More Than 86,000 Books Changed Hands At The Keppel Land-Sponsored NLB Book Exchange [Press Releases]

18 May 2013 – More than 86,000 books were given a new lease of life at this year’s Book Exchange, held at the National Library Building today.

Organised by the National Library Board (NLB) for the fifth year, this is an annual platform for people to recycle and share their treasured reads with other avid readers to get people to read more widely. Over the past three weeks, members of the public had brought their books to the NLB’s public libraries. For each recycled book, the public received a coupon which could be used during the event to exchange for another book. The Book Exchange has been sponsored by Keppel Land Limited (Keppel Land) since 2011, with increasing book donations from its staff, tenants and residents, from 1,500 used books in 2011 to 3,000 last year and 4,000 this year.

The Book Exchange was flagged off by Mrs Elaine Ng, Chief Executive Officer of the NLB, Mr Ang Wee Gee, Chief Executive Officer of Keppel Land Limited, and Mr Neil Humphreys, the event’s Reading Ambassador. Read more

To be a clean city, not a cleaned city: Grace Fu [News]

By Wong Wei Han, TODAY, 20 May 2013.

Seventeen food court and fast food operators, with over 500 outlets between them, have partnered the National Environment Agency (NEA) for the first time in a large-scale effort to encourage Singaporeans to return their trays in eateries here.

Within the next two years, the scheme will be introduced at many popular food and beverage businesses here, such as food court operators Kopitiam, NTUC Foodfare and Koufu, as well as fast food operators McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Subway. A ‘Tray Return Partner’ decal will be placed at their storefront, which serves as a way for the public to identify tray return ready outlets.

Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu, who officiated at yesterday’s launch, said the tray return practice has to be established as a social norm because the simple act of leaving the table clean for the next customer helps make Singapore a more pleasant society.

“Returning our trays after eating… also supports public cleanliness,” Ms Fu added. “We want to encourage Singaporeans to have clean habits, for ourselves and our families, and not to be entirely reliant on cleaners. We want to be a clean city, not a cleaned city.”

Click here to read the full article.

Source: TODAY

Pilot project launched to reward firms for cutting energy consumption [News]

By Toni Waterman, Channel NewsAsia, 17 May 2013.

Buildings gobble up 31 per cent of Singapore’s electricity, according to the Building and Construction Authority.

To free up the energy grid, a pilot project targeted at commercial buildings has been launched to reward companies for cutting energy consumption during peak periods.

The Siemens Centre at Macpherson Road is the first commercial building in Singapore to launch the demand response service.

It allows businesses to reduce their power usage when asked to during peak periods when a lot of companies are feeding off the energy grid.

In return, the firms receive payments for their flexibility.

This pilot project is being tested in a partnership with Diamond Energy, a wholesale trader in the National Electricity Market of Singapore.

Click here to read the full article.

Source: Channel NewsAsia

DHL and Singapore Management University Launch Green Transformation Lab [Press Releases]

Singapore, 9 May 2013: DHL, the world’s leading logistics company, is partnering with Singapore Management University (SMU) to accelerate the evolution of sustainable logistics across Asia Pacific with the launch of the Green Transformation Lab. This S$2 million initiative[1], hosted at the SMU School of Information Systems on the University’s city campus, will focus on the creation of innovative solutions to help organizations transform their businesses towards sustainable green growth and drive beneficial change in supply chains across the region. This joint DHL – SMU initiative will fulfill its mission through education, research and best practice development.

Mr Bruce Edwards, Global CEO, DHL Supply Chain, said: “DHL has long recognized the need for supply chains in Asia Pacific to adopt more sustainable logistics models. ‘Green’ momentum is growing amongst policy makers, companies and consumers but more can be done to spearhead the application of Green solutions throughout the supply chain. The Green Transformation Lab will help these organizations move beyond measuring and planning by creating more sustainable solutions for companies and supply chains that lead to large-scale adoption and subsequent economies of scale. We’ll achieve this by leveraging SMU’s multi-faculty academic excellence, DHL’s GOGREEN sustainability services and our expertise and capability in supply chains. DHL is committed to creating a more sustainable world today for the benefit of tomorrow.” Read more

Siemens and Diamond Energy to Pilot Demand Response in the Commercial Building Sector in Singapore [Press Releases]

Siemens and Diamond Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding today, to collaborate on a multi-phased Demand Response services implementation, commencing with a pilot project that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing customised technology and solutions to deploy IL operations, and to explore demand response in The Siemens Centre in Singapore.

