Dirty power? Senoko gets top green award

Switch from oil to natural gas to generate electricity means big cut in carbon emissions
Tania Tan, Straits Times 20 Oct 08;

ONE of the winners of Singapore's top green award comes from an industry generally vilified worldwide for being among the least environmentally-friendly.

Senoko Power in Woodlands, the biggest of Singapore's power stations, has been named as one of the three winners of the President's Award for the Environment this year.

It earned the accolade by burning natural gas instead of oil to produce electricity for the country's grid. The switch, made in 2004, means it belches 2.5 million tonnes less carbon into the air every year, about the same as taking all Singapore vehicles off the road for a year.

Senoko president and chief executive officer Roy Adair said of the country's highest environmental accolade: 'This is the blue ribbon of environmental awards. Needless to say, we're very honoured.'

The other two winners are Alexandra Hospital and the South West Community Development Council. The awards will be presented in a ceremony at the Istana this evening.

Launched in 2006, the award goes to three recipients every year - individuals, organisations or companies which have made green contributions and built an excellent track record.

Mr Tan Gee Paw, who chaired the award selection committee, said the winners' 'commitment to the environment' distinguished them from the 25 other nominees.

Senoko spent $650 million in 2000 to upgrade three of its oil-fire power stations to run more efficiently on natural gas. It will put another $750 million into converting three more plants by 2011.

The company produces about a third or 3,300MW of the country's total annual electricity consumption, alongside the two other power Big Boys here, PowerSeraya and Tuas Power.

Senoko has two other green initiatives going: It has pumped $7 million into building its own desalination plant in 2004, which provides up to 80 per cent of the plant's water needs.

It has also, since 2005, sponsored the National Weather Study Project, an annual competition among secondary and pre-university students conducting research on climate change.

The United Nations has noted that power- generation activity churns out about a quarter of the world's carbon emissions, which cause climate change.

But power generators here are trying to be part of the solution instead of the problem.

PowerSeraya's managing director Neil McGregor remarked that the industry, which burns fossil fuels and lacks viable alternatives, faces 'significant impediments' in becoming green.

Both PowerSeraya and Tuas Power believe that their investments in green technology and research into sustainable energy will point the way forward for electricity producers.

THE other winners of the President's Award for the Environment 2008 are:

# Alexandra Hospital

It replaced leaky pipes to conserve water and installed solar panels to power lights along walkways and driveways.

And when the nearly 40-year-old hospital's ageing structures needed to be hidden from sight, the hospital used plants.

The move proved popular, though the idea was a 'cheapskate way' to spruce up the facade, said chief executive officer Liak Teng Lit.

The hospital pharmacy is now using recyclable bags.

# South West Community Development Council

The housing estates under it have at least quadrupled the amount of throwaways offered for recycling in the past seven years.

It has taken a community of volunteers, grassroots leaders, corporations and government agencies to encourage residents to go green, including trading their rubbish for groceries like rice, noodles and eggs.

TANIA TAN

Green thumbs lead to green award
Alexandra Hospital, Senoko Power and South West CDC win environmental accolade
Esther Ng, Today Online 20 Oct 08;

THEY didn’t deliberately set out to be green. Alexandra Hospital’s green movement started when staff wanted to plant flowers to beautify the premises and create a warmer and more pleasant environment to help patients recover.

Six years on, their enthusiasm for gardening and patient care has blossomed into something bigger, turning the staff of the hospital into the most passionate adopters of environmentally-friendly practices.

To conserve water, they have fixed all the leaking pipes in the hospital. To conserve energy, they make it a point to switch off lights and appliances on standby mode long before a national campaign popped up. To top it off, the hospital composts its food waste and dried leaves, which they use to fertilise its beautifully maintained gardens.

For its achievements, Alexandra Hospital is one of three winners of this year’s President’s Award for the Environment (PAE) — the country’s highest environmental accolade. The other two winners are Senoko Power and South West Community Development Council (CDC).

The PAE recognises individuals, organisations and companies that have contributed significantly to Singapore’s efforts in achieving environmental and water sustainabililty. Three winners are selected each year.

This year’s winners were chosen from a field of 28 nominees. Unlike in the past two years, this year’s awards did not go to any individual.

Mr Tan Gee Paw, chairperson of the evaluation committee, said: “All the nominations we received were outstanding. However, we chose to focus on organisations this year because we felt that their contribution to the environment would be far wider. That is not to say individuals can’t be winners of the award in the future.”

Alexandra Hospital won for its best green practices and energy and water conservation.

Its chief executive officer Liak Teng Lit said: “All the credit goes to my staff. Their passion to beautify and improve the workplace took on a momentum on its own. But the real reason we cut down on energy and water consumption was purely to save money.”

Environmentally-friendly practices are not usually associated with power generation companies, but Senoko Power won for its investment in clean technology and its efforts to promote green habits.

Over the last six years, Senoko has been converting its oil-fired plants into gas-fired plants that emit less carbon. It recently spent $750 million converting three oil-fired steam plants to two combined-cycle plants, reducing its annual carbon emission by about 2.5 million tonnes.

