Lee Li Ying Channel NewsAsia 31 Oct 16;
SINGAPORE: Bukit Panjang Community Club (CC) will be the first in Singapore to have solar panels and these will be installed by 2017.
According to the CC, work is underway to install the panels, and they are expected to generate at least 9 per cent of the building's energy consumption and help it save an estimated S$10,000 per year on energy bills.
The move is part of the “Eco CC @ North West” initiative that aims to encourage the community to adopt green practices. Efforts to green the CC started since April this year with the installation of water-saving devices, and features like energy-efficient LED lighting and motion sensors. A green wall will be installed in the upcoming months, it added.
These features are expected to help the CC save up to 90,000 kwh of electricity, or enough energy to power more than 300 three-room flats for a month.
However, there were challenges to implement these green features in the 23-year-old building. For example, the roof was not designed to incorporate solar panels, and in retrofitting the CC, the team involved had to work with limited space.
“Since we do not have the concrete roof space for solar panels, we had to place the solar panels on the metal roof of a different section of the building. This (was more) challenging and we had to look at the accessibility and the maintenance,” said Mr Allen Ang, chairman of the Eco CC Steering Committee. The team is working with consultants to ensure that the panels can be fixed and maintained safely.
Dr Teo Ho Pin, mayor of the North West District, said that having an eco-friendly CC will be useful in encouraging residents to adopt a green lifestyle. “It provides a green learning environment for our residents because the CC is actually a focal point where a lot of residents come together.”
Moving forward, the North West Community Development Council will work to roll out green features in all 19 CCs in the district.
The country as a whole has indicated its commitment to fight climate change, having ratified the Paris accord this September. By ratifying the agreement, Singapore formalised its pledge to reduce its emission intensity by 36 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 and stabilise emissions with the aim of peaking around 2030.
- CNA/kk