The existing IL scheme in the National Electricity Market of Singapore enables consumers to be paid in return for having a portion of their electricity supply on standby for temporary interruption. Demand Response is a further enhancement to the electricity market which allows consumers to reduce or shift their power usage during peak demand periods in exchange for payments. In this way consumers are rewarded for being flexible in their electricity consumption and are able to benefit from having lower electricity purchase costs. Read more

Poly students develop S$11 water filter [News]

By Zara Zhuang, TODAY, 17 May 2013.

Singapore Polytechnic (SP) students have developed a water filtration cartridge that costs a mere S$11 and can last up to two years. Their work was under the guidance of the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI) of the Nanyang Technological University.

Led by Dr Adrian Yeo, Research Fellow at NEWRI, students Sandy Loh and Koh Yong Xiang, both from SP’s Diploma in Environmental Management and Water Technology programme, created the Gravity filter to help with the shortage of clean drinking water in rural areas in Vietnam.

“(We) have some work we’re doing in Vietnam, and we wanted to help the locals in a more organised way,” said Dr Yeo. “We built a large water treatment plant for places that still have access to the piping system, but further away, it becomes less feasible to build a plant.”

Click here to read the full article.

Source: TODAY

Going green, Biomax turns poo to profit [News]

By Toni Waterman, Channel NewsAsia, 16 May 2013.

Dr Puah Chum Mok, co-founder of Singapore-based Biomax, sure knows a lot about chicken poo.

“Each bird will poo about 45 grams a day,” he said.

Multiply that by the billions of chickens worldwide, and you’ve got a lot of poo on your hands.

To get rid of it, Dr Puah says, most people either burn it or bury it – both are bad options for the environment.

“Well, burning, you contribute to the atmospheric pollution. Burying it, well, after a few years, it will leach out and this will run off to the rivers, lakes and contaminate even your underground water system,” he said.

So Dr Puah came up with a better solution. He created a special cocktail of enzymes (known as BM1) and a machine to break down chicken poo in a natural way.

Here’s how it works: The chicken poo is collected and dumped into the digester. Sawdust is added into it to help absorb moisture. The enzymes go in next, and then the entire recipe is heated. Twenty-four hours later, 100% organic fertilizer is produced.

Click here to read the full article.

Source: Channel NewsAsia

Eight outstanding individuals recognised for efforts in greening Singapore’s built environment [Press Releases]

Singapore, 15 May 2013 – Eight professionals with a strong passion in creating a green built environment will receive the prestigious BCA-SGBC Green Building Individual Awards tomorrow (16 May 2013) at the annual BCA Awards 2013 held at Resorts World Sentosa. This year, there are four Award winners and four Commendation Award recipients.

The award recognises professionals and practitioners from the built environment sector who have shown strong commitment and contribution in propelling a sustainable built environment in Singapore.

A new category was introduced this year to recognise the outstanding contribution of our younger professionals in shaping a sustainable built environment – the Young Green Building Individual Award. The two winners are: Read more

JTC, first infrastructure specialist to clinch Green Mark Champion Award [Press Releases]

Singapore, 14 May 2013 – Having clinched ten projects with Green Mark Gold and above, including 6 Platinum, 3 Goldplus awards and 1 Gold, JTC Corporation (JTC) is the only organisation to receive the Green Mark Champion award this year. To qualify as BCA’s Green Mark Champion, the developer or building owner is expected to deliver at least 3 Green Mark Platinum, 3 GoldPlus and 4 Gold projects. One of JTC’s Platinum awards was given to CleanTech Park for its green district design.

The Green Mark Champion Award is presented to leading developers and building owners who have demonstrated strong commitment towards Corporate Social Responsibility by actively promoting and driving Singapore’s green building movement. There are two levels for the award, namely, the Green Mark Champion and Platinum Champion. To attain the Green Mark Platinum Champion Award, the winner must deliver at least 15 Green Mark Platinum, 15 GoldPlus and 20 Gold projects. There is no Green Mark Platinum Champion winner amongst this year’s projects. Read more

CPG Consultants bags 12 awards at BCA awards [News]

By Channel NewsAsia, 15 May 2013.

Local architectural firm CPG Consultants has bagged 12 awards at the the 2013 edition of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) awards.

Seven of its projects won the Platinum Award, three were given the GoldPlus standard, and one project was awarded gold in the Green Mark Awards.

Four of the seven Platinum Green Mark projects designed by CPG are educational institutions — South Spine Learning Hub in NTU, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in NUS, Crest Secondary School and a new primary school in Bukit Panjang that will be completed in 2014.

The other projects are Ng Teng Fong General Hospital & Jurong Community Hospital, JTC Summit, and Eco Sanctuary.

Click here to read the full article.

Source: Channel NewsAsia

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