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WLI Singapore Powwow Dinner Series (April 2021)
The Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) Singapore ran its third edition of the Powwow Series every Friday evening in April 2021.
The Application of New Technologies and Concepts to Achieve Net Zero for New Buildings
1 June 2021
In the 2021 ULI AP Summit ESG Forum held on May 21, Professor Lam Khee Poh, Dean of the School of Design and Environment (SDE) of the National University of Singapore (NUS), introduced how the university has improved the sustainability of the building complex of SDE, consisting of four buildings located on the 150-hectare campus of NUS.
Prof Lam first introduced SDE 4, the newest building that opened in January, 2019. With around 8,500 sqm of GFA on 6 floors, the building is the first new-build net zero energy building on the NUS campus and in Singapore. Prof Lam emphasized that rather than jumping into technologies, the school focused on leveraging the environment and time-tested passive features to make the building more sustainable and less dependent on technologies. As such, the building structure has openings to allow for wind to blow through and cool down the building. Also, an oversailing roof and trees near the building provide shades, thus preventing solar heat gain, and lastly, they installed around 1,200 pieces of solar panels on the roof top that not only produce energy but also shading to cool down the building.
According to Prof Lam, the top five goals for the new building were 1) health and well-being, 2) educational model, 3) flexibility, 4) community, and 5) living laboratory. He pointed out key design features that contributed to health and well-being include the installation of ceiling fans that reduce the energy consumption for air conditioning by 20% to 30%. He also shared, “We do not recycle the air. Air is absolutely fresh.” In SDE 4, 100% of the air in the building is fresh while in typical buildings around 90% of the indoor air is recycled to reduce energy consumption. As for energy use, the building is net positive with the rooftop solar panels producing more energy than the building consumes, even during the peak operation, namely from September to November. In the two plus years of operation, the building has produced net energy of 434 MW hours that were put back to the grid system and used by other buildings on the campus.
As for SDE 3, the building is currently undergoing renovation to become a super low energy building. The key design features include green-walls and a garden in a site that used to house an air-conditioning tower. Prof Lam added that SDE 4 is the first university building in world to achieve a WELL Gold building certification. It has a cafeteria that serves healthy food and has many accessible stairs while elevators are moved to places that are “hidden away.”
According to Prof Lam, NUS has committed to achieve carbon neutrality for its campus by 2030. Prof Lam ended his talk by citing Winston Churchill, “We shape our buildings, and thereafter buildings shape us.” Clearly, NUS understands the impact of its physical campus on its students, faculty and employees and is also providing leadership in achieving carbon neutrality.
Ken Rhee is Executive Director, ULI China Mainland, and hosted the May 21 ESG Forum.