Jurong blazes green trail with LED lamps

Aljunied also plans to switch to energy-saving lighting
Amresh Gunasingham Straits Times 26 May 10;

JURONG, one of Singapore's oldest housing estates, is upping its green cache, and at least one other estate will soon follow suit.

By the end of this year, all 588 blocks in Jurong will be fitted with energy-saving lighting in common areas such as corridors, staircases and void decks.

This will save up to $1.13 million in annual utility bills, said the Jurong Town Council (JRTC), which oversees the maintenance of the 25-year-old estate.

By June, the Aljunied Town Council will follow suit, calling a tender for some 200 blocks to be retrofitted with light emitting diode (LED) lamps.

The two town councils were also the only ones to raise their service and conservancy charges last month, saying that with rising costs, they had no choice but to do so.

Yesterday, Jurong MP Halimah Yacob said the savings in energy bills, which make up 30 per cent of costs, would go some way in keeping them down.

Jurong's decision was made on the success of a trial conducted in December 2008 in a block along Bukit Batok Street 11.

The 162 60cm and 13 120cm fluorescent bulbs were replaced with 60cm LED light fittings. Over a 10-month period, they yielded energy savings of up to 52 per cent.

Mr Chan Wee Lee, senior manager at JRTC, said it had been studying the feasibility of using LEDs as far back as 2004, but wanted to find a way to protect them.

'Sometimes, water can be splashed onto the lights and there is also the danger of them being stolen. We wanted a design to address these issues,' said Mr Chan.

Two contractors, UGL-Premas Limited and Aztech Technology, were able to come up with an appropriate design and were awarded the contracts.

Both contractors will underwrite the initial $5 million capital cost of the project, but will get a share of the dollar savings over the next five years.

Mr Lim Ah Hee, principal engineer at the Housing Board's Building Research Institute, said the authority is encouraging the other 14 town councils to go the same way.

A workshop was held last month for all of them to learn about JRTC's efforts and the benefits.

Madam Halimah also announced yesterday that the town council will apply to join a United Nations-run scheme that makes it easier to trade in carbon credits. This would allow the town council to exchange credits for cash that it can use to offset costs.

HDB's Mr Lim assuaged concerns that LED-lit common pathways would not be as brightly lit as before and would be prone to power failures.

LED technology has improved and its costs have come down, said Mr Lim, noting that in the recent trial in Jurong estate, the town council did not receive any complaints from residents.