SIEW 2009: Sustainable Cities 2009

The Sustainable Cities 2009 conference was held during the Singapore International Energy Week to discuss key issues, investment opportunities, and green technologies associated with developing sustainable cities.

Some topics discussed:

Dr Liu Thai Ker, Chairman, Centre for Liveable Cities, started the conference with his take on achieving sustainable development with effective city planning. He referred to the city as a machine for living, which is made up of:

• Grids: Green and Blue, Expressways, MRTs
• Organs: CBD, Industrial Estates, Utilities
• Cells: Regions, Towns, Neighborhoods

Dr Liu emphasised that a quantitative approach based on the population, land, density and positioning, is needed for city planning, and a city is about the body and clothes, and not just a beautiful suit. He used the analogy of developing a city and making a suit as a comparison. A city (suit) should be developed in the following order:

1. Concept (Data)
2. Positioning (Male)
3. Quantity (Height and Weight)
4. Grid (Bones and Veins)
5. Organs (Organs)
6. Land Use (Muscles)
7. Architecture (Clothes)
8. Icons (Decorations)

Dr Liu concluded with the following points: good planning ensures sustainable development with no extra cost; conventional engineering, selectively well applied, enhances sustainable development at conventional cost; and the sustainable way for sustainable development is to create eco-friendly city platform and enhance eco-friendly technologies.

Rani Virdee, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, The Carbon Neutral Company, presented on implementing carbon management strategies for the built environment. Carbon emissions for the built environment comes from the embodied energy of materials used and construction activities, and ongoing energy consumption. She suggested that carbon management should be incentivised under the Green Mark criteria.

Clay Nesler, Vice President, Global Energy and Sustainability, Johnson Controls, USA, shared the transformation of the Empire State Building in New York City. The building went through an energy efficiency retrofit with new windows, radiative barriers, daylighting, chiller retrofit, VAV air handling unit, wireless network control systems, demand control ventilation and tenant energy management, which is expected to achieve the following:

• $4.4 million annual energy cost savings
• 38% energy reduced annually
• 3.1 years payback
• 105,000 tons of carbon emissions saved over the next 15 years

Mr Nesler recommended the following:

• Address tenant spaces by taking whole-building approach: phase projects over time; enabling technology for info feedback; modify lease structures to align incentives
• Take right steps in right order for integrated design
• Integrate with capital plan to match renovation cycles
• Leverage financial models that reduces risks and provide short-term benefits for owners and tenants

He also suggested what cities can do now:

• Create municipal financing programs to encourage private sector investment
• Introduce and enforce stricter building codes for new contruction and major renovation
• Introduce voluntary high performance building codes for commercial buildings and make it a requirement for public buildings
• Introduce mandatory building performance labelling
• Require commercial building audits on periodic basis and/or at time of sale
• Work with building owners to create and promote high profile demostration projects

Melvyn Thong, Deputy Director, Mechanical and Electrical Systems Division, Land Transport Authority (LTA), explained the Green Framework for Rapid Transit Systems (RTS) to fit with sustainable city planning. The LTA Green Framework reduces the carbon footprint of commuters by sustainable development of the RTS, which includes:

1. Effective use of energy (50%) for lighting systems; electrical services; signals, communications and control systems; environmental control systems, etc
2. Environmental protection and sustainable development (35%) for rolling stock; environment control systems; civil works; architecture
3. Water conservation (15%)

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