Singapore's first green community club plugs into sunshine

Tania Tan, Straits Times 8 Mar 08;

SINGAPORE'S first green community club, which uses a series of mirrored tubes to reflect sunlight and illuminate its interior, will be officially christened tomorrow by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Anchorvale Community Club, the first community building to be awarded the Green Mark certificate, could pave the way for other eco-friendly recreation centres, according to officials.

The community club has been outfitted with light pipes on its third-floor roof. The pipes reflect sunlight to the second-floor reception area of the 3,800 sq m building.

On sunny days, the system eliminates the need for light bulbs, said Ms Foo Soon Leng, building division director of the People's Association. The club is still equipped with light bulbs for cloudy days.

The club was welcomed by academics, who have long pushed for greener public buildings.

'When people think sunlight and energy saving, they immediately think solar cells,' said Associate Professor Stephen Wittkopf of the National University of Singapore's department of architecture. 'But day lighting, if used well, can be another big advantage.

'Many developed countries, such as the United States and those in Europe, have green buildings. It's about time Singapore joined them.'

The improvement is one of several that will help the centre cut its power bill by at least $12,500 annually.

In addition to the light pipes, the club has installed motion sensor lights, and has turned down the air-conditioning.

'With the success of this centre, we are aiming for future community clubs to be Green Mark-certified as well,' said Ms Foo. At least four new centres are expected to be built in the next few years, she said.

Awarded by the Building and Construction Authority, the Green Mark is a rating system which measures the environmental impact of a building based on how energy- and water-efficient it is.

Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Lam Pin Min, who oversees the area, said: 'The committee overseeing the project needed little convincing to jump onto the green bandwagon, as most of us felt that was the right thing to do to help conserve energy and protect the environment.'

The Government has spent over $30 million to encourage developers and companies to use energy-efficient building designs. About two in 10 government buildings have already performed energy audits. Of these, eight have adopted energy-saving measures - shaving $2.6 million off their electricity bills annually.