In a bid to promote a culture of sustainable development, Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) started the BCA Greenovate Challenge – a competition featuring innovative green building solutions and involving secondary students.
In his blog post, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the competition received strong entries with interesting innovations from 14 schools. The winner was Marsiling Secondary School where students tied up with the Energy Service Company to audit their energy usage.
Following the exercise, students came up with ideas such as the use of leased photovoltaic panels to absorb solar energy for the school’s electrical needs. With the help of a commercial partner, the school installed a large number of solar panels and harvested solar energy at a reduced rate.
“The students also experimented with pre-cooling ambient air for greater efficiency of the air-condition compressor. The school experienced over 30 percent energy savings! For schools with extensive air con usage, this can translate into S$60,000 savings yearly!” Mr Khaw said.
The school also adopted an innovative way of harvesting rainwater using ten one-cubic metre recycled plastic containers with PVC pipes. With this, the school can harvest 1,371 cubic metres of rainwater annually to be used for gardening and washing of toilets.
Meanwhile, BCA expects over 10,000 participants from more than 30 countries to join the International Green Building Conference as part of Singapore Green Building Week next month.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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