The government aims to achieve a 35 percent reduction in the energy intensity of its economy by 2030.
In the fight to reduce carbon emissions, the economic boom in Asia underscores the importance-and the limits -of reducing energy use in commercial and residential buildings. Even with Singapore's aggressive push in the green building sector, non-industrial electricity consumption in Singapore increased by roughly 23 percent between from 2005 to 2011. That growth was due largely to robust economic expansion, with Singapore's GDP doubling during that time. The government aims to achieve a percent reduction in the energy intensity of its economy by 2030,which-depending on the rate of economic growth-does not necessarily mean the city-state will be using less electricity overall by that date.
The phrase "green building" suggests basic universal characteristics, such as an attention to energy use and attempts to bring a building in tune with its environment. However, it is also a somewhat fluid concept, and define green buildings differently in Singapore than United States or Europe. Notably, Green Mark places a comparatively larger emphasis on installation of technologically intensive cooling units, arguing that reducing energy consumption is essential in a tropical city where air-conditioning represents a large part of electricity demand.
An outdoor area of 313@ Somerset, a Green Mark-certified mall in downtown Singapore. The mall's green perks include skylights, solar panels, energy-saving escalators, highly efficient air-conditioning units, and software that monitors the building's carbon dioxide emissions. (Photo credit: Mike l But some experts wonder if Singapore's approach will eventually encourage an unsustainable dependence on air conditioning as an essential design component. Country-specific rating tools under development in Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries, they say, may be more effective at promoting designs that emphasize passive technologies such as optimization of shading and ventilation and a sensitivity to a building's life cycle. Prasad, a professor of Ultimately the goal in these tools is to reduce the (environmental) footprint," says Deo building policies across architecture at the University of New South Wales in Australia who has studied sustainable getting the Asia-Pacific region. As Green Mark matures, he adds, an open question for Singapore is: "Are you hooked into the energy consumption being absolutely necessary for comfort?"
The city's Green Mark standards shaved 11.6 percent off total operating expenses of buildings.
Singapore, which gained independence from Malaysia in 1965, has long styled itself as a "garden city." The city Singapore, which gained independence from Malaysia in 1965, has long styled itself as a made state was built on swampland that has few energy resources, and its founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, urban a point of prioritizing environmental conservation. In 2005, the government extended its hands-on development policies to its building sector. The centerpiece of that policy shift was Green Mark, a rating tool modeled partly on LEED guidelines. But unlike LEED, which emerged in the private sector and is based on a lexible set of sustainable design principles, Green Mark was launched by a government agency and designed argely to reduce energy and water consumption. the government as win-win for businesses and the A recent study by to meet and researchers the National University of Singapore found that a sample of office buildings designed at Green Mark standards shaved about 11.6 percent off total operating expenses on average while boosting a building's capital value by 2.3 percent. The BCA also reports that while new Green Mark buildings typically cost up five percent more, most developers recoup their investment within seven years through energy savings. It helps that 2009 the agency pledged million Singapore dollars, or $80 million, to landlords five about devices. years to pay for efficiency audits and install energy-efficient cooling units, motion sensors, and shading Singapore-based Southeast Asia's largest developer, says investments in green-building technologies played central role in reductions since 2008 of 11.7 and 16.1 percent, respectively, in the company's energy and water consumption, and a 16 percent reduction in its carbon emissions for a savings of about corporate Our sustainability objectives are guided by the belief that lowering the environmental footprint of our developments through innovation creates value for our stakeholders," says Tan Seng Chai, CapitaLand's group chief corporate officer.