Four companies honoured at second Singapore Green Summit

Channel NewsAsia 11 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE: Four companies were recognised on Wednesday at the second Singapore Green Summit for their eco-friendly practices. National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan also urged companies to put in place more energy efficient practices.

The Grand Hyatt is one of the awarded companies.

The 37-year-old hotel undertook a range of initiatives - recycling water for its laundry service, installing motion activated lights in store rooms, and installing solar films in guest rooms to reduce radiated heat.

For the hotel, going green makes a business case as well.

"Grand Hyatt Singapore invested S$3.5 million into a new efficient cooling system that delivers annual saving in utility costs of over S$1.2 million at 2001 utility prices. This works out to a payback of less than three years as oil prices have risen further since then," said Mr Mah.

Come June next year, the hotel will roll out what it calls a "tri-generation plant" to produce electricity, heat and cooling more efficiently.

The plant will be developed at S$3.8 million and will be introduced to other Hyatt hotels in other countries.

Ivan Leong, director of engineering at Grand Hyatt Singapore, said: "Whatever heat that is previously exhausted into the atmosphere, we capture it and turn it into useful energy. We are expecting to save - using the current oil price - in the region of about S$800,000 per annum and the carbon footprint reduction (is) about 2500 per tonne, about equivalent of taking out 200 cars off the road for a year."

Property developer CapitaLand also clinched an award for its green building features, which included rainwater harvesting systems, solar lighting and tree conservation programmes.

Environmental sustainability has been on the international agenda in recent years and many countries, including Singapore, are trying to raise awareness on the impact of climate change.

The other two companies awarded are Marc-Plan Pte Ltd and Microwave Packaging (S) Pte Ltd. - CNA/ac

Eco-friendly food box wins inventor a green award
His firm is one of 4 honoured for green practices, innovations
Liaw Wy-Cin, Straits Times 12 Jun 08;

TEN years ago, Mr Leonard Lau came up with a design for paper takeaway containers that could hold everything from fried chicken to prawn noodle soup.

He hoped his invention would one day replace the non-biodegradable plastic and foam containers that most eateries use.

But it took the 51-year-old three years to produce the invention, in part because he had to build a machine that could churn out the packages.

His hard work paid off last night at the Shangri-La Hotel, where his innovation was one of four winners at an awards ceremony for eco-friendly companies.

Billed by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) - the organiser of the event - as the 'Oscars' for such companies, the awards serve as motivation for corporations to go green.

The private sector is a key player in Singapore's national conservation effort, said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan at the event last night.

This year's awards ceremony, called the Singapore Green Summit, honoured companies for their management practices and green innovations. There was also a category for small and medium-size enterprises.

Mr Lau, managing director of Microwave Packaging, won in the category for green innovations.

He said he was happy to create an eco-friendly alternative.

'Most of the containers we have been using to hold takeaway food are made of foam or plastic, which are not biodegradable.'

Mr Lau used waterproof paper commonly used in milk cartons and packet drinks to make his now-patented containers. One reason he won, said the non-profit SEC, was the mass appeal of the containers.

The other winners were property developer CapitaLand and the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which won in the category that looked at management practices.

The winner for the new category targeting small and medium-size businesses was ship interior design and refurbishment company Marc-Plan.

Size is not an issue
SMEs often overlook efforts to go eco-friendly, a costly decision in time to come
Lin Yanqin, Today Online 12 Jun 08;

FOR one marine outfittings company, it was nothing out of the ordinary: To help keep business costs down, its staff were encouraged to use energy efficiently and cut the use of paper to minimise waste.

So, it came as a surprise to :Marc-Plan, a 14-year-old Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), when it learnt that it had won the inaugural Efficiently Developing Growing Enterprise (EDGE) Awards, which aims to recognise SMEs that invest in becoming more energy-efficient.

:“I thought we were doing very simple things,” said Ms Judy Then, Marc-Plan’s Human Resource and Administrative executive.

For instance, :to reduce the “reams” of delivery order forms, invoices and documents passing between the office and its warehouse each day, the company invested $20,000 into going paperless. All incoming faxes are stored in its IT server, to be electronically disseminated.

SMEs typically overlook such green solutions and practices in the early years of starting a business, when growing the business is the priority. As of March, only five out of the 98 companies which took up the National Environment Agency’s energy efficiency improvement assistance scheme are SMEs.

Said Ms Then: “We did not have the manpower for someone to oversee such things in previous years. It can be hard for a small company to dedicate resources when you are concerned with profits.”

But by emphasising the cost savings that could be achieved, the company’s board gave the thumbs-up to implementing eco-friendly practices.

The company does not use the most environmentally-friendly materials in its ship fittings as the quality is sometimes inferior, but it seeks to make its own internal practices as green as possible.

