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  Business Times 30 Mar 07
SMEs come out tops at 'green' awards
Omega Thermal, Origin Exterminators are best in their class
By Pamela Chew

Today Online 30 Mar 07
Innovation that's hot and cool
With award-winning system, air-conditioning units can become water heaters, too
Sheralyn Tay

SOLAR power may be a great way to go green and save on your power bills, but if you are a flat-dweller who cannot fix a sun panel, what do you do? You turn to the other heat-generating source most Singapore homes cannot do without: Ironically, the air-conditioner.

Picture a system that extracts waste heat from a chiller or air-conditioning system, then acts as a boiler to produce hot water — so that in the 15 minutes it takes you to cool off in your room, you would have heated enough water for the whole family to take their baths.

This Heating Ventilation and Aircon (HVAC) system is the three-year-old "green" brainchild of Mr Philip Lee. "I just put things together. It was a simple idea," said Mr Lee, the founder of the local start-up that now markets and installs the unit.

Omega Thermal yesterday won the Singapore Environment Council-Senoko Power Green Innovations Award at the Green Summit Awards. The company started out fitting solar panels for residential and industrial purposes.

"But I realised there was a huge untapped market — up to 85 per cent of us live in high-rises, and the problem is that we can't fit (our apartments) with solar panels," he said. What most residents do have, however, is an air-conditioning unit.

Realising this, Mr Lee decided to experiment on an ice-maker belonging to one forward-looking coffeeshop owner. His idea was to bypass the refrigerant cycle of a typical chiller system and tap the heat for other purposes — in this case, a hot cup of kopi-o.

"We told the owner that if it didn't work, we would quietly dismantle it and each go our own way," said Mr Lee. But that was not necessary. Today, coffeeshop owner Mr Seah How Chai saves more than $100 on his monthly gas bill, and even gets more out of his decade-old ice-maker. The ice is more dense, Mr Seah told Today in Mandarin. "My compressor works better because all the hot air is absorbed (by the HVAC unit)," he said. "And it uses hot air to make hot water — buy one get one free!"

The innovation is being snapped up by hotels and service apartments. But it is harder to convince the average household. The $2,500 it costs to install is "a bit of a stretch", admits Mr Lee, since a conventional heater costs about $400.

But, he pointed out, the latter involves recurring costs. With the HVAC, most households will see a return on investment "in about two years".

According to Mr Roy Adair, president and CEO of Senoko Power, Omega Thermal captured the spirit of the award and demonstrated that "SMEs have a crucial role to play in driving the creation and application of green innovative products".

The other three winners at the Green Summit Awards were Origin Exterminators, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing.

Business Times 30 Mar 07
SMEs come out tops at 'green' awards
Omega Thermal, Origin Exterminators are best in their class
By Pamela Chew

SMALL and medium enterprises (SMEs) dominated the 'Oscars for the environment' at the inaugural Singapore Green Summit 2007 last night, bagging two of the three top awards.

Pest management company Origin Exterminators won the Best Environmental and Social Reporting Award, beating bigger names such as SembCorp Industries and Alexandra Hospital. Omega Thermal bagged the Green Innovation Award for its heating, ventilation and aircon system that uses 'waste heat' from air condensers or chillers to produce hot water at no extra cost - a boon for businesses that need large quantities of hot water.

Among the bigger companies, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co (SSMC) took top honours in the Environmental Achievement category, while Pfizer Singapore bagged a merit award for best social reporting.

Hitachi GST has slashed its greenhouse gas emissions and aims to be 'emission-neutral' by 2015. SSMC - the first to use NEWater as an alternative feed source - has put much effort into energy reduction.

Last night's event was hosted jointly by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) to showcase companies that are committed to corporate social responsibility, environmental best practices in business management and innovative eco-friendly creations.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim was guest of honour. The three award categories were: the ACCA Singapore Environmental and Social Reporting Awards, the Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards and the SEC-Senoko Green Innovation Awards.

On the strong performance by smaller companies, ACCA country head Penelope Phoon-Cohen said it is 'inspiring to see SMEs embracing the sustainability agenda'.

Senoko Power president and chief executive Roy Adair said: 'SMEs have a crucial role to play in driving the creation and application of green products.'

Dr Yaacob said he hopes the awards will become a 'prominent platform which will set a benchmark for responsible corporate citizenry among businesses here'.
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