Smart grid lighting test-bed sees up to 45% energy savings [News]

By Esther Ng, Today, 3 Nov 2011.

A smart office is one which uses less energy, where wireless sensors placed on workstations and personal computers “talk” to each and relay information about the room back to a computer or base station, which then “tell” individual LED lights installed on the ceiling how much to light up, dim or switch off.

Such a smart grid lighting system can result in energy savings of some 45 per cent compared to conventional fluorescent lighting.

Yesterday, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) announced a tie-up with JTC Corporation and Royal Philips Electronics to develop a smart lighting test-bed that will be the largest of its kind in Singapore.

Test-bedding at NTU’s Energy Research Institute (ERI@N) has gone on for a year and, based on test results, LED panels lead to energy savings of up to 30 per cent over fluorescent lights, while the smart grid contributes up to an additional 15 per cent. Read more

Wider Testing of LED Street Lights On the Cards [News]

LED street lights could be making their way to more parts of Singapore in two to three years’ time, as government agencies test them out on a broader scale.

It is not just the environmentally conscious who might root for the arrival of these energy saving lights. Drivers too, could have reason to cheer as LED lights create a better field of vision at night.

Almost all roads in Singapore today are lined with high pressure sodium lamps which give off an orange hue. LED lights, however, are a closer match to sunlight.

Over in one-north, a stretch of road has become a test-bed for LED street lights. In April, JTC Corporation and a Taiwan-based firm Foxsemicon Integrated Technology (Fiti) installed new lights there to compare their performance with conventional lamps. Read more

Singapore’s CleanTech Park to be Ready by 2030

JTC Corporation (JTC) recently unveiled the masterplan for the CleanTech Park (CTP), Singapore’s first eco-business park for companies involved in clean technologies and sustainable urban solutions. The CTP also serves as a R&D and testbedding site for early adoption of clean tech products and solutions for the urban tropics. Besides clean tech companies, the CTP could also house companies providing eco-friendly products and services, and companies with strong CSR or green practices.

The 50-hectare CTP will be developed next to the Nanyang Technological University so as to enhance the integration between the academia, research institutes and the business industry, and provide synergies for the full value chain of the clean tech industry. The development will take place in 3 phases over 20 years. Phase 1 will commence in July 2010 and will provide about 17 ha of business park land when completed in 2018. Phase 2 will be developed from 2019 to 2025, and Phase 3 from 2026 to 2030. The CTP will house a working population of 20,000 when it is fully built by 2030.

In the masterplan, the CTP will be developed as the most sustainable eco-business park in Singapore with the implementation of green strategies and its emphasis on retaining the natural environment and biodiversity. The green strategies to be implemented in the CTP include:

1. Stormwater management

Making use of the existing topography of the site to channel stormwater into the low-lying areas for storage and reuse. The stormwater within CleanTech Park will be channelled into a central wetland where the water can be treated and be reused for irrigation or toilet flushing. The pond will also reduce the ambient temperature through evaporative cooling.

2. Sky Trellis

The sky trellis will be constructed between adjacent buildings and covered with plants. By shading open spaces between buildings, it can reduce heat gain by the buildings from the environment and enhance walkability within open spaces in the area.

3. Conservation of Green Zones

Conservation zones are demarcated areas within CTP where trees and plants are conserved. Development works are planned around these conservation zones to protect the existing trees and plants.

4. Protection of biodiversity

Keeping the existing trees in the park will help to retain the biodiversity, such as the birds and butterflies to remain within CTP.

5. Designated Green Corridors

The designated Green Corridors are green areas between the buildings and land parcels within CTP. These green corridors are strategically located to provide secondary greenery between the buildings and land parcels and are aimed at promoting enhanced walkability within the Park.

6. Building a Green Community

CTP will nurture the fist green business community and environment by way of introducing and inculcating green practices such as recycling programmes and car pooling programmes.

7. Green Features that reduce demand on resource utilization

Building orientation with minimum East-West facing facades; Creating the wind tunnel effect to maximize wind-capture within the buildings; Using recycled and green materials for infrastructure development.

Source and images credit: JTC