SGBC Green Building Conference 2010 and WorldGBC International Congress 2010

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WorldGBC International Congress 2010

The WorldGBC International Congress 2010 is a 2 day congress from 13 – 14 September 2010. 13th September 2010 is designed specifically for GBC Members, and registration is restricted to WorldGBC Members. 14th September is open to those interested in learning more about the latest trends and updates on international green building.

The congress will provide a platform to:

Learn: from green building thought leaders who will share strategies for market transformation, policies that accelerate green building practices, and how to tackle global climate change while meeting local priorities.

Network: with representatives from GBCs in more than 70 countries, and strengthen our collective voice.

Connect: with delegates from a range of professions and industries, including engineers, architects and academics, bankers, building contractors and suppliers, planners, policy makers, property developers and product manufacturers.

Gain inspiration: at green building tours of the best Green Mark Platinum projects in Singapore, and learn more about the region’s latest eco-friendly building materials, energy-efficient solutions and green design at BEX Asia.

Influence: the uptake of sustainable, affordable building around the world.

Share: ideas and information, and contribute to the WorldGBC’s agenda in the lead up to COP16 in Mexico this December.

Inaugural SGBC Green Building Conference

SGBC Green Building Conference is a 1 day conference on 15 September 2010, and it will focus on green issues concerning the building and construction industry with more emphasis on green building technologies and green building designs as well as the retrofitting existing buildings. SGBC Green Building Conference provides a platform for our industry players to know and learn more on the Valuation and Financing Green Buildings, and the Green and Sustainable construction.

Green Mark Building Tour

The Green Mark Building tour on 16 September is specially arranged for participants to witness and experience green buildings in operations.  The tours will create awareness amongst overseas delegates on BCA Green Mark Scheme which is more suitable for the tropical climate, and at the same time, it will demonstrate Singapore’s technical expertise, capabilities and R&D in green building developments.

BEX Asia

A concurrent event with World GBC Congress and SGBC conference will be BEX Asia, Southeast Asia’s green building exhibition. This exhibition is focused Build Green featuring eco-friendly, energy efficiency building materials, design and architecture for the future of sustainable environments. This event brings together industry practitioners, professionals and key buyers across the regions to learn, network and do business with Southeast Asia’s developing economies.

Visit the conference website for more details and registration.

Possible Environmental Crises Facing Singapore and Appropriate Responses: The Case of the Poh Ern Shih Buddhist Temple

Venue: ISEAS Seminar Room II

Speaker: Mr Lee Boon Siong, Honorary President and Director, Poh Ern Shih Temple

The Poh Ern Shih Temple (Temple of Thanksgiving), built in 1954, is an ecologically friendly Buddhist temple located at Chwee Chian Hill, off Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore. In 2000, the Directors decided that the temple had to be redesigned to deal with the rising costs of water, electricity and an over-dependence on fossil fuel. It was noted that environmental degradation had been increasing over the decades and that adopting ecologically friendly technologies was the way to go in the age of rising global temperatures and climate change.

This seminar will focus on Poh Ern Shih Temple’s efforts to protect the environment. The temple takes advantage of Singapore’s abundant sunlight to produce: (i) Electricity by employing three different kinds of solar energy cells – Polycrystalline, Monocrystalline and Amorphous Cells (ii) Hotwater from Solar Heat Collector Cells in Solar Panels, and (iii) Night Lighting of its landscaping and common corridors with batteries charged by electricity collected from hybrid sets of wind/solar energy units.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s abundant rainfall has made it possible to (i) Irrigate the temple grounds (ii) Generate electricity via the deployment of Micro Hydrogenerators for charging the batteries of in-house motorized wheelchairs and lighting for its landscaping and common corridors as well as (iii) Conserve, collect and convert the rainwater to drinkable water by deploying Reverse Osmosis Techonology in Portable Filtration/UV Units available overseas in the event of natural disasters.

Finally, the temple is able to leverage on the abundance of a renewable resource, bamboo, (i) to reduce the culling of our valuable forests by deploying bamboo for all the temple’s new furniture wherever possible since it is readily available from neighbouring states and is a 5-year renewable resource as compared to a 100 year old or 300 year old oak or teak tree and (ii) to reduce the pollution from the steel industries, by making all its in-house new wheelchairs from bamboo.

For details and registration, visit the ISEAS website.

Source: ISEAS