New technology by NTU to slash electricity bills by 10%

Semi-conductor manufacturers will likely benefit.

A new technology from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) can help firms and factories slash energy bills by up to 10%, according to a media release by the university.

“The new algorithm is able to analyse energy consumption by tapping on sensors in computer chips already found in equipment such as computers, servers, air conditioning systems and industrial machinery,” stated the press release.

The algorithm could prove especially useful for those in the semi-conductor industry.

A typical semi-conductor factory which produces computer chips and components for computers and mobile devices could easily rack up to $50m and more in electricity costs. However, with NTU’s analytic engine, such a factory could chip away up to $1m a year without having to change much of its hardware and instead tune their operation and time their energy usage.

This could help Singapore firms to reduce their carbon footprint and energy usage, thereby meeting stringent regulations set by the Building and Construction Authority for its Green Mark Scheme.

Meanwhile, the HDB heartlands could also reap the benefits of the new technology.

“Our next challenge is to look into how we can deploy our energy saving analytics for the heartlands—into HDB flats and housing estate—in partnership with international urbanisation consultant Surbana,” said Ted Chen, co-founder and product architect of Evercomm Singapore, the firm helping NTU commercialise the algorithm.