Ascendas invests $10 million in energy efficient upgrades

Projects include overhaul of chillers and celebration of Ascendas Green Month showcasing prototype Solar Kiosk.

Business space solutions provider Ascendas continues to take a lead amongst local real estate players in energy conservation with a complete overhaul of the chillers at two buildings, Acer Building at International Business Park and The Capricorn at Singapore Science Park. This was announced at the official launch of the third annual Ascendas Green Month on Wednesday. Mr Quek See Tiat, Chairman of Singapore's Building and Construction Authority, was the Guest-of-Honour at the event, according to an Ascendas report.

This latest chiller upgrading project follows extensive steps taken to overhaul the chiller at Ascendas’ regional headquarters, The Galen, which has resulted in generating significant energy efficiency. Following the upgrade, The Galen is eligible for submission to United Nations to be registered as the first programmatic Clean Development Mechanism for a building in Singapore under the Kyoto Protocol. The Galen now features a state-of-the-art Energy Management System to monitor and control a brand new chiller plant with total efficiency of 0.563 kilowatt per 1 refrigerant ton of cooling, one of the most efficient in Singapore.

To date, Ascendas has invested more than S$10 million in energy management initiatives across its local and overseas properties, with the number set to increase. Ms Chong Siak Ching, Ascendas‟ President and CEO, said, “Our investment is not small, but the outcome is worth every cent.”

Mr Tan Yew Chin, CEO of Ascendas Land (Singapore), said, “Improving the energy efficiency of our existing stock of buildings is the fastest and surest way of reducing our carbon footprint. Older buildings generally have lower energy efficiency. This presents Ascendas with an excellent opportunity to lower our carbon footprint and at the same time, enhance the energy efficiency of our existing buildings, an initiative that we have started since 2005. While we can control and make our new buildings energy efficient during the design and development, our priority is to make our older buildings as energy efficient as our new ones. We will continue to invest in these initiatives.”

Launch of Ascendas’ third annual Green Month
Ascendas' third annual Green Month, themed “Go Green, Live Green”, saw the showcase of a prototype Solar Kiosk, a joint project by Ascendas and Singapore Polytechnic to develop and test-bed eco-friendly technologies that harness the use of renewable energy. The Solar Kiosk is the first to utilise Organic Photovoltaic Technology incorporating nano-structured solar cells to generate power. It is the lightest and most versatile Photovoltaic system currently and enables the Solar Kiosk to operate efficiently even under cloudy and low light conditions.

The Green Month has also seen an increase in participation in this year‟s activities from companies located at Singapore Science Park. Tenants will get a chance to take part in a number of activities designed to promote and embed the concepts of what it means to be environmentally-friendly over the next 30 days.

Designed around themes, the activities promote green concepts such as reducing waste by recycling, reducing carbon emissions by taking public transport, the use of clean energy and respect for the environment. Tenants and the public will be able to take part in recycling initiatives, learn about the benefits of clean technology through experiencing a prototype solar kiosk developed by Singapore Polytechnic, and participate in trips to Pulau Semakau and nature reserves such as Sungei Buloh and Pulau Ubin.

Ms Chong added, “There has been much progress made in terms of being environmentally-aware in our everyday lives. Mindsets have been shaped and people are more conscious of the impact of their actions on the long term sustainability of our natural resources. Our objective of this year’s Green Month is to keep the momentum going and build on what has been achieved.”

As part of this year’s Green Month, Ascendas will present a “Green Forum” on 9 July, which will feature speeches and a panel discussion of the views of leading environmental experts, such as

• Mr Edwin Khew, Chairman of the Sustainable Energy Association,
• Mr Ho Hiang Kwee, Director of Urban Solutions of Det Norske Veritas (DNV), and
• Mr David Lim, Senior Vice President of ST Electronics.

The Green Forum and the Ascendas Green Month activities are open to the public from 16 June to 9 July 2010.