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  Straits Times 25 Aug 07
Environment Building lives up to its name
It wins green award for reducing power bills, cutting out CFCs after renovation
By Tania Tan & Arti Mulchand

Today Online 24 Jul 07
National Library wins award
Jason Lee jasonlee@mediacorp.com.sg

Its efforts in conserving energy have won Singapore's National Library Building a regional accolade awarded by the Asean Centre for Energy.

The National Library Building — ranked top in the "Energy Efficiency and Conservation Best Practices Competition for Energy Efficient Buildings: New and Existing" category — was on a list of more than 20 recipients at the Asean Energy Awards last night. The event was held with the official dinner of the 25th Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting.

Through various initiatives — including escalators and water taps with motion-sensors, use of natural lighting, and gardens — the National Library Board (NLB) has been taking environmental-friendliness seriously.

And such measures also paid off financially for the NLB, which saves about 10-per-cent on its monthly energy bill, chief executive Dr N Varaprasad told Today.

Two other organisations here were also recognised for their efforts. The Environment Building and Plaza Singapura were ranked first and second, respectively, in the "Retrofitted" category.

The awards, held annually since 2000, seek to recognise the environment-friendly practices of organisations.

Straits Times 25 Aug 07
Environment Building lives up to its name
It wins green award for reducing power bills, cutting out CFCs after renovation
By Tania Tan & Arti Mulchand

PRACTISE what you preach. The Environment Building in Scotts Road has stayed true to its name - and won honours. The 20-year-old building clinched top honours in the retrofitted building category on Thursday at the Asean Energy Efficiency and Conservation competition.

Held at the Shangri-La Hotel - which was the 2002 winner in the same category - the awards saw winners from across the region showcasing their green architecture.

Managed by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), the building's winning formula helped cut power bills by some 20 per cent since 2004, even with extra floor space: a savings of about $270,000 annually. This means that the $1.5 million investment pumped into the building's renovation between 2002 and 2004 will pay off within six years.

Improvements to the building included a complete overhaul of its central air- conditioning system, now chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-free. The new system also contains carbon dioxide sensors that track air quality within the offices, adjusting air output along the way.

Though the exercise was 'capital intensive', explained Mr Raymond Chan, MEWR's head of facilities and operations, it was 'worth it in the long run'. He hoped the win will spur other buildings to become 'greener' too.

The competition was held after the one-day Asean ministers' energy meeting, during which a memorandum of understanding to establish a power grid throughout the 10-nation grouping was signed.

A joint communique issued stated that regional demand for oil will continue to increase due to robust growth, and that coal will continue to play an important role in the region's energy supply. Nuclear power was an option, it added.

Environmental group Greenpeace has been pushing for a shift to renewable energy and for nuclear plans to be scrapped.

It released a report saying that shifting to renewable energy could save Southeast Asian countries as much as US$2 trillion (S$3.1 trillion) in fuel costs over the next 23 years. A shift from oil and coal would also cut carbon emissions by 22 per cent in the same period, it added.

Nuclear energy and coal are 'false and dangerous solutions', said Ms Athena Ballesteros, Greenpeace International climate and energy campaigner. Yesterday, Greenpeace issued a statement that slammed the region for paying 'lip service to the critical issue of climate change'.

The 'only positive move', it said, was the commitment to derive 10 per cent of the region's power from renewable energy sources by 2010.

'Wrong energy choices made now will take decades to overturn. We don't have decades,' it added.
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