Singaporeans using less electricity, water

Singaporeans using less electricity, water

People here may be armed with mobile phones, tablets and cameras, but they
are using less electricity now when compared with a decade ago - a trend
similar to Singapore's water consumption pattern.

Figures from the Energy Market Authority showed that last year, each
household used a monthly average of 468.4kWh of electricity. This is down
from the 469.0kWh monthly average in 2006.

The decline could be due to smaller households - there were just 3.4 people
in each household last year. About a decade ago, it was 3.6.

But estimated per capita consumption rates also reflect a similar downward
trend. In 2006, each person used a monthly average of 115.7kWh of
electricity at home. This dropped to 108.7kWh last year, according to
calculations made by Mr Allan Loi, energy analyst at the National University
of Singapore's Energy Studies Institute.

Energy experts said the decline could be due to more people adopting
household appliances that have become more energy efficient. This includes
air-conditioners and refrigerators, traditionally among the biggest guzzlers
of electricity at home.

"Energy-saving appliances compensate for the electrical consumption of
computers, electronic devices and video screens," said Mr Teo Chor Kok,
council member at The Institution of Engineers, Singapore.

The Government has schemes to steer consumers towards making green
purchases. In 2008, the National Environment Agency (NEA) started the
Mandatory Energy Labelling scheme, which requires appliances like
air-conditioners and clothes dryers to be labelled according to energy
efficiency. The system awards a "five-tick" rating to the most
energy-efficient ones, and a "one-tick" rating to the least.

In 2011, a new Minimum Energy Performance Standards scheme made the
labelling scheme more robust. NEA started prohibiting the sale of electrical
appliances that did not meet specified minimum energy efficiency standards.
The result was that 85 per cent of the air conditioners sold in 2012 had
three ticks and above, compared with only 50 per cent in 2008.

Experts said now that the Paris climate pact has come into force, Singapore
should tap technology to boost energy efficiency, and ramp up educational
outreach to get people to use even less electricity. The global pact seeks
to limit global warming to under 2 deg C above pre-industrial levels, and
countries, including Singapore, have committed to implementing measures to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Singapore's climate policy is based on three pillars - fuel switching,
increasing energy efficiency, and developing renewable energy, said Dr Luke
Peh, head of the facilities and events management programme at SIM
University. Most of Singapore's electricity is already generated by natural
gas, the cleanest form of fossil fuel.

But there are limitations, such as the lack of suitable sites, to tapping
renewable energy sources. "There should be more efforts to leverage
technology to be more energy efficient," said Dr Peh.

MORE HOMES NEAR TRAIN STOPS

By 2030, Singapore plans to have four out of five households within a
10-minute walk of a train station. And the Republic is getting there - as of
last year, this stood at three out of five (60 per cent) households.

In 2014, the figure was 58.5 per cent.

The 2030 target is just one of several Singapore has set for itself under
the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint, which charts ways for the country to
develop in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly way.

It has five focus areas: developing smart, eco-friendly towns; going
car-lite; moving towards a zero-waste nation; becoming a leading green
economy; and nurturing an active, gracious community where people are
environmentally conscious and do not litter, for example. The blueprint was
launched two years ago.

Yesterday, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli
gave an update on how the country has fared so far.

"I'm glad that the Paris Agreement came into force and that every country in
the world must now do their best to make sure to reduce their emissions," he
said on the sidelines of the Clean and Green Singapore Carnival, an event to
promote environmental awareness.

"For Singapore, we have been making incremental gains through our
Sustainable Singapore Blueprint."

Other updates given by his ministry include that for the domestic recycling
rate, which last year held steady at 19 per cent, the same as in 2014. In
2013, this was 20 per cent. Singapore's target by 2030 is a rate of 30 per
cent.

"It is impossible for the Government to achieve emission targets on our own.
We can make regulations, pass laws, but it is more effective if everyone
pitches in," said Mr Masagos.

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Ref:
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/singaporeans-using-less-el
ectricity-water

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com