a Biannual nea puBlication issue five: novemBer/decemBer 2013
e X P LO R I n G H U M A n I T Y ’s e n V I R O n M e n T Big Data anD sustainaBility eVeRY bIT cOUnTs improving environmental sense-making AnALYTIcs TOOLs fOR LOGIsTIcs eMIssIOns environmental crowDsourcing initiatives PROMIsInG GReen APPs gathering Data with crowDsourcing sUsTAInAbILITY And cOMPAnY cHAnGe inspiring international iDeas enVIROnMenTAL AwARds wInneRs asian e-waste trenDs PROGRAMMes fOR eLecTROnIcs RecYcLInG energy Data valuaBle for smes sMALLeR Is beTTeR career opportunities
The empowered Crowd Deciphering our environment
InsIde Green apps, BiG vs small data & crowdsourcinG examined
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Blomberg,
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Providing Essential Solutions Contributing to a Sustainable Future At Sembcorp, we believe that we have a part to play in contributing to a sustainable future, managing impact on the environment and enhancing the quality of life across six continents. From high-efficiency, low-emission and renewable energy generation, to total water and wastewater solutions, eco-friendly urban developments and integrated solid waste management, Sembcorp’s innovative solutions support the development of industries and communities. To find out more about Sembcorp, visit www.sembcorp.com
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Creating innovative environments enjoyed by all today and generations to come. We call this ‘Thinking Unboxed’.
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At Keppel Land, we deliver value through Sustaining Growth in our businesses, Empowering Lives of our people, and Nurturing Communities wherever we operate. Through our unwavering focus on corporate governance, adoption of best practices, giving back to communities, and development of green buildings, we shape the future for tomorrow’s generations. Keppel Land – Top Honour for Sustainable Business (Large Enterprise) at the Singapore Sustainability Awards 2013, and Winner at the Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards 2013 under the services category. www.keppelland.com
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C
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CM
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CMY
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K
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Take Back
Many Dimensions. One Sustainable Objective. To construct lasting value for generations. For over a decade, conserving as we construct has been our ethos. Our life cycle approach to sustainability has led us to consider the full scope of our impact on our planet, and all the dimensions where we can do better. From design to procurement, maintenance to user engagement, we aspire to align every aspect of our business in the direction of continued growth, creating not just sustainable developments but also sustainable lifestyles. The building sector accounts for 40% of energy consumption globally. Going by current trends, buildings will consume the most energy by 2025, more than the transportation and industrial sectors combined. At CDL, as Singapore’s property pioneer, we embrace our position as an impetus to innovate, invest and improve the ways buildings sustain life. Our efforts have helped place Singapore on the world map for sustainability. We are honoured to be the first Singapore corporation to be listed on three of the world’s leading sustainability benchmarks — FTSE4Good Index Series since 2002, Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World since 2010, and Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes since 2011. For us, sustainability makes good business sense. Corporations can do well while doing good — for today and for generations to come. Everything connects.
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W
ith mounting environmental threats and challenges to major global cities, governments and their communities are increasingly working together to help find solutions. A proliferation of environmental data coupled with new technological tools and an increasingly engaged population are setting the stage for interesting developments. With governments and industry sharing access to environmental data and involving stakeholders in consultative design processes, the opportunities for new synergy emerge. One aspect of this involves tapping the expertise of the ‘crowd’ to spur unconventional, rapid and innovative
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Note from the editorial team
solutions. Through initiatives hosted both online and in-person (often with some cross-over in-between), this crowdsourcing approach allows citizens an unprecedented chance to affect positive change. It is a dynamic experiment, and as Envision explores, when leveraging technology, it can speed efforts to improve environmental outcomes beyond what governments could do entirely on their own. Against this collaborative backdrop, diverse technical approaches have emerged. A large part of this effort is devoted to better sourcing, analysing and interpreting environmental data. In this issue, we survey applications of the latest GIS mapping techniques, cutting-edge software, predictive models harnessing so-called “big data”, interactive platforms, and apps providing environmental information on-demand. It should be noted that technology’s
computing power comes with its own environmental impacts. While there is incredible promise for its use, it should be applied prudently where the benefits outweigh its footprint. For instance, using technology, governments have the opportunity to better inform citizens of environmental challenges, share operational realities being faced on the ground, and seek the input and support of local communities. While there are still numerous technical hurdles to overcome, our world has begun to seem both smaller and better connected. In this dynamic landscape, humanity can increasingly understand the extent of environmental factors at play, the effects of their own activities, as well as influence environmental outcomes – hopefully for the better. Beyond technology, this issue also takes
a look at environmental best practices, with highlights from both private and public sector players, as well as the latest approaches to encourage behaviour change and citizen involvement. Championed by Buckminster Fuller, the Dymaxion map of Earth on this page visually suggests our environment can and should be examined in a more integrated way. By shifting our perception using technology, and enhancing our human understanding through collaboration, we can produce more holistic solutions to the environmental challenges that face us – at the global scale through to the local urban context. Indeed, enabled by these aspects, it is a more unified approach to action worldwide that is so urgently needed. Tap into the latest knowledge, extend your own expertise, and plug into the era of the empowered crowd. Issue 4
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Publisher National environment Agency (NeA) 40 scotts Road environment Building #13-00 singapore 228231 CEO Ronnie Tay Editorial Committee Chair Ong eng Kian Editorial Committee members s satish Appoo, Ram Bhaskar, Dulcie Chan, Chua Yew Peng, Fong Peng Keong, Derek Ho, Lee Kheng seng, Associate Prof Ng Lee Ching, Desmond Tan, Tan-Koh Yan Get, Tan Wee Hock, Toh Wee Khiang, Wong Chin Ling, Patrick Yang Editorial Lead Chris Tobias Editorial research intern Goh Jin Han Special thanks to suseno Budidarsono, Andrew Bryson, shirley Chua, Amanda De silva, sonya Dewi, Andree ekadinata, Dianne Goh, Prakesh Hemdev, sanjana Hemdev, Liz Kahurani, Lee eng Lock, Crispian Lye, Cheryl Tan, Adam Reutens-Tan, Ng Wei Jie, Ngeow Yin Teen, Meine van Noordwijk, Nikhil P, stephan schablinski, Ngeow Yin Teen, Tan Kar Way, Jasmine Ann Teo, Brian Toh, Joseph solomon NEA contributors and assistance Chua Chen Kok, Deng Lu, Ho Cheng Hoon, Dr Chew Kian Hoe, Kew Leong Lim, Celina Koh, sasha Lawrence, Dr Christina Liew, Bryan Mah, sueanne Mocktar, Charles Moy, Jack see, Dr shi Yuan, swee Kim Wee, Tan Han Kiat, Johnson Tan, Tay Lee san, Wee Tee Heng, evon Wong, Joan Yeap For advertising queries, contact
Trevor Teh Tel: +65 6281 8888 email: sales@multinine.com.sg Visit us at multinine.com.sg Produced and designed by
Tel: +65 6438 1998 Visit us at switchsg.sg Cover photography Keshav sishta Comments and opinions made by external contributors and parties interviewed by ENVISION Magazine do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the National environment Agency (NeA) nor the singapore Government. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained therein, the NeA bears no responsibility for correctness of content from external parties, unintentional errors, or omissions. All adverts on this magazine are displayed purely with an intention of advertisement and no endorsement or approval by the NeA of any product, service or supplier should be implied, nor will any liability be accepted by the NeA in this regard. All materials remain the copyright of the NeA, unless otherwise stated and no reproduction is permitted without the written authorisation of the NeA and/or the contributors. Portrait CMYK.pdf
ENVISION magazine is printed on environmentally friendly paper stock. For feedback, comments and contributions, please email nea_envision@nea.gov.sg
IssN 2251-3922
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The National Environment Agency’s technical publication ENVISION Magazine has won three international publications awards. The magazine secured two Awards for Publication Excellence (APEX) in the Green Magazine and Green Writing categories. It also won a Bronze Award for Best Government Publication from the US-based Content Marketing Awards, and was shortlisted as a finalist for the UK-based Content Marketing Awards. Thanks to the ENVISION editorial committee members, contributors, editors, designers and NEA staff involved, our advertisers and the ongoing feedback from readers like you.
Issue 5
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CONTeNTs
20
25
38
30 GLOBAL BRIEFING 20 Big Data: Enabling a more sustainable world? Technological advancements are reshaping human interactions with their natural and urban environments. Learn how these trends are already allowing for a deeper understanding of environmental phenomena as well as the potential negative implications 25 Bit warming: every bit adds up While an individual bit is tiny, the sheer volume of data created each day can have a profound impact on the environment. Is it time we start modifying our online behaviour?
ENVIRONMENTAL DATA ANALYTICS 30 Sense and Sense-Ability Technical tools and industry collaborations are paving the way to better understand the condition of Singapore’s environment. In a dynamic operational context, the NEA moves to deploy new sensors, integrate its systems, improve analysis and decision-making, and better anticipate risks 38 Greening the supply chain A new Singapore partnership aims to advance supply chain data analytics and cut emissions in the global logistics industry Issue 5
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CONTeNTs
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52
66 42
ENGAGEMENT 42 Bring the crowd The unconventional process of crowdsourcing is fast and cost-effective, but can it deliver real traction when tackling tough environmental issues?