“That’s like taking off all the cars in Singapore off the roads,” said Senoko Power’s chief executive Roy Adair.

In addition, Senoko Power spent$7 million building a desalination plant — allowing the company to meet up to80 per cent of its industrial water needs without tapping the potable water source.

However, the programme that givesMr Adair greatest satisfaction is its National Weather Study Project. Launched in March 2005 with a $1-million sponsorship to promote climate-change awareness among students, the programme has attracted 240 schools, or two-thirds of all schools in Singapore.

Said Mr Adair: “I get really stoked when I see the children all fired up about the environment. Early this year, we’ve adopted Sungei Sembawang and got10 schools in the area to participate in regular voluntary riverside clean-ups. ”

The PAE is another feather in the cap for South West CDC, which recently won the inaugural regional Asean Environmentally Sustainable Cities Award for Singapore.

South West CDC was lauded for raising the level of public awareness of the environment and for encouraging participation in green community programmes, including urging its 700,000 residents to recycle more and use less electricity and water.

Said its mayor Amy Khor: “Our success boils down to the passion and drive of our volunteers who are really very passionate about the environment. We see these projects as a great way to strengthen community bonding.”

Three recipients picked for President's Award for the Environment 2008
Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 20 Oct 08;

SINGAPORE: One winner of the President's Award for the Environment 2008 spent S$600 million to go green, while another spent S$200.

Senoko Power may not look environmentally friendly, but it is one of the three recipients of the President's Award for the Environment 2008.

It has spent S$600 million to go green - using cleaner LNG and building a desalination plant.

By using the cleaner LNG, instead of fossil fuel, Senoko Power has reduced its annual carbon emission by 250 million tonnes. This is the same amount produced by all cars in Singapore.

It also built a S$7 million desalination plant.

Senoko Power said the expenditure is necessary in a market that is becoming more aware of its impact on the environment.

President of Senoko Power, Roy Adair, said: "We now operate in a contestable market for electricity...where customers have the right to make the decision where they buy their electricity from.

"So we are keen to state our case to these buyers of electricity that we are a triple bottomline company - financial, environment and community."

And growing the community's awareness about the environment is the South West Community Development Council (CDC), which is encouraging its 700,000 residents to recycle more, and use less electricity and water.

Mayor of South West CDC Amy Khor said: "The man in the street may not be able to relate to some of these messages, like climate change (and) helping to reduce carbon emissions.

"But when we simplify the message and say that if you pick up energy-efficient habits, reduce your electricity consumption, you will not just help the environment, but it (also) helps your pockets and reduces your expenses."

Alexandra Hospital is also prudent in its green efforts.

A garden in the hospital only costs S$200, but the hospital won votes for its energy-efficient lighting and solar panels.

The building was already built with novel environmental features during the colonial times.

CEO of Alexandra Hospital, Liak Teng Lit, said: "Many of the older buildings are actually environmental friendly, they require very little energy to cool down because most of it is non-aircon anyway."

The three recipients were picked out of 28 nominees for the President's Award for the Environment, which is in its third year.

Going green reaps rewards for Alexandra Hospital
It uses solar panels and even has a butterfly garden
Jamie Lee, Business Times 21 Oct 08;

UTILITIES might make up less than 2 per cent of Alexandra Hospital's expenses, but the savings from being energy efficient could still help to lower patients' bills, said the hospital's chief executive Liak Teng Lit.

'If we add it all up, we could lower bills by as much as 3 per cent,' said Mr Liak, whose hospital was awarded the President's award for the environment this year.

He noted that the architects of the new hospital that is being built in Yishun - to be completed by early 2010 - have paid attention to the design, such as creating narrow corridors for non-air-conditioned wards to create a wind tunnelling effect.

'The trick is in the details,' he told reporters at a recent press conference, adding that he expects the new hospital to be 40 per cent more energy efficient than other hospitals.

He said the hospital's green movement was a case of happenstance.

'We were just trying to save some money,' he said, adding that this frugality led the hospital to fix leaking pipes which were pushing up the water bills, and to plant flowers that would hide ugly cracks on the walls.

Today, the current hospital not only boasts of solar panels and rain-harvesting equipment, it also has its own butterfly garden - supported by the hospital's own compost machine that converts dead leaves and food waste into fertiliser.

Power generation company Senoko Power also received an award for spending more than $1 billion to convert a handful of its oil-fired steam plants into gas-fired plants, as well as building its own desalination plant.

With the plant conversions, Senoko Power saved about 2.5 million tonnes per annum of carbon emissions, said chief executive Roy Adair. 'That's broadly equivalent to taking all the cars of Singapore off the road,' he said. The third award recipient, South West Community Development Council (CDC), was praised for their green initiatives such as its trash-for- groceries programme that attracted residents to exchange recyclable materials for eggs and rice.

'There were jokes that we were trying to put the karang guni man out of business,' said Amy Khor mayor of South West CDC.