After buildings, cars to go green?

Sheralyn Tay, Today Online 14 Jan 08;

ALREADY, the commitment has been made — all new and retrofitted public buildings will be Green Mark-certified. But can the green drive take on wheels?

More incentive could come with three more compressed natural gas (CNG) stations expected on mainland Singapore this year, adding to the one on Jurong Island, said Singapore Environment Council executive director Howard Shaw.

While cost is one factor, Mr Shaw noted that partial replacement is more applicable. But CNG cars, he said, are a cheaper and cleaner alternative.

Now, there are nine green vehicles adopted across four public agencies here, including two biofuel (petrol-CNG) cars used by the National Environment Agency (NEA). A spokesperson said the NEA was continually encouraging public agencies to be stewards of environmental sustainability. According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), since November, there are 1,393 green vehicles plying our roads.

Meanwhile, the Building and Construction Authority, which uses rental cars, told Today it was "open to exploring the option of adopting environmentally-friendly cars when our contract with the car rental company is up a few months later".

The LTA also said it would review and replace their existing fleet with hybrid cars when Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) expire. The LTA recently replaced 17 twin-cabin pick-ups with Euro IV engines.

Other agencies said their small fleets did not make the adoption of green cars as applicable. But Dr Chan Siew Hua, a fuel cell researcher at the Nanyang Technological University and A*Star, said public agencies can "definitely do much more to adopt green wheels; Government officers need to take the lead to go green so that people can follow their examples".

He said there are a few viable options: Cars can be fitted to run on biofuels, CNG, or both CNG and petrol. Hybrid cars, which run on petrol and electricity, while fuel- efficient, also rival conventional cars in performance.