“When we print things out for ourselves, there’s no need to use top-grade paper,” said Ms Then. A ream of thinner 70gram paper costs $1 less than a ream of regular 80gram paper, she added.

:Old office furniture is also refurbished for re-use at its offshore factory, and staff are encouraged to switch off computers and lights when not in use.

The energy cost savings, said Ms Then, were offset by the company’s staff expansion, but “if we did not make the effort to save electricity, the costs would be even higher as we hire more people”.

Indeed, as National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said in his speech yesterday: at the Singapore Green Summit: “Businesses with foresight to invest early in energy efficiency will emerge as competitive and resilient in a future where energy prices are expected to stay high.”

He called on industry and businesses to support the Government in making Singapore a “sustainable city” attractive to live in, by taking the initative to improve their environmental performance.

Also feted last night at the awards :— organised by the Singapore Environment Council and Dun & Bradstreet Singapore — were CapitaLand and Grand Hyatt hotel, which won the Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards’ Top Achiever and Merit prize respectively.

Microwave Packaging (S) won the SEC-Senoko Power Green Innovation Awards for eco-friendly packaging.

CapitaLand, Grand Hyatt win green awards
Chew Xiang, Business Times 12 Jun 08;

CAPITALAND won the Singapore Environmental Achievement Award while Grand Hyatt took home a merit prize at the second Singapore Green Summit yesterday.

The Summit, said to be the 'Oscars for the environment', is organised by the Singapore Environment Council. The award recognises overall environmental and social responsibilities in an organisation and is the most prestigious green gong in Singapore.

This year saw a new category which recognises SMEs that have gone green.

Richard Hale, a board director at CapitaLand, said that it was not enough for companies to be 'an acceptably pale, commercial green'. He said that his company's winning of the award validated its efforts, including its comprehensive green strategy, energy saving efforts and outreach programmes.

John Beveridge, manager of the Grand Hyatt Singapore, said that the award 'will act as a motivator to help us focus on making even more of a positive impact on the environment'. The hotel was lauded for a $3.5 million efficient cooling system and its efforts to reduce energy consumption.

Marc-Plan, an offshore and shipbuilding company, got the inaugural Efficiently Developing Growing Enterprise (Edge) award. The offshore and shipbuilding company was praised for its waste-cutting and energy efficiency strategies.

The SEC-Senoko Power Green Innovation Awards was won by Microwave Packaging, which designs food containers. Senoko Power was the main sponsor of the event.

The second Singapore Green Summit was meant to bring all environmental awards under one roof. But differences over timing and a re-alignment of its corporate objectives meant that last year's partner, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, went it alone this year and presented its part of the awards on environmental and social reporting at a conference last week.

The guest of honour at yesterday's ceremony was Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan.

Green is gold for earth-friendly firms
Straits Times 13 Jun 08;

The humble paper food container won a top environmental award on Wednesday. Microwave Packaging, the company that developed the eco-friendly replacement for plastic and styrofoam takeaway containers, was one of four firms honoured at the Singapore Green Summit.

Here are the three others.

Hotel recycles materials

Singapore Environmental Achievement Award

What award is for:

Excellence in environmental management practices

Top achiever: Property developer CapitaLand

What it did:

# Used a tracking system to assess the environmental performance of 150 properties worldwide. The system examined aspects such as energy and water use, waste generation and carbon dioxide emissions

# To cut down on energy and water use, the company made it compulsory for all its properties to have eco-friendly features. They include systems that collect rainwater, solar-powered lighting and carbon monoxide monitors

# Installed waterless urinals

# Preserved and relocated trees on its properties

# Educated children on environmental conservation with outdoor activities

Property developer collects rainwater, preserves trees

Singapore Environmental Achievement Award

What award is for:

Excellence in environmental management practices

Merit winner: Grand Hyatt Hotel Singapore

What it did:

# Overhauled its air-conditioning and ventilation systems to make them more efficient

# Installed automated taps in common restrooms to save water

# Recycled materials like used print cartridges, newspapers and boxes

# Recycled water used for laundry

# Recovered condensation from air-conditioning systems

# Installed solar films, which help keep guest rooms cool

# Used motion-activated lights

Ship interior-design firm turns off its air-cons at 6pm

Inaugural Efficiently Developing Growing Enterprise (Edge) Award

What award is for:

It recognises small- and medium-size businesses that invest in energy efficiency and environmentally friendly technology

Winner: Ship interior-design and refurbishment company Marc-Plan

What it did:

# Incoming faxes are stored on the company's server and circulated through e-mail, saving paper and ink

# Old office furniture is refurbished and used at the firm's offshore factory

# Employees are encouraged to turn off their PCs at the end of the day

# Office air-conditioning units are switched off at 6pm