52 There’s an app for that Smartphones and tablets are rapidly changing the way we work and play. Envision looks at some of the free (or very cheap) environment-related apps on offer worldwide BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS 56 Crowdsourcing for a cause A study that used iPhone-based crowdsourcing to gather environmental data has found that payment can help motivate volunteers – but may undermine their commitment to the cause
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62 Waking up at work How sustainability can act as a catalyst for organisational change HACKS 66 Inspiring international ideas Envision introduces a new section called Hacks. With creative and innovative environmental solutions sourced globally, you’ll find inspiration and ideas for your own initiatives
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS WINNERS: CELEBRATING ExCELLENCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY 71 Major awards won by NEA: Leading public service organisation clinches local and international accolades
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CONTeNTs
89
70
56 72 EcoFriend Award: Eight community heroes recognised for their effort and initiative 73 President’s Award for the Environment: The results of Singapore’s most prestigious environmental award ceremony 74 Singapore Environmental Achievement Award: Longest running national honour extends to a regional winner for first time 76 Singapore Sustainability Awards: Leading companies make top marks for their environmental and social initiatives INDUSTRY INNOVATION 80 Making the most of e-waste in Asia Revenues from recovery of valuable materials from electronics are growing, but regional regulation remains a problem
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80 86 How do mobile e-waste recycling programmes stack up? Mobile phones from business and personal use as well as a variety of household e-waste items can be recycled in Singapore 89 The value of data Industry experience shows energy management and verification yields operational savings, especially for SMEs PARTING SHOT 92 Big data: the solution or the problem? It is touted as the future, but could Big Data be causing as many problems as it solves? It might be time to start thinking small OPPORTUNITIES 95 Career change? Roles for professionals serious about helping safeguard, nurture, and cherish our environment
Erratum In Issue 4, Professor George Ofori was misidentified as Director, Climate Change Programme Department, NeA in addition to his title of Director of the Masters of environmental Management degree at the National university of singapore in the article “Required Learning: Breaking Down silos”. We apologise for any confusion.
A Singapore based company established in 1981. We currently have a well- established high tech manufacturing plant in China, two branch offices in Malaysia and strong long term distribution channels in Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Philippines and many other countries in the region. With more than 30 years of relentless dedication to the interest of public health as well as our constant strive to provide genuine and top-tiered products, services and solutions to our customers (consisting of Government Bodies, Pest Management Professionals, End Users etc), Agro Technic has remained at the top of our industry, distinguishing ourselves from the rest.
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GLOBAL BRIeFING
Big data: eNaBliNg a more sustaiNaBle world?
Technological advancements are reshaping human interactions with their natural and urban environments. Learn how these trends are already allowing for a deeper understanding of environmental phenomena as well as the potential negative implications
C
omputing tEChnology has been developing at a break-neck speed, roughly following the Moore’s Law trajectory of doubling in performance every two years. Recent years have seen advances in distributed computing and virtual servers (aka cloud computing), proliferation of mobile devices, explosion of social media and online communities, and growth of an “internet of things” connected online. In this space, the notion of “big data” has emerged as one of the most significant
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developments. But what will trends like big data mean for environmental action? Projected rise of big data McKinsey describes big datasets as those above the capacity of commonly available database software to capture, store, manage, and analyse. The characteristics of big data are typically described by the three Vs of velocity, volume, and variety. Big data moves fast: it is estimated that 100 billion Google searches take place and 30 billion pieces of content are added on
Facebook per month. Two billion videos are watched on YouTube and 400 million tweets on Twitter take place per day. By the time you have read this article, the sheer velocity of data will mean that these figures will be vastly superseded. It will only get faster: worldwide internet traffic is projected to quadruple by 2015. Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, also has a new global partnership aimed at helping lower the costs of mobile data and improve internet access in the world’s poorest countries, so this projection may likewise get shattered.
In terms of volume, a 2012 study by IDC Digital Universe found that 2.8 zetabytes (ZB) of data was created and replicated in that year. By 2020, this amount is projected to grow to 40 ZB, a 50-fold increase from the beginning of 2010, largely in emerging markets worldwide. How big is 40 ZB? If saved onto today’s Blue-ray discs, the weight of the discs would rival 424 aircraft carriers. This data comes from a variety of sources. People share their lives and interests across virtual communities, blogs, apps, and mobile devices daily. People also interact with machines through platforms like e-commerce and digital television on a regular basis. Many note the increasing connection and communication of machines with other machines. This “internet of things” – from sources like sensor and surveillance technologies, GPS devices, and ongoing scientific research – is tipped to increase in volume and overtake the peoplecentric traffic in the coming years. The people factor In this data deluge, it’s easy to get lost in the techno-babble and lose sight of a core truth: fundamentally technology is propelled, enabled, and used by people as much as it can propel, enable, and make use of people. It is a dynamic and two-way relationship, both push and pull. For better or worse, humans are at the centre of data, and their composite activity is what makes it so big. The challenge lies in homing in on useful sources, analysing them, and knowing what to do with the outcomes when they are enormous, moving too fast, and cannot be readily stored in existing structures. Even at the current rate, humans struggle to make sense of the data they create: according to the IDC Digital Universe 2012 study, only one per cent of the world’s data is analysed.
“Climate models are iNCrediBly Complex, iNvolviNg a multitude of diverse datasets like laNd use ChaNges, aerosol disCharges, greeNhouse gas emissioNs, hydrology, aNd weather systems”
Environmental applications When it is analysed, many of humanity’s most critical big data applications lie in the environmental space. Take climate change for instance: in order for stakeholders worldwide to mitigate and adapt to it, enormous volumes of complex data streams must be tapped. From greenhouse gas sources at a national level to climate models projecting weather shifts at a global scale, these are immense technical exercises to undertake. Climate models are incredibly complex, involving a multitude of diverse datasets like land use changes, aerosol discharges, greenhouse gas emissions, hydrology, and weather systems. These all need to be run in
tandem to complete an accurate model of how earth functions as a system. Based in the US, the NASA Centre for Climate Simulation’s (NCCS) Discover computing cluster is among one of the most advanced global supercomputers. The NCCS system has a capacity of 37 petabytes to run climate models. As a result, it can run them faster, more accurately, and with an expanded array of simulation and visualisation tools so scientists can get more granular detail of potential climate effects. Using this computing power to crunch data, the Discover computer can presently simulate three days of climate activity on earth at about 3.5 kilometre global resolution. Similarly, the Meteorological Service of Singapore under
the National Environment Agency (NEA) also recently acquired a Cray supercomputer to run climate and weather models. Such computing power boosts are likely to become more commonplace globally. Another complex area is environmental management. Operational challenges, increasingly vocal and demanding public, as well as seasonal shifts in everything from air pollutants like haze to diseases such as dengue are a lot to keep on top of. Beyond meteorological services, the NEA is responsible for urban environmental management in the small nation-state and needs to use its data to diligently fight these battles on a daily basis. The NEA is currently developing an Integrated Environment System (IES) that will harness environmental sensing systems coupled with data analytics and modelling to provide real-time environmental information and predictive capabilities. This will mean the NEA will be able to improve its early warning, pre-emptive, and sensing capabilities in support of its field operations. From handling acute air pollution issues to vector control, decision makers will be better able to anticipate and manage incidents and allocate resources more accurately. Once the IES is completed, it will also mean that the NEA can more readily disseminate accurate environmental information to the public as well as other collaborating government agencies. Many consider renewable energy a critical part of meeting our energy needs, but of course the devil is in the details. While sources like geothermal have revolutionary Issue 5
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GLOBAL BRIeFING
the world of
data
Big Data is data that is too large, complex and dynamic for any conventional data tools to capture, store, manage and analyse.
amounT of BIg daTa STorEd acroSS ThE World In pETaBYTES
>200
middle east
By 2015, nearly
>3,500
>2,000 >250 europe
WhaT doES ThE fuTurE look lIkE?
3 billion people
north america
china
>50
>400 Japan
india
>50
The right use of Big Data allows analysts to spot trends and gives niche insights that help create value and innovation much faster than conventional methods.
latin america
will be online, pushing the data created and shared to nearly
8 zettabytes BYTE SIZE Each onE IS a ThouSand TImES largEr Than ThE onE BEforE IT A byte one character, or a grain of sand A kilobyte a sentence, or a couple of pinches of sand A megabyte a 20-slide Powerpoint show, a small book, or a tablespoon of sand A gigabyte ten yards of books on a shelf, or a shoebox full of sand A terabyte 300 hours of good-quality video, a tenth of the Library of Congress, or a playground sandbox A petabyte 350,000 digital pictures, or a milelong stretch of beach An exabyte half the information generated worldwide in 1999, or a beach from Maine to North Carolina A zettabyte unimaginable or a beach as big as all the coastlines in the world
number of emails sent every second
2.9 million
data per day processed by google
total minutes spent on facebook each month
data sent and received by mobile internet users
24 700 1.3
petabytes
billion
exabytes
hoW IS ThE markET for BIg daTa SoluTIonS EvolvIng? A new IDC study says the market for big technology and services $16.9 billion will grow from $3.2 billion in 2010 to $16.9 billion in 2015. That’s a growth of 40% CAGR. $3.2 billion
58% of respondents expect their companies to increase spending on server backup solutions and other big datarelated initiatives within the next three years.
sources: eMC, Cisco, comscore, MapReduce, Radicati Group, Twitter, YouTube
promise, unlocking such potential involves a number of geological, technical, financial, and political hurdles. Together with a wide range of stakeholders, National Information and Communications Technology Australia (NICTA) and the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy are working towards better locating geothermal sources in the country with the aim of providing lowcarbon energy and reducing the country’s dependence on coal-fired power. To do this, NICTA is using big data analytics, leading researchers, and state-ofthe art algorithms to decipher geothermal sensor data sets provided by industry. Ultimately, the hope is to help Australia better tap its wealth of green energy sources, and help geothermal development businesses better assess target sites with data rather than expensive drilling exercises. These are just three applications in a macrocosm that also sees big data being used for improving industry energy efficiency, tracking e-waste, monitoring transboundary problems like haze, and analysing business supply chains and logistics to improve environmental practices. Data analysis from social networking platforms, consumption
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“there is a dowNside though: ComputiNg teChNology to store aNd digest Big data suCks massive amouNts of eNergy” patterns, and apps is also being investigated to better understand and shift people’s behaviour towards more environmentally preferred outcomes. Features in this issue of Envision explore many of these facets in greater detail. Into the future As humans come to grips with their technological activities and the data resulting from it, there are undoubtedly numerous ways this information can help steer humanity on a more positive environmental trajectory. There is a downside though: computing technology to store and digest big data sucks
massive amounts of energy. Juicing up server centres and other infrastructure like mobile towers has knock on effects with greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, this footprint stands at roughly 2-3 per cent of global emissions, and will only grow as technology advances. Two other negative effects are resource depletion and e-waste. Gadgets like smart phones go in and out of style rapidly, taking up volumes of rare minerals that are increasingly environmentally damaging to obtain, and generating mountains of e-waste that is a dangerous form of pollution. So while on the one hand technology can be incredibly empowering for environmental good, it also carries a dark side. If there is a lesson to be learnt, it is that humanity should better manage and balance these more negative aspects of technology, while at the same time aim to embrace the nobler promises of what big data might offer from an environmental perspective. As all human technological advancements have demonstrated, there are always unintended consequences for development. It would be truly ironic if, in an era where environmental data is so readily available, we collectively fail to heed its urgent warnings.
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GLOBAL BRIeFING
Bit warmiNg: every Bit adds up While an individual bit is tiny, the sheer volume of data created each day can have a profound impact on the environment. Is it time to modify our online behaviour?
D
oEs EvEry E-mail or social media post contribute to global warming? While the need to go paperless has been well recognised and timehonored, should we think about going bitless, too? While a bit or byte may be a minute speck in the overall scheme of things, can it all add up, bit by bit? Paper has invariably provoked argument as it is the end-product of deforestation and energy-consuming factory processes. The logical solution to remedy the growing usage of paper was to digitise our way of life. This has been enabled by advances in technology that have unfailingly lived up to theses such as “Moore’s Law”, leading to a vast proliferation of digital data. Widespread use of digital technology has opened up new avenues of content creation, collaboration, communication and consumption by making it more accessible, cheaper and easier to use. From being the domain of a handful of
Contributors Prakash Hemdev and Sanjana Hemdev
elite researchers, computing has become an indispensable part of our lives and is morphing the social fabric we exist in. In just 20 years since the launch of the World Wide Web into the public sector and 30 years since the first widely used compression algorithm was developed for communications, the amount of content created and transmitted has grown at an inconceivable rate and continues unrelenting. Consider this: In 1994, it was estimated that the traffic on the web at any given second was equivalent to shipping the entire collected works of Shakespeare. Today, more videos are uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than all three major US networks created in the last 60 years. 46.2 years of videos are
watched and 83 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day. 55 million tweets are sent each day. Facebook account holders share more than 25 billion pieces of content every month. Apple sold more mobile devices in 2012 than they have sold computers since their inception. Data interactions stemming from mobile devices doubled in 2012 alone and over 50 per cent of all mobile data is known to be in the form of video. Having already reached staggering proportions, this deluge of data is set to surge exponentially. The digital realm is growing so rapidly, that these numbers would be obsolete by the time you are done reading this! All this digital ether means consumption of vast amounts of energy. It is a wellestablished fact that data centres alone, chock-full of computing and communications equipment, consume huge amounts of electricity, amounting Issue 5
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Google data traffic mapped globally
1994
In it was estimated that the traffic on the Web at any given second was equivalent to shipping the entire collected works of shakespeare.
55
million tweets are sent each day
account holders share more than
25 billion
pieces of content every month.
46.2 years of videos are watched and 83 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day.
Data interactions stemming from mobile devices doubled in 2012 alone and over 50 per cent of all mobile data is known to be in the form of video.
Today, more videos are uploaded to YouTube in
60
dAys
than all 3 major us networks created in the last 60 years.
source: Google 2013, INeGI, MapLink
to a whopping 1.5 to 2 per cent of global energy demand (3 per cent in the US). This is growing at a rate of 12 per cent a year: already, if the Internet was a country, it would rank fifth in electricity usage. At one point, the Environmental Protection Agency predicted that data centre power consumption in the US would soon equal the output of 25 large power plants. Studies have shown that energy use is a substantial cost of IT operations, in certain cases exceeding the cost of the IT assets themselves. Data centres are gradually requiring an energy capacity of about 100 MW of power, which is the equivalent to the power consumed by about 80,000 US homes, says Greenpeace. To put this into context, streaming YouTube videos nonstop for three weeks requires about the same amount of energy as it takes to do a single load of laundry and 100 searches on Google have about the same footprint as drying your hands with a standard electric dryer. All this energy consumed by IT equipment is converted to heat and contributes
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significantly to humanity’s carbon emissions. It is estimated that streaming one minute of YouTube results in the emission of 0.1g of carbon dioxide and Google’s servers use about 0.0003 kWh of energy, which results in the emission of about 0.2g of CO2, to complete a single search. Unfortunately, far too little has been done to address the costs and effects of data centre facilities on a sustainable basis. Power requirements for data centres have grown immensely, suggesting that rising energy costs and stricter regulations are not helping. Consuming companies have explored unconventional methods to tackle the emission of heat from data centres and the energy required to keep them cool. For example, companies have been bringing up data centres in places located in cooler climes, such as Norway and Finland. This eliminates the need for power-hungry electric coolers, by, ironically, using naturally abundant freezing outside air and cold sea water. Another alternative adopted has been to build data centres where the cost of operation is relatively lower. In some
cases, these data centres use about the same amount of power that is collectively consumed by all the homes and businesses in the rest of the county. This demonstrates just how energyintensive the Internet has become and how perpetually active servers will require increasing amounts of power for their upkeep as more people spend more of their time online. Making a change So, can each one of us do anything to make a bit of a difference? We all contribute to this vast pool of data, through the e-mails we send or posts we make on blogs, wikis and social networks. As a result, administrators and capacity planners have to contend with a snowballing requirement of storage, networking and computing resources in an ever-growing data centre, even if the population of users remained constant. So, how does what we do matter? Every bit of additional content, such as digital signatures on e-mails (and, ironically, many
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The latest environment and waste management trends:
Introducing Cleanenviro solutions
CleanEnviro Solutions encapsulates the outcomes of the 2012 Cleanenviro summit singapore, the premier global platform for urban sustainability practitioners. With key statistics, facts and video interviews, it highlights how industry and governments can solve today’s environmental challenges. It also features a wealth of opportunities, plus updates on ‘movers and shakers,’ innovators and key decision makers. This NeA publication captures the commercial trends and expert perspectives shaping environmental management worldwide. Visit http://tinyurl.com/b85h8xs to download it for your computer or tablet.
GLOBAL BRIeFING
caring individuals carry a “green” ‘do not print unless necessary’ signature), images and even blank spaces contribute to this increase. The problem is compounded by redundant messages that are forwarded or replied to. Moreover, ineffective purging of mails leads to increased residual storage. The rising omnipresence of the cloud, too, has led to the proliferation of redundant data: the same data can now be found locally on our computers and elsewhere for ease of access. Telephones were accused of abetting the behaviour of picking up the phone to talk to a person sitting at arm’s length. Instant messaging and online tools have not only replaced the telephone; they have additionally made us overly “social”. How many “friends” did we have in the physical world before the advent of social networks? How many times in a day did we talk to them or let them know what we were doing? In the physical world, if you took just one second to say “hello” to every person in China, it would take more than 42 years to greet the whole country. So, what can we do? Can we considerately eliminate unnecessary messages? Can we create necessary messages using plain text or lighter formats, say HTML, which can be feature-rich and light? Can we consciously be thriftier in composing messages – lesser characters, spaces, line breaks? The role of an enterprise In an enterprise, apart from data that is generated outside its boundaries, there are a host of newsletters, memos and mailers which are sent within an organisation. Many use
heavy graphics, often running into MBs, to communicate a simple message. Imagine the sheer cumulative size of these messages going to hundreds, if not thousands, of employees. Not only does this dictate an immediate increase in resources, it also adds by leaving a lasting residual effect in determining longterm capacity requirements. Additionally, account quotas are swelling due to the decreasing cost of storage and bandwidth. Mailbox sizes have mushroomed from a few MBs to GBs in just the last few years. Would lowering quotas induce users to be thriftier in managing data volumes? Enterprises routinely have rigorous processes to prioritise and approve IT budgets based on business needs. However, resources for computing, communication and storage are, at most times, handled as mere mathematical year-on-year growth computations. Would it be helpful to critically review these needs as well? Can organisations adopt more rigorous methods to measure and optimise digital usage? Can administrators be urged to set eco-friendly rules on servers, such as stripping out fat when transmitting messages, removing the original message when replying or forwarding, turning off downloading images and other rich content by default? The role of developers Developers can play a key role by creating more eco-friendly sites and platforms. Most sites today have a printer-friendly option (save paper!), so why not “eco-friendly”? A number of ways can be considered: using
light-weight feature-rich non-graphical means to create and render content, turning off rich options by default, improving client and server-side cache management, moving processing and rendering functions towards the servers thereby reducing the exchange of data back and forth. Take for example www.7billionworld.com. At almost one mile high and 800 feet wide, it claims to be one of the largest webpages on the Internet! Considering how “big” the page is, it is remarkably low in terms of code (only 13KB), thanks to the use of methods that optimise reproduction of content. In summary, we can play a part in reducing warming a bit. Imagine: only a part of the world is digital today. Continued growth and use of technology is as certain as death and taxes. What lies ahead if this continues unhindered? So, should we restrain the urge to send an e-mail to someone sitting at arm’s length or start a conversation online, and instead do it the old-fashioned way? Should we only share what’s needed? If this is at all pertinent, let’s do a bit more for planet earth by using a bit less – bit by bit. Prakash Hemdev is an executive with a global iT Consulting firm and has interest in society’s impact on our environment. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering. sanjana Hemdev is a student in the tenth grade who is interested in Environmental Management and socio-economic issues. They can be reached at info@bitwarming.com. Issue 5
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seNse aNd seNse-aBility
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PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD WJ KOH
Technical tools, data analytics and industry collaborations are paving the way to better understand the condition of singapore’s environment. In a dynamic operational context, the NeA moves to deploy new sensors, integrate its systems, improve analysis and decision-making, and better anticipate risks
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senior management discussing next steps for iEs development
m
aintaining a high quality of life in an urban environment is one of Singapore’s signature achievements. As a leading agency responsible for helping the nation safeguard, nurture, and cherish its environment, the NEA sits at the centre of a diverse range of environmental management issues. Using a wide variety of environmental data analysis strategies helps the NEA anticipate opportunities, risks and challenges in urban areas. In recent years, the NEA has been rolling out a suite of initiatives to improve data sensing capabilities, manage cases and public feedback, better forecast environmental issues like air quality and dengue outbreaks, and integrate its numerous operational systems. The goal is to help streamline processes within the organisation, improve service quality, and provide decision-makers with
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improved tools to manage challenging environmental management scenarios. That means looking at five key areas: Integrated Environment System (IES) A situational awareness tool that brings together many distinct operational systems
l iCARE An
integrated customer relationship management system that helps the agency manage public feedback and operations
l The
l Sensor
and system technologies Focusing on providing improved data collection sourced from land, air, and water
l Analysis
and modelling tools In tandem with IBM, this initiative aims to improve predictive and analytic capabilities
l Dengue
GIS A new epidemic spatiotemporal forecasting model using a variety of urban-sourced data
Systems integration and analysis – the advent of the IES Anticipating and managing environmental incidents is critical to maintaining a high quality of life. The NEA already has numerous operational systems for areas like weather and pollution monitoring. The IES was developed to enhance the combined power of these existing systems and provide decision makers with improved predictive capabilities. It aims to harness environmental sensing systems coupled with data analytics and modelling to provide real-time or near real-time environmental information and predictive capabilities to provide early warning, pre-emptive and sensing capabilities in support of the field operations.
one of the iEs development focus group sessions and mock-up screenshot of the new iEs platform
“with the ies, the puBliC would Be provided with, aNd Could eveN CoNtriBute, relevaNt aNd useful eNviroNmeNtal iNformatioN� The system also provides opportunities for joint collaboration with other public agencies and research institutes on environmental and weather related initiatives. With the IES, the public would be provided with, and could even contribute, relevant and useful environmental information. The contract for development was awarded in October 2012 and will be implemented over three years. This new system will collect the real-time or near real-time data from environmental and weather sensing systems, conduct
automatic validation and check the data against threshold levels and provide alerts on different situations. The validated data will then be stored in a centralised information warehouse for reporting and visualisation using GIS and dashboards. The data which is required for analytics and predictive modelling will be transformed into standard format and processed to simplify extraction for analysis and modelling. It will also provide NEA officers with near real-time environmental situational awareness via the customisable dashboards which will display key environmental data and alert levels 24/7 across the whole island and on a GIS platform. Video, business analytics and predictive models will provide guidance and information for NEA officers both on the ground and in the office to take pre-emptive or corrective actions on a real-time basis. Features like air quality modelling will provide early warning for enhanced air quality management and risk mitigation. Trend analysis and what-if scenario modelling can also be conducted on historical or seasonal environmental information to predict behaviour of environment factors and their effects.
Environmental sensors upgraded Ultimately, the success of a top-level system like IES will in large part be determined by the quality of data analysed, which is in turn affected by the sub-systems that harvest it from the operational environment. With this in mind a suite of sensing systems in the air, water and land domains has been put in place to monitor the environmental quality and weather conditions in Singapore. These standalone systems include: l Telemetric
air quality monitoring network A network of stations to continuously monitor ambient air quality in Singapore (see also, Envision Issue 1)
l Stack
emission monitoring system Telemetry system to monitor major emitters such as oil refineries, power stations and refuse and toxic waste incineration plants on a real-time basis
l Advanced
weather monitoring systems Systems and networks comprising 3G weather monitoring stations, meteorological radar system, satellite, Issue 5
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wind profilers to provide current and forecast weather conditions in Singapore (see also, Envision Issue 4) l Continuous
water quality monitoring system A network of buoy-based stations to monitor the quality of coastal water around Singapore
l Multiple
surveillance cameras To monitor areas of concern such as cleanliness of roads, high-rise littering and hawker centres
As one operational example of these new systems, new video sensor technology has been employed to combat high-rise littering. In Singapore, 82 per cent of the population are HDB dwellers, so high-rise littering is considered one of the most challenging public health related issues faced by the NEA, Town Councils (TCs) and Housing Development Board. Although most feedback is resolved after outreach efforts by the NEA, TCs and members of grassroots organisations, there are cases of persistent high-rise litter-bugs and a growing demand from the public to take stern action against them. To address these challenges and circumvent long hours of labour intensive and often futile stake-outs, the NEA carried out a pilot project using high definition surveillance cameras and video analytic software to apprehend offenders in 2011. The pilot not only led to the successful prosecution of two offenders in Court; the deployment of cameras showed a deterrent effect. Since the success of the pilot project, the NEA embarked on a full-fledged deployment of surveillance cameras in August 2012 through the newly formed Video Surveillance Unit (VSU). Analysis and modelling – THE NEA-IBM Joint Development Agreement Data from sensing systems can be used for a number of purposes including modelling and predictive forecasting. As a complement to the IES and sensing systems, the NEA and IBM signed an agreement in May 2012 to develop advanced modelling and predictive capabilities in key environmental domains in Singapore. The vision is to leverage real-time environmental information from IES to build state-of-the-art predictive capabilities to simulate, forecast and report on key environmental concerns in Singapore such as air quality, dengue outbreaks, extreme weather events and early detection of public health issues.
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features of surveillance camera l Decentralised Technology with Internal DVR
Reliable Connectivity Remote Access/Multiple Viewing Multicast supports WIFI, 3G and 4G
l High resolution megapixel camera l View entire location with wide angle view
and digital PTZ
Storage of your choice On-site Recording Back-up Recording Redundancy
l Two way interactive sound feature l Built-in sensors and detectors l Robust camera system specifically designed to
ECO-Friendly Power Source Direct Methanol Fuel Cell
withstand extreme and harsh conditions l Multi user Access to system
Robust Platform Weatherproof Camera system
l Continuous Recording mode
operation of surveillance cameras l High resolution cameras with video analytic capability installed to monitor suspected units l standees deployed at the ground level of the affected and neighbouring blocks to notify
residents of camera surveillance and to provide feedback l Camera detection of motion at the windows of the suspected units triggers an alert at the
contractor’s command centre. If a potential high-rise littering act has occurred, Vsu will be notified l Footage analysis to verify the incident l Vsu follow up to prosecute the offenders when the footage is verified
pErformanCE to DatE number of deployments
778
Percentage of cases resolved for these deployments
80% of cases resolved after deployment of camera – no further feedback and cleaners reported. No further high-rise littering issues
number of offenders caught
53
Cases prosecuted in court
14 (court fines ranging from s$400 to s$2,100)
CasE stuDy: high-risE littEring inCiDEnt at Blk 176a EDgEfiElD plains Residents of Blk 176A edgefield Plains had been plagued by tissue papers and refuse thrown from a unit above their homes. As a result, the block was among the first few areas where the surveillance camera was deployed. On 5 september 2012 at about 9.52 am, surveillance cameras captured Ms Lim throwing a plastic bag filled with refuse out of her kitchen window onto the ground below. she was convicted and fined $950.
The predictive capabilities will enable proactive measures to be taken to prevent unwanted events instead of simply reacting as they occur. For example, the forecasting capability will help NEA to better inform the public in advance of changes in air quality so that they can plan their daily activities. The project kicked off in July 2012 and will end in July 2015. Predictive models will be developed in the following four areas: l Air
quality Forecast air quality up to 24 hours in advance using real-time data collected in IES, and trace air pollution to identify possible sources
l Weather
Forecast heavy rainfall and/or wind gust speed at a given location
l Dengue
prediction Predict outbreaks and conduct scenario analysis to evaluate the efficacy of intervention policies. By predicting areas of high dengue risks and evaluating proposed prevention policies and measures, it will help enhance the effectiveness of Singapore’s dengue control programme
l Sentiment
Analysis Early detection of possible public health concerns such as poor food hygiene incidents will be achieved through data mining and analysing social media to complement the existing inspection regime. This could allow for more targeted and timely inspections based on public feedback and information on social media platforms
Once the predictive models are developed, they will become operational on the IES platform as part of the system’s modelling and data analytics capability.
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, dr Vivian balakrishnan (upper left), and ibM Corporate General Manager, Jeffrey Rhoda, oversees the MoU signing between Andrew Tan, then nEA CEo and Janet Ang, ibM Managing director at the CleanEnviro summit singapore 2012
“the prediCtive CapaBilities will eNaBle proaCtive measures to Be takeN to preveNt uNwaNted eveNts iNstead of simply reaCtiNg as they oCCur”
Air quality modelling prototype
Informatics: preparation for preparedness With a tropical climate and no distinctive seasons, the South-East Asian region is highly conducive to the spread of dengue – a disease transmitted by the Aedes mosquito vector (See also, Envision Issue 3). Combined with an urban environment which favours the propagation of such mosquitoes, the region is rendered extremely vulnerable to dengue outbreaks, including one in 2013 that left more than 20,000 people suffering from the disease in Singapore. NEA has in recent years introduced virological surveillance and a novel in-house developed mosquito breeding index to assist in risk stratification and to improve interventions. As part of a wider push towards environmental data analysis and systems integration, development of spatio-temporal dengue models has been initiated to forecast the incidence of dengue and help guide vector control operations. For the temporal model, key factors affecting future dengue incidence were identified through a retrospective statistical study of the relationships between various factors such as climate data, mosquito information, and dengue incidence. A series of independent statistical models was then built, using LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator) regression, which reflected such relationships, interlacing their results to give the national temporal dengue forecast. To be consistent with reported dengue data from Singapore’s Ministry of Health Issue 5
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Team responsible for the development of spatiotemporal dengue model. back row left to right: Christopher Chin (EHi senior Programmer), dr yuan shi (EHi biostatistician), dr Alex Richard Cook (nUs Assistant Professor), lilac liu (EHi Analyst), dr david lee (EHi Programme Head). Front row left to right: suet yheng Kok (EHi analyst), Jayanthi Rajarethinam (EHi Analyst).
(MOH), the temporal output was generated using weekly data. Finer or coarser resolution data was assumed to be homogeneous, and reworked as weekly estimates. Some considerations and determinants include: l Case
data The number of cases logged weekly is obtained from the Weekly Infectious Diseases Bulletin published by the Ministry of Health (MOH), Singapore data Mid-year population sizes for residents and foreign nonresidents are obtained from the Singapore Department of Statistics
dengue transmission. Spatial distribution of population information is obtained from Singstats and we estimate population density per subzone by dividing the total population with residential area l Normalised
Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) NDVI is used to measure the relative condition of vegetation over time. It is calculated based on the ratio of Near Infra Red and red channels from satellite images
l Population
l Meteorological
data Weekly mean temperature, number of hours of high temperature, maximum hourly temperature of each week and relative humidity data are obtained from the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS)
l Vector
surveillance data The weekly Breeding Percentage is an in-house index developed by NEA, which provides an estimate of the proportion of Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of dengue in Singapore, compared to all Aedes species
l Trend
and seasonality data To represent any yearly cycle of dengue cases, we extract trends and seasonality from the weekly dengue cases using iterative decomposition and break detection algorithms
l Population density Population density has
been shown to have a positive effect on
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Current work is also focused on a dengue stratified risk map to identify areas with higher risks, in order to help guide deployment of vector control resources. Risk factors (such as past dengue cases and breeding percentages) were individually categorised into low, medium and high levels, and integrated to stratify the risk level for each geographical area. From January – August 2013, an average of 87 per cent of large clusters (more than 10 dengue cases) fell into areas categorised as ‘high risk’. Future work towards a spatio-temporal dengue forecast will incorporate both the temporal model and the stratified risk map. To forecast the risk of dengue in a localised area, temporal factors such as temperature and humidity, and spatial factors such as vegetation index, housing information and population density will be integrated into the forecast models. Since its development, the predictive model has guided strategic plans. In February of 2013, the weekly dengue cases were higher than in earlier years. Initial versions of the model predicted entry to the warmer dengue season on a high base, which would result in a steep rise in dengue cases
from April 2013, peaking at over 800 cases per week at the start of July. Virus surveillance also revealed a potential switch in the predominant dengue serotype, from DENV-2 to DENV-1, and with an alarming accumulation of a newly introduced strain. Taken together, these suggested that a dengue epidemic was looming. To take action on this forecast, NEA strategised vector control operations, carried out preventive surveillance checks at dengue high risk areas, convened Interagency Dengue Task Force meetings, stockpiled Gravitraps – in-house produced adult mosquito traps – and diagnostic kits, alerted the Ministry of Health and hospitals, and developed a public campaign to encourage citizens to “Do the Mozzie Wipeout” to destroy breeding habitats. Concurrently, a new aerosol spray called the MozzieZap was quickly developed. Due to its success in predicting the 2013 epidemic, the forecasting tool has become an integral part of Singapore’s vector control programme. Using the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) to assess the relative forecast accuracy, the approach shows a range from 17 per cent error forecasting for one week to 22 per cent error forecasting three months into the future. Tracking, managing and analysing public feedback cases Dengue control is just one example of how operationally intensive the NEA is as a statutory board. With nearly 4,000 staff covering diverse areas like pollution control, environmental public health and hawker centres, keeping tabs on critical issues and public feedback is essential to keep things running smoothly.
As yet another dimension of its environmental data analytics initiatives, to enable this, the agency has created a wide range of feedback channels that plug into the iCARE Customer Relationship Management System. Since its launch in April 2012, this system has served as a cornerstone for a wide range of operational activities, and supports processing of an average of 23,000 cases per month. Feedback channels include calls through NEA Contact Centre, emails, letters and faxes, Online Reporting Centre (ORC), mobile apps and SMS, walk-ins, 3P network and events, and from media sources. After input into the iCARE system, feedback is routed for follow-up by line departments and issues are carefully analysed and reviewed. This helps to determine larger trends, to monitor effectiveness of measures implemented, to make sense of different parameters which may affect particular kinds of feedback, and to provide analysis of activity hotspots by geographic area. To ensure optimum customer relationship management, the iCARE system itself has a number of features, including individual feedback case management, appeals management, customer profile, interaction history, events management, analytical and reporting tools, and dashboard functions. It also interfaces with a number of other internal systems such as the Environment Enforcement Management System (EEMS), and the Geographic Information System (GIS) which enable geospatial analysis of 25 feedback categories. As a strategic enabler, the iCARE system allows NEA to enhance its response to critical events and changing trends. It helps the agency to improve its effectiveness and consistency in feedback response, to better trace and manage cases, build partnerships, increase customer satisfaction, and provide insights to management from data analysis of feedback. Policy sensing and sense-making is vital to improving operational performance. A team has been dedicated to this endeavour, whose objective is to apply business analytics methodology to review policy, processes, organisational and people capabilities to improve the service delivery of NEA. Through regular monitoring and reporting, the team also aids senior management in better understanding of trends and analysis of feedback data, with performance reports available on a weekly, monthly, or ad-hoc basis. The team identifies projects through analysis of various data sources, including iCare customer feedback data, and works directly with the departments to uncover
“the iNClusioN of these tools iN the iCare system allows Nea to have a CompreheNsive approaCh to how it maNages feedBaCk aNd Cases that will ultimately determiNe eNviroNmeNtal quality iN siNgapore� any improvements that can be made. It also showcases capabilities, to invite departments to approach the team for project initiation. These capabilities include leveraging on iCare as its main data source, Excel as its main general analytics tool and ArcGIS as its geographical information system. Text analytics capability is currently being developed through a tender led by IDA. In addition, the team adopts a collaborative approach to implementation of projects, with the IMPACT framework. Similar to the previous dengue application, using the GIS functionality, time based views can be examined, clusters of similar kinds of feedback can be identified, and hotspots can be further analysed to improve situational
awareness. ArcGIS analytics capabilities take this a step further, allowing for geo-spatial normalisation, cross-boundary analysis of issues in different locations, visualisation tools, and automated hotspot identification. The inclusion of these tools in the iCARE system allows NEA to have a comprehensive approach to how it manages feedback and cases that will ultimately determine environmental quality in Singapore. Conclusion As these many systems demonstrate, considerable effort is being undertaken to improve the sense and sense-making capabilities in NEA operations and management. The work to develop the IES and predictive models under the JDA are progressing well and according to schedule. The next step is to drive adoption of IES among key stakeholders and building analytics and predictive modelling capability in NEA, while continuing to integrate and improve other sensing systems and tools. While the decades ahead will undoubtedly have their share of challenges – be it events like transboundary haze or subsequent dengue outbreaks - the development of sophisticated measures like these will allow the NEA to become ever more future ready. This article was prepared with staff contributions and assistance from the strategic Development and Transformation office, Environmental Health institute,video surveillance Unit of Environmental Health Department, and Customer & Quality service Department. special thanks to all staff for their involvement. Issue 5
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eNVIRONMeNTAL DATA ANALYTICs
greeNiNg the supply ChaiN
A new singapore partnership aims to advance supply chain data analytics and cut emissions in the global logistics industry
i
n a gloBalisED economy, it’s hard to imagine a part of life that the logistics industry doesn’t touch. With the global value of the industry estimated at around US$4 trillion in 2013, and the knock-on effects for business supply chains worldwide financially far higher, the industry forms a critical cornerstone of economic activity without which life as we know it would cease to function. As some commentators have noted, the impetus for industry change is not just subject to popular opinion or political pressure. Increasing instances of environmental disruption, which many fear is in part driven by climate change (see
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Contributor Chris Tobias, NEA Envision Issue 4), has been upsetting supply chains. With a death toll of around 500 people and economic losses in the vicinity of US$43 billion, the significant 2011 floods in Thailand disrupted operations for many major global players including Apple, Dell, Intel, and Toyota. Supply chains were heavily affected by flooding, factories shuttered, and in the instance of Toyota alone, the company slashed annual profits forecast in 2011 by 54 per cent as a result of this single environmental incident.
Such environmental worries are hardly isolated to Thailand: from fragile rail lines at sea-level on the eastern seaboard of the US to the ever precarious logistics hub of Rotterdam that owes its continuing existence in part to levees, there is growing awareness of susceptibility in the international supply chain. Ranked as the number one logistics hubs by the World Bank Logistics Performance index 2012, Singapore is home to 20 of the world’s top 25 third party logistics companies. Potential environmental interruptions to these activities would therefore have significant implications. As is the case with solving many major global challenges, what has emerged in this
2. Regional research into Extended Producer Responsibility 3. Research into innovative business models that create a strong value proposition in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility, while leveraging core logistics competencies
critical trading hub is an unconventional partnership between non-traditional players to begin addressing the emissions footprints of the logistics industry internationally. Teaming up to tackle emissions To enhance environmental sustainability of global logistics supply chains, the aviation and maritime industries are taking their own steps that complement the global measures led by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the International Maritime Organization to promote sustainable practices for air and sea freight. In May of 2013, logistics heavyweight DHL teamed up with Singapore Management University (SMU) to create the Green Transformation Lab (GTL), an applied research collaboration to develop sustainable supply chain solutions.
Through this collaboration, DHL is investing approximately S$2 million over two years to solve real world supply chain problems with the help of SMU’s interdisciplinary expertise in operations management and information systems. Stephan Schablinski, Director of Sustainable Supply Chain Solutions at DHL, serves as GTL’s Director, and Tan Kar Way from SMU’s School of Information Systems is the centre’s Academic Director. Working with academics, logistics industry professionals and students trained in some of the most cutting-edge data analytics technology available, the Green Transformation Lab team is responsible for several major deliverables: 1. To improve the visual analytics in the DHL Carbon Dashboard 2.0, an end-to-end supply chain analysis and management tool
Business value based carbon decision making tools At the cutting edge of the environmental data analytics space, the evolution of the Carbon Dashboard 2.0 as GTL’s first deliverable holds promise worldwide for the logistics industry. Building off an existing Carbon Dashboard, the Carbon Dashboard 2.0 will help advance analytic capabilities and visualisation tools available to those making major logistics decisions. “We integrate cost, carbon and time factors into one tool for decision makers,” says Mr Schablinski. “This we believe has been the missing link in getting traction on logistics emissions. These factors must be viewed and understood in unison when making decisions.” The new dashboard allows quick analysis and drills down into emissions sources, transport modes, freight density, country and regional information, trade lane and cost data sets, all of which can be supplied from a diversity of sources. “Effectively, this solution, in its advanced version, will couple three components together,” he says. “There is a so-called middleware tier that transforms data from a wide range of logistics sources, a backend tier that is used to make emissions calculations with this clean data based on relevant protocols, and a front end visualisation tier that helps decision makers manipulate and digest the complex information from their supply chains.” An existing DHL carbon dashboard was given a facelift and some powerful new features to make it both easier to use and more effective. “This is about making carbon emissions transparent throughout the entire supply chain from where it picks up to where it drops off,” says Mr Schablinski. “The improved version uses the visual front end to help demonstrate where fuel is used and how emissions are generated,” he says. “Testbedding and tweaking are now underway to perfect the analytical capacity and visualisation features.” Perfecting the technology, gleaning value from data Building off DHL’s industry expertise, SMU helps evolve the technology. “SMU School of Information Systems upgraded the first
eNVIRONMeNTAL DATA ANALYTICs
stephan schablinski (right) and Tan Kar Way, director and Academic director at dHl-sMU Green Transformation lab
screen grab from Carbon dashboard 2.0, which uses advanced analytics and visualisation technologies to demonstrate where fuel is used and how emissions are generated
version of the Carbon Dashboard to Carbon Dashboard 2.0 by building in visualisation and decision-support capabilities,” says Ms Tan. “SMU’s strength in analytics allows the application to process large amount of shipment data in an efficient manner. From there, a more solid understanding of greenhouse emissions profiles across a company’s supply chain activity becomes possible.” At the front line of this environmental application of big data, careful selection of technologies ensures data storage and visualisation capabilities work seamlessly to
help meet business needs. Built using opensource technology, Carbon Dashboard 2.0 is also designed to be services-based, which allows easy integration with other supplychain management tools that GTL will be building in the near future. Data can be uploaded from databases of transport management systems (eg origin, weight, volume, port of loading, port of discharge and destination) to the Carbon Dashboard 2.0 where large amounts of data can be quickly queried and visualised for decision-makers to evaluate the end-to-end supply chain process. The application has
“this is aBout makiNg CarBoN emissioNs traNspareNt throughout the eNtire supply ChaiN from where it piCks up to where it drops off” been designed with large scale data analytics in mind. Industry applications While carbon calculators are commonplace enough in the industry, this often does not extend outside logistics providers’ data, and it can often be presented in myriad data formats. The new Carbon Dashboard 2.0 in its advanced version is designed to provide a complex, integrated and open offering. “The bigger picture play here is quite clear,” says Mr Schablinski. “We need to introduce common standards for industry
.......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... . .sourCEs . . . . . . . .of . . transport . . . . . . . . . . . Emissions: . . . . . . . . . . .ComplExity . . . . . . . . . . .of . . .thE . . . supply . . . . . . . Chain ................................ ......................................................................................... .......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... .......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... .......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... .......................................................................................... . .Raw . . . . . . . . Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Port . . . . . . . . International . . . . . . . . . . . . . Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Retailer ...... . material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Warehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . freight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distribution ....................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@. . . . . . . .......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Online ...... ......................................................................................... 042
to use so that we can universally improve the understanding and management of greenhouse gas emissions.” “This dashboard will eventually be more openly available as an online application which we hope will get mass uptake, and help harmonise data sets across players in the global logistics industry, unify language and consolidate a robust approach to dealing with this critical supply chain aspect,” he says. Through the end of 2013, GTL will pilot the new dashboard for selected customers, and from early 2014 onwards, introduce this to companies in different industries like life sciences and technology. Mr Schablinski believes this will help address several pressing needs. “Companies are asking how to generate this carbon number, what it means, how to report on it, and how to understand the numbers to identify inefficiencies in their supply chains. In an era prone to fuel price spikes, this also has many attractive costsaving implications,” he says. At this stage, mainly multinational companies based around Asia-Pacific are asking for this solution, though some local companies also interested. The future of logistics Eventually, the Carbon Dashboard 2.0 will form just one part of a suite of supply chain analysis tools. Right now, it focuses on what happened after the fact – the consequences of supply chain decisions that have already been made. Expansion of a “what-if” tool will allow changing of different logistic parameters to see what these changes would mean to the supply chain in terms of carbon, cost and transition time. There will be future development of an advance planning tool to better model possible scenarios and their outcomes. The logistics-focused work goes further however. Through SMU’s leadership in analytics for business, consumer and social insights, strong capabilities in applied research on urban logistics and transportation planning have evolved. Prof Lau Hoong Chuin, a senior faculty at the SMU School of Information Systems, illustrated two of his recent research projects in collaboration with other faculty in SMU and companies like DHL. In 2012 for example, they developed analytics for ‘Computational Sustainability’, which included the development of decision support methods and tools for green transportation from distribution centres to retail outlets that optimise carbon footprint, and service efficiency in a multi-echelon logistics network. Prof Lau is currently leading a project
“we Need to iNtroduCe CommoN staNdards for iNdustry to use so that we CaN uNiversally improve the uNderstaNdiNg aNd maNagemeNt of greeNhouse gas emissioNs” Co2 intEnsity of frEight Air Bulk carrier
Maritime
High-speed container
Low-speed Non-fossile fuel
High-speed container
Rail Large trailer
small truck
Road 0.1 1 10 100 1,000 g C per tonne-km Whitelegg, 1993; IPCC, 1996a; OeCD, 1997a, ipcc.ch/ipccreports/sres/aviation/126.htm
which is a major part of a multi-year national research initiative on urban logistics, aimed at developing technology for the coordination of freight movements into the city centre. The aim of this initiative is to minimise congestion and localised transport emissions, and correspondingly improve air quality within a city. The sum of these activities showcases just how competitive and forward-looking the logistics industry in Singapore has become in trying to balance both economic and environmental realities. As they are perfected, these solutions will have a transformative effect on many aspects of supply chains worldwide. In many respects, the collaboration between DHL and SMU has also demonstrated that unconventional approaches towards problem solving have their merits. While DHL could have easily approached a vendor to help deliver a tool with set specifications, the dynamic relationship between the latest research and technology insight offered by SMU presents a unique value add, allowing greater iteration in the design, development, and test-bedding process. At the same time, DHL’s industry experience gives students and academic faculty alike the opportunity to immerse themselves in solving pressing, real-world challenges. By pooling this larger crowd of talent and taking bold new approaches, the GTL could be an early example of collaborative paradigms in the years ahead. Issue 5
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BriNg the Crowd The unconventional process of crowdsourcing is fast and cost-effective, but can it deliver real traction when it comes to tackling tough environmental issues?
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rom EntrEprEnEurs seeking support for new projects to governments aiming to better share environmental data, crowdsourcing has become an increasingly common practice. Using this tactic, tasks usually undertaken by a designated employee or contractor are outsourced to large, diverse groups of people, with an open request for their input towards a set outcome or goal. While academics trace crowdsourcing initiatives to the 1990s, the term was only officially coined in 2006, by Wired magazine contributing editor Jeff Howe. Crowdsourcing is often used to find novel solutions to challenging problems in the absence of resources such as funding, personnel or niche expertise, or when an issue’s complexity means it may need to be examined from unconventional perspectives. In many instances, it can be used to find solutions for social and environmental issues. Actions may involve individuals working in isolation, teams or even large, orchestrated groups. It is a highly social process, both for the entity calling for the crowd’s assistance and within those working on the solution itself. The initiative may take place in
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person, via online interaction, through mobile technology platforms or in some combination thereof. Success depends on getting sufficient participation for each initiative and ensuring the right audience is targeted. To maintain momentum, there should be motive alignment between the ‘crowd’ and the initiative’s long-term objective. Incentives for participation vary greatly. Participants’ profiles may be raised by accompanying publicity, or they may receive prizes; awards; remuneration; a share of investment or participation badges. They may become the first to own a new product, or gain professional experience. In other instances, their involvement may be voluntary, with the ‘feel-good factor’ being the only reward. If planned carefully and promoted to the right audience, organisations hosting crowdsourcing initiatives can benefit from the collective wisdom of the masses and fresh thinking about the challenges they face. Governments, businesses, NGOs and education and research institutions are currently embracing the approach. With this in mind, examples of international trends in
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environmental crowdsourcing that showcase many of its applications are examined here. Sharing data The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been trying to find many ways to share data publicly. It recently fostered the Apps for the Environment Challenge, which tasked software engineers with utilising EPA data. Five winners were chosen from the 38 apps submitted; with Light Bulb Finder named the best overall app. This innovative tool suggests the most suitable energy-efficient bulbs for use in a number of settings and fixtures. In addition to identifying appropriate bulb types, the app’s users can calculate the quantity of carbon emissions that could be saved by switching from incandescent bulbs to more efficient ones based on local geographic information supplied by the EPA. They can even buy recommended bulbs directly through the app or from local retailers. In Canada, the government of British Columbia launched a similar competition. Called the Apps for Climate Action contest, it challenged developers to make use of the government’s Climate Change Data Catalogue by asking members of the public to devise solutions in five contest categories. There was CAN$40,000 worth of prizes for the winners. The grand prize went to VELO, an app
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“if plaNNed Carefully aNd promoted to the right audieNCe, orgaNisatioNs hostiNg CrowdsourCiNg iNitiatives CaN BeNefit from the ColleCtive wisdom of the masses aNd fresh thiNkiNg aBout the ChalleNges they faCe” that helps businesses track their greenhouse gas emissions using a web-based dashboard. Other prizes went to Waterly, which helps residents identify water restrictions nearby, and VanTrash, a rubbish collection reminder service. Internationally, the World Bank held an app challenge to make use of its volumes of data. The first prize went to StatPlanet World Bank, a useful exploration and
analysis tool for policymakers featuring a whopping 3,000 indicators across the globe. In second place was Development Timelines, a web-based application that puts global development data into historical context. Combining quantitative data with historic events and policy shifts, the app fosters a better understanding of the factors that affect progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. Improving and evolving technology Another trend aims to improve environmental technology. With 16 per cent of all waste generated in society, 31 per cent of all energy consumed, and 10 per cent of all fresh water consumed in and around homes, there are major environmental effects and significant carbon emissions. A competition called EarthHack aimed to see if existing technology could be repurposed towards creating low-carbon solutions for the home. EarthHack was a joint initiative between Ikea, Philips and the Climate Group, an independent, not-for-profit organisation working to inspire leadership for a lowcarbon future. It was powered by the University of Oxford’s Marblar platform. Competitors were to find ways to save one million tons of CO2 per annum by 2020 in dwellings by using latent technology to create
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or conserve energy. Up for grabs was US$25,000 in prizes and a trip to an award ceremony in New York for the lucky winner. Brainstorming yielded 249 participant ideas, which then were refined to 25, and finally to the top three prize winners over the course of several months. Simon Barker won with a device that better circulates hot air around rooms for homes in cold climates. Other domestic-focused crowdsourcing competitions have taken place. Multinational Unilever sponsored an initiative to envision the next-generation sustainable shower aimed at water recycling and improving the shower experience. On a similar note, to improve health, sanitation and sustainability outcomes worldwide, the Gates Foundation created the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. The first prize worth US$100,000 was won by a solar-powered toilet prototype that generated hydrogen and electricity which was created by California Institute of Technology. In recent years, the race to make solar cells more efficient and cost-competitive has been ramping up. In one collaboration between Harvard University’s Clean Energy Project and the World Community Grid, more than two million organic, carbon-based compounds were screened by volunteers to analyse their potential for turning sunlight into energy. This crowdsourcing initiative is believed to be the most extensive investigation of quantum chemicals ever performed and was carried out in only three years. The results of the initiative yielded 36,000 compounds with double the efficiency performance of most current organic solar cells in production – very good news for researchers vying to take solar to the next level. The catalogue of these promising compounds and the others reviewed is available at molecularspace.org. Scientists now have more information to help produce cheaper, more efficient and more flexible solar cells. While solar has its virtues as a clean energy source, technology in general can pose some serious environmental risks, especially in the form of e-waste such as obsolete computer monitors, server boards and mobile phones. This is a significant problem globally. E-waste is often exported from its country of origin through dubious methods to developing nations lacking suitable infrastructure. There, it may be inappropriately disassembled for recycling, resulting in toxic pollution. To come up with fresh solutions to the e-waste menace, the Environmental Defence
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WorlD’s first govErnmEnt lED haCkathon CroWDsourCing EvEnt Like many government bodies, NeA encourages its country’s citizens to safeguard, nurture, and cherish their environment. To enable this, it made available more than 80 data sets for aspects such as air quality, weather, energy-efficient appliances and the location of recycling facilities. Borrowing the concept of ‘hackathon’ from the world of computer programming, the NeA set its sights on an intensive public collaboration exercise to find new ways of using its data. Together with the help of global technology partners Amazon Web services, sAP, Google Developer Group and samsung, NeA hosted a three-day Clean & Green Hackathon with 250 participants to help create new mobile app solutions aimed at raising environmental awareness.
Teams comprised participants with various skills sets, such as programmers, software designers, marketers and environment advocates, and were not restricted to those who are technology savvy. Workshops were hosted at the National university of singapore and *sCAPe. By the end of the three days, 21 new prototypes had been generated by the teams’ efforts. The top three teams went away with $6,000 of sponsored prizes, and three concepts have since been shortlisted for further development. Public engagement and enthusiasm was strong, and the success of this crowdsourcing initiative has encouraged the NeA to plan similar events in the near future.
Environmentally Friendly
Aerial view of the Amazon deforestation
Managing ecological public health risks
Fund (EDF) together with Innocentive and EMC Corporation created a crowdsourcing initiative to better track shipments of used electronic components and subsystems. The goal was to ensure safe disposal and that no heavy metals are released as part of the recycling process. The challenge brought together more than 800 problem solvers competing for a US$10,000 prize. Ultimately, 60 technology solutions were presented, and three were shortlisted for further development. These included RFID codes that can help track transport, an electronic identification system combining tracking codes with an online crowdsourcing platform and a tracking system that uses encrypted codes to track each major component of a disassembled system moving through a disposal process. These tracking solutions are undergoing further refinement by cloud computing specialist EMC and will be shared with industry peers. Gathering and analysing field information The proliferation of e-waste is only one of many environmental problems needing careful tracking. Ageing water infrastructure in South Africa has meant that leaks, faulty pipes, and canal blockages can impede distribution and squander precious water resources. For a country where only 45 per cent of those with access to clean water
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“iN Brazil, the Ngo imazoN worked with google to iNtegrate google earth eNgiNe with its work towards CrowdsourCiNg forest moNitoriNg iN the amazoN” actually have it available in their homes, this is a significant problem. To help identify issues and points for action, IBM created the free Water Watchers app, which enables citizens to report problems they encounter and take a photo. This data is then uploaded into a central database for analysis and aggregation into a hot spot map of leaks for the country. The information is then supplied every 30 days to municipalities and other water stakeholders to make improvements. Similarly, a web-based system developed for the Coachella and Imperial Valley areas of California allows citizens to report environmental incidents and hazards such
as illegal dumping and foul-smelling air. This system is known as IVAN – or Imperial Visions Action Network – and it refers the crowdsourced complaints to relevant local and state environmental authorities. These government agencies can then use IVAN to report back to citizens on actions taken against environmental offenders, such as cleanups. In Brazil, the NGO Imazon worked with Google to integrate Google Earth Engine with its work towards crowdsourcing forest monitoring in the Amazon. Together they developed a system called Sistema de Alerta de Desmatamento which, when translated from Portuguese, means Deforestation Alert System, or SAD for short. SAD has been used to track and report deforestation and degradation activities by incorporating satellite images acquired at different times. A further upgrade called SAD-EE also recently took place. This reduced downloading times, improved data set management via cloud computing and also allowed for better integration with internet, mobile and tablet technologies for easier access. Timely generation of information means reports and alerts can be supplied to authorities for action. Such efforts are timely, as Brazil has been working to curb Amazon deforestation in recent years. Beyond Brazil’s national borders, Imazon is also exploring how to expand SAD for use in
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other countries with Google and the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch programme. To help tackle climate change, Arizona State University created a crowdsourcing initiative called Ventus Project to help identify the locations of the world’s power plants. In developing countries where documentation, legislation and enforcement may be lax, this information is not always well known and power plant data may not be available, making it hard to track greenhouse gas emissions locally. The Ventus Project asks contributors to make simple pin placements on Google Maps and fill out a few online forms about each locally observed plant. That information is then collated and checked against work from the Global Energy Observatory and Centre for Global Developments CARMA programme to identify data gaps and update information. In exchange for their efforts, participants are given points that increase their rank in the Citizen Scientist league tables. The highest scorer will be named the Supreme Power Plant Emissions Guru, issued a trophy, mentioned in the scientific paper being written, and featured on the Ventus Project website and social media. Also on the climate change front, crowdsourcing has been used to help build large climate data models and run forecasting experiments. UK based climateprediction.net uses a small program to tap on participants’ computing power to run small pieces of climate modelling experiments in a decentralised fashion. This distributed computing approach enables scientists to tackle complex models in small, manageable portions, and over time improve their climate prediction models. The end result of these experiments will give decision makers better scientific understanding and a clearer picture of the future implications of climate change. Empowering the community Aside from more technology-centric applications, crowdsourcing can also be used to support, inspire, and empower communities and their own solutions to environmental problems. In the UK, there are examples of initiatives that have encouraged cycling in cities, new vertical planter technology to facilitate local food production, funding of local renewable energy projects by private financing and even encouraging new green spaces in highly urbanised areas. Websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo have sprung up to enable crowdfunded inventions and products to come to
life. Some of these have been green products, such as the Smart Citizen Kit, an opensource environmental monitoring platform comprising sensors, a web application and mobile app. The Smart Citizen Kit has received rave reviews, ample pledges by supporters and even deployed units as proof-of-concept in Barcelona, Spain, where data is being collected by 150 members of the public. It is one extremely promising development that can help environmentally conscious citizens monitor aspects such as humidity, local greenhouse gas concentrations, noise pollution and light conditions in their area. Developed by MIT, the Climate CoLab also provides citizens globally a hands-on way to collaborate on new climate change solutions. An ongoing series of issue-focused contests provides participants the chance to proactively shape proposals. These will eventually be used to constructively engage scientists, policymakers, business people, investors, and other citizens on climate change. The Let’s Do It! movement began in 2008 in Estonia when 50,000 citizens were called to action on social media to help collect rubbish from around the country. In just five hours, three per cent of the country’s population was mobilised for free and 10,000 tonnes of litter were collected nationwide. The resounding success of this community initiative sparked subsequent cleanups, and eventually evolved into annual World Cleanup days across 100 countries globally. Cases such as this demonstrate that using social media and appealing to
people’s higher sense of purpose can be used to tremendous results, and that buzz can quickly spread across borders. In a similar vein, NEA worked with the wildly successful OpenIDEO platform to ask global contributors how communities might be inspired and enabled to take initiative in making their local environments better. OpenIDEO participants boiled down 102 initial concepts to 10 final winners. These winning concepts featured many centralised activities focused on creation of citizen platforms for sharing. The nature of these initiatives suggest that by sharing time, expertise, tools and even food, people would enhance their sense of place and ownership of their local environment. The new face of engagement The sum of this worldwide activity suggests that there are both numerous ways to engage audiences to improve their environment, as well as numerous ends to further by doing so. Whether crowdsourcing through government-led hackathons as the NEA did, or through well sponsored initiatives such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, these examples demonstrate crowds can be harnessed to share data, improve and advance technology, gather and analyse information, and empower people to environmental action at a local, regional and even global level. Enabled by the internet and the ever growing realisation of humanity’s interconnection with each other and their environment, problem-solving has been forever changed. Issue 5
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TeCHABILITY
there’s aN app for that smartphones and tablets are rapidly changing the way we work and play. ENVISION looks at some of the free (or very cheap) environmentrelated apps on offer worldwide
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DOING BETTER BUSINESS Corporate Knights Ranker Hailing itself as “the app for clean capitalism,” the Corporate Knights Corporate Responsibility Ranker lets businesses rank their environmental policies against those of global sustainability leaders. Benchmarking is made possible by information on some 4,000 businesses across 24 sectors; tools to help create different scenarios for their company and learn what KPI improvements in 12 key areas will drive better results. These can be shared with both internal teams and external customers using reporting and export features. It’s currently available for iPhone and iPad with an Android version likely to be launched in the near future.
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MAKING powered by Nike Fashion designers’ choice of fabrics can have tremendous environmental impacts across the products they produce. Through innovation within its own supply chain and design processes, Nike compiled a material sustainability index (MsI) based on scientific research and product lifecycle analysis, the adoption of which
ENCOURAGING ENVIRONMENTAL OWNERSHIP
– Chemistry, energy/Greenhouse Gas Intensity, Water/Land Intensity and Physical Waste. The first edition of the app features fabrics used in apparel and household goods.
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Winner: FutureGov Award 2013
GoodGuide (USA) so-called “Lifestyles of Health and sustainability” (LOHAs) consumers worldwide increasingly want to know about the health, environmental and social performance of the products they buy. To make research easier and encourage more responsible consumerism, the GoodGuide mobile app and its barcode scanning mechanism retrieves environmentally related product ratings and information. While the GoodGuide presently covers only products available in the united states, it could easily be replicated in other markets to encourage smarter shopping.
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has led to an 18 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade. Realising that this knowhow would be useful to other designers, the company has packaged it into an app called MAKING, available free on iTunes. It includes data from Nike MsI on widely used materials, enabling users to rank them based on four key areas of environmental impact
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myENV (Singapore) Produced by singapore’s National environment Agency, this app aims to be a one-stop shop for local environmental issues. This integrated app enables users to track air quality, weather and tidal levels. It can also identify nearby dengue clusters and offers a comprehensive list of food hawker centres island-wide. users can stay abreast of latest NeA news, events and announcements and even
report environmental and public health issues they encounter directly to the agency. It is available free for both iPhone and Android handsets.
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JouleBug This innovative app was created to make sustainable living social, simple and even fun. Free to download from the App store and Google Play, it incorporates aspects of mobile gaming, social media and educational tools. The app helps users to track savings, encouraging waste reduction through daily lifestyle choices and allow competition with friends on Facebook and Twitter.
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TeCHABILITY
Skeptical Science skeptical science is out to show people that climate change is a reality and that there is no disputing the evidence. It’s designed to educate people about the science behind global warming and counter the arguments most often used by sceptics. users also have the option of reporting, via Twitter, any climate-sceptic arguments they encounter. Featuring sophisticated imagery and the latest information on global warming, this free app is available for iPhone, Android and Nokia smartphones.
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Rippl Created by the Ocean Conservancy, the free app Rippl helps users to make simple, sustainable choices by delivering weekly green living tips. each suggestion comes with a customisable alert, helping users to transