but the significance of Earth Hour should endure.

At 8.30 pm, darkness will sweep over the Singapore skyline as facades and billboard lights alike are snuffed out. This has been an annual affair since Singapore’s first Earth Hour in 2009.

The lights-out kickstarts a flurry of activities from a human formation at Ngee Ann City to a live ‘junkyard’ percussion performance at 313@Somerset and movie screenings for foreign workers by Keppel Group.

Dining in the dark will be the night’s special for Resorts World Sentosa and Park Regis Hotel, while Four Seasons Hotel and Rasa Sentosa Resort are promoting menus or recipes that use energy-efficient cooking methods or natural ingredients.

More than 300 corporate organisations will be part of this year’s Earth Hour, the largest thus far. ‘There is truly a lot of buzz about Earth Hour,’ said Tan Yi Han, a senior volunteer for ECO Singapore. Online, terms such as ‘earth hour 2012′and ‘environmental pollution’ were searched 40 times more frequently on Yahoo! in the lead-up to March 31.

However, the cornucopia of events is a cause for concern for some. ‘The activities in Singapore are too piecemeal,’ said Jenny Marusiak, deputy editor of news portal Eco-Business.com. ‘This year’s I Will If You Will campaign was a great chance to pull people together around the environmental cause, but we (only) saw commendable but isolated efforts from individual businesses and groups,’ she commented, referring to this year’s theme which encourages people to undertake environmentally friendly practices by offering incentives in return.

Almost all companies participating in Earth Hour this year are engaged in the hallmark lights-off activity, but fewer have customised activities in line with the campaign premise, choosing to host more generic events instead.

Still, some have proven themselves game for this year’s theme. The few that have include Phillips Lighting Singapore – pledging to donate $100,000 worth of LED bulbs if 100,000 households make the switch to a least one LED lighting solution. Carrefour plans to donate up to $10,000 if customers purchase an eco-bag at $1 each. The Royal Plaza on Scotts introduced a philanthropic dimension, pledging to donate sales proceeds from its eco-friendly soya candles to the APSN Centre for Adults upon support from at least 500 hotel guests.

I Will If You Will is set to be a mainstay. Said Diana Chng, communications manager for organiser World Wildlife Fund: ‘Over the next three years, we will be executing the IWIYW theme to further engage individuals, businesses, governments and agencies.’

There is also the perennial question of what happens after the lights flick back on. ‘What’s lacking in these activities is a sense of continuity and doing things on a more frequent basis,’ said Jose Raymond, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council. This desire is echoed by the organisers. ‘It is not a numbers game. Our aspiration from the beginning was to go far beyond the hour itself,’ says Ms Chng.

Encouragingly, the green cause is spreading across corporate calendars. CapitaLand is launching a Wear Less Day on every first Friday of the month, during which employees will dress down in turned-up air-conditioning. Others intend to use festive dates as green platforms, with The Singapore Cruise Centre hosting a Save the Shark road show during Chinese New Year, and City Square Mall organising an event where shoppers transform mailers into hanging Christmas tree ornaments.

Some businesses have risen to the call for meaningful and sustained CSR efforts. Said Fiona Yeo, marketing executive for Body Shop Singapore: ‘We have consistently avoided excessive packaging for our products. Only 3 per cent of our entire inventory has secondary packaging, mostly due to regulatory reasons.’

Shangri-La Resorts and Hotels has also announced plans to phase out bluefin tuna and Chilean seabass as part of its sustainable seafood policy.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Asia Square has an in-house biodiesel generation plant which recycles waste cooking oil from F&B tenants, a first in Singapore, according to project director Mark Rada.

‘Responsible businesses are not just profitable . . . they measure and contribute to positive environmental and social impacts,’ noted Thomas Thomas, executive director of the Singapore Compact for CSR.

Source: The Business Times via Wildsingapore

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Singapore will be observing Earth Hour for the fourth time on Saturday, March 31st but students from 18 months to 18 years, are doing their bid for the environment beyond just 60 minutes.

Since Earth Hour was first observed in Singapore in 2009, the San Lorenzo Montessori school has made it a point to switch off school lights for an hour in two separate sessions.

Though just toddlers, the children are taught the significance of Earth Hour and environmental conservation before the lights go off on Friday.

“We teach the kids about topics like the solar system as part of our curriculum. So with Earth Hour, we teach them its significance and how they can play their part,” said Ms Audrey Cho, principal of the Montessori.

The school believes that the effort not only gels smoothly with the school’s curriculum, which puts a focus on environmental education, but also serves as a momentum for change.

“If you teach the kids only ABC, you’ll miss lots of opportunities. According to studies, 80% of personality traits are formed from 0 to 6 years of age. It’s the perfect stage to introduce environmental values” said Ms Cho.

“As for Earth Hour, I’ve seen the kids getting excited. Their enthusiasm can rub off onto their parents and influence their parents to participate in such activities,” she added.

Change led by the young is most apparent in Yangzheng Primary School, where the school has been switching off the lights and fans every month for 10 minutes since last year.

The initiative was the result of the Student Suggestion Scheme, revealed teacher Ms Celestia Chew.

“The students are so enthusiastic that they will always count down to Earth Hour. They are so eager that they will remind me to switch off the lights” said Ms Chew who’s also known as the ‘Green’ teacher for her role as the school’s environmental coordinator.

Going beyond the school walls, the teenaged student leaders of Nan Hua High have joined hands with the West Coast Grassroots Organizations (GROs) to organise an Earth Hour event for residents in Clementi.

“The residents will be treated with performances by the students from choir, dance and other co-curricular activities (CCAs). During the lights off, we will conduct a night walk and everyone will make a formation of 60+ thereafter,” said Mr Chia Yew Loon, Head of Community Relations Department.

Nan Hua High is expecting 1000 residents to turn up to the event, and have been making preparations since last February.

“By allowing them to organize activities, they’ll gain experience and learn from there,” said Mr Chia.

At Yishun Junior College (YJC), a group of student leaders known as Environmental Ambassadors take the initiative to lead the institution in environmental practices with regular assembly talks centering on Earth Hour and gathering pledges to preserve the environment.

Besides these one-off initiatives, the Environmental Ambassadors also make sure they walk the talk, by organizing Project RUSCO, a collaboration with Alpha Biofuel that started in 2010 to recycle used cooking oil.

In 2011, Project RUSCO surpassed expectations by collecting an estimated 30kg of oil, with half that amount being converted into biodiesel to fuel green vehicles.

The students also conduct environmental talks in schools around the region while also taking the conservation message to residents and hawkers.

“We are leaving it up to the students, so there’s more student ownership” said Mr Chua Chee Siang of YJC’s Science department.

“We don’t want them to just participate, but to take the lead to change the environment and influence the society”.

With young Singaporeans leading environmental initiatives, it appears that the message of Earth Hour can burn bright even after 60 minutes in the dark.

Source: Channel NewsAsia

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Millions of people across the world are expected to switch off their lights for this year’s Earth Hour on Saturday, but are they in it for the long run, or just for the night?

It is estimated lighting accounts for roughly 19 per cent of energy used globally, and some industry players say consumers and companies can bring that number down substantially by using energy efficient lighting solutions.

At this year’s Earth Hour in Singapore, some 300 corporate organisations have committed to switching off to save energy.

That is a 50 per cent increase from last year.

The World Wildlife Fund said it has been approached by companies which are keen to do more.

WWF Singapore CEO Elaine Tan said: “For WWF Singapore, we have been doing Earth Hour for last four years.

“I think corporate partnership and participation has been increasing in terms of the involvement in terms of their response.

“I think, for quite a number of the companies, first and foremost, they want to be able to educate the employees, so WWF comes in to partner them and come up with a green office manual to see as a staff, how you can come in and engage in energy saving measures or steps.”

Other than switching off for Earth Hour, it appears more companies worldwide are switching to more sustainable forms of lighting solution on a permanent basis.

Lighting provider Philips said sales of “green lighting” now account for 60 per cent of turnover.

Asia Commercial Lighting Royal Philips senior vice-president and general manager Olivier Piccolin said: “For sure, yes, we are targeting to see towards 100 per cent of our lighting sales to be energy efficient.

“We see also, the sales of LED increasing in a spectacular way — and we see by 2015 about 45 to 50 per cent of the market will be LED (globally).”

For Singapore-listed property developer CapitaLand, other than taking part in this year’s Earth Hour, it is thinking long term and has aggressive targets for energy reduction in its buildings.

CapitaLand said it goes beyond Earth Hour with year-round initiatives such as “wear less days”, requiring staff in warm-climate countries to dress light, so the company can turn up the air-conditioning and cut energy usage.

CapitaLand Green Committee chairman Francis Wong Hooe Wai said: “We set group targets for energy and water saving whereby in 2015, we should have saved 15 per cent annually from the 2008 level.

“So then this… cascades down to each property, so each property will have its own water and energy saving target.”

CapitaLand added that since 2007, all its new and retrofitted projects have to be green-rated.

Source: Channel NewsAsia

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Singapore’s newest Create research centre will study ways to slash the carbon footprint left by companies refining petroleum and making petroleum-based chemicals.

It hopes that these solutions will be taken up by energy and chemical firms based here.

The Cambridge Centre for Carbon Reduction in Chemical Technology has received approval and funding from the National Research Foundation, the foundation said in a release yesterday.

The centre is a collaboration between the University of Cambridge, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS). It is part of the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (Create) programme, which invites top international research universities to set up research centres here in collaboration with Singapore universities.

The centre – which is expected to open early next year with space at the Create campus at NUS, and laboratory space at NUS and NTU – has funding for five years.

Singapore’s high-quality academic environment and its high density of energy and chemical firms on Jurong Island offer ample opportunities for research, explained Professor Lynn Gladden, pro-vice-chancellor for research at the University of Cambridge, who is in Singapore this week.

The energy and chemical industry here plays an enormous role in the economy: In 2008, it contributed 38.6 per cent of overall manufacturing output, and $4.9 billion in value-added. Key components of everything from petrol to plastics are produced on Jurong Island.

But the chemical industry is also a major producer of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. In 2008, it accounted for 22 per cent of total industrial energy consumption worldwide.

While they did not give precise figures, Cambridge scientists reckon that if successful research is implemented, it could help Jurong Island’s chemical industries – and by extension, Singapore – slash their carbon footprint significantly.

Asked why the centre would work to boost efficiency rather than look for fossil-fuel alternatives, Prof Gladden said: ‘The bottom line is that refining as we know it today is going to be around for many more years, so what we want to do is reduce the carbon footprint of these processes.’ The centre’s work will complement other Create and Cambridge efforts that seek alternative energy technologies.

The centre aims to recruit 40 doctoral students and 20 post-doctoral researchers. It also intends to secure industrial partnerships with firms such as petrochemical giant ExxonMobil and materials company Johnson Matthey, and hopes to spin off firms to market new technologies, Prof Gladden said.

Source: The Straits Times

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