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SINGAPORE: When it’s still dark first thing in the morning, you wake up and turn on the solar-powered lights. The motion sensor lights in the common areas come to life as you leave the house, heading towards the dual bike racks where you parked your two-wheeler.
As you dispose of your trash, separate it into two bags: one for the general trash chute and the other for a centralized recycling trash chute.
While this may be a vision of green living for some residents, it is already a reality for many, especially those in Punggol, Singapore’s first green city designed under the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) 2011 Sustainable Development Framework. ).
Over the last 10 years, HDB has been progressively greening the city, testing driving initiatives such as elevators with an energy regeneration system to recover 30 percent of the energy from braking and kinetic movement, motion sensor lights on stairs and parking lots, as well as a centralized recycling bin.
Rainwater collected through a rainwater harvesting system is used to irrigate landscapes and clean common areas, while the installation of dual bike racks encourages residents to travel via more sustainable methods.
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The initiatives have helped reduce energy and water consumption and improve recycling rates.
Between 2010 and 2018, household energy consumption in Punggol fell by 18.8%, according to HDB.
Water consumption in homes fell 13.2% between 2011 and 2018, while water consumption for common areas fell 19.9% in the same period.
Recycling efforts have also paid off, with approximately 1,285 tons of recyclables collected from Punggol per year, HDB said. This is equivalent to the weight of 89 double-decker buses.
Furthermore, the 50 km cycle network planned for the city will ensure that Punggol has 5.2 km of cycle network per square km of urban area, surpassing the densest cycle network in the world in Helsinki.
Punggol park connector. (Photo: Lydia Lam)
“As one of HDB’s youngest cities, Punggol presented a very good opportunity for HDB to demonstrate sustainable urban planning and design, embrace green technology, and encourage more community members to lead green lifestyles.” said HDB in a recent press. launching.
Conceived as a prosperous, smart and sustainable city, Punggol also serves as a ‘living laboratory’ where, together with various partners, new ideas and technologies have been tested and applied to create a sustainable, livable and more pleasant environment for residents. . “
Green features were implemented on all new Build-to-Order (BTO) floors starting in 2014, after testing at Punggol.
GREEN CITIES HDB PROGRAM
As part of Singapore’s fight against climate change, a key strategy in HDB’s efforts to promote green and sustainable living is through harnessing solar energy.
HDB is the main driver in the country for the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which are found on the roofs of public housing blocks.
Its solar objective, announced in December 2019, is to generate 540 megawatts peak by 2030. This could potentially reduce carbon emissions by 324,000 tons per year and generate enough energy annually to power 135,000 four-bedroom HDB apartments.
As of March, 5,500 HDB blocks, or more than 50 percent of the housing blocks across the island, have been equipped or identified for solar panel installations.
With a new SolarNova program, HDB aims to extend this to 70 percent of HDB blocks by 2030.
A view of public housing blocks, with solar panels attached to the roof of some blocks, in Singapore on June 27, 2019 (File Photo: Reuters / Kevin Lam).
Reducing energy consumption by harnessing solar energy is one of three areas of the new HDB Green Towns program, which aims to make cities more sustainable and livable by 2030.
“Since 2005, HDB has been driving sustainability efforts to achieve a 10 percent reduction in annual energy consumption in HDB cities. Through the Green Cities Program, HDB aims to reduce it by an additional 15 percent by 2030, ”the agency said in March when the program was launched.
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To reduce energy consumption, HDB said it has “phased in” smart lighting in places such as parking lots, stairways, interchange roads, common hallways, play areas and empty terraces of new BTO projects since 2014.
He added that he would work with city councils to install these lights in common areas of blocks built before 2014, as well as when their existing LED lights need to be replaced.
Artist’s impression of the rooftop garden above the multi-story parking lot of Parc Residences @ Tengah, which will feature landscaping designed to promote the well-being of residents. (Image: HDB)
The Green Towns program also focuses on recycling rainwater and cooling HDB cities.
Rainwater is stored in an underground tank and is treated before being recycled to wash common areas and irrigation.
“In this way, the use of potable water (potable water) for washing common areas and irrigation can be reduced by more than 50 percent,” said HDB.
Regarding the cooling of HDB cities, then-Minister of National Development Lawrence Wong said in March that HDB planned to conduct a pilot to apply cold coatings to the facades of buildings, roofs and pavements in various neighborhoods, with the aim of reduce the ambient temperature by up to 2 degrees Celsius.
READ: HDB to Explore Cooler Home Building, 3D Printing for Future Floors
Additionally, HDB has been introducing greenery to the top decks of more multi-story car parks, repurposing them for urban agriculture, high-rise greenery, or community gardening when possible.
“In addition to providing visual and spatial relief for residents in our high-rise living environment, vegetation also helps to cool and improve the livability of our properties,” said HDB.
MORE TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES
These HDB efforts, along with the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) Green Mark initiative to rate green buildings, have been “substantial” in addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, said Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, Director. Executive of Energy Research Institute @ NTU.
“Singapore is a dense, high-rise metropolis with a high standard of living. Despite being in the tropics, it has set one of the highest sustainable housing standards in the world.
“This is driven by our HDB properties, which have long been based on design principles that maximize natural ventilation, reduce heat gain, promote shared facilities and common spaces, and construction principles that take advantage of new technologies.” He said.
These initiatives, together with the Green Mark, They have enabled Singapore to become a leader in sustainable building technologies, addressed its sustainability goals and provided new opportunities to export technologies developed here, added Professor Subodh.
HDB’s green efforts will help “counteract the heat island effect where heat is trapped within our dense urban environments,” he said.
“Taking advantage of natural ventilation and natural means of providing a cooler environment will naturally reduce our dependence on air conditioning and reduce our carbon footprint.”
But Singapore can continue to develop new technologies and designs, he said, such as combining green roofs with solar panels, incorporating solar cells in windows and building integrated solar cells.
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As electric cars become more affordable and HDB builds more car park charging stations, these charging stations could be powered by solar cells and energy storage, to “significantly reduce our transport carbon footprint,” he added.
In building construction, HDB could use new technologies in precast construction to reduce the amount of carbon produced during the manufacture of concrete used in construction, he suggested. The Housing Board may also consider using recycled materials such as incineration ash or recycled construction materials for buildings.
Singapore should also explore ways to support the “circular economy” by reducing food waste, separating waste streams for recycling and promoting sustainability practices, added Professor Subodh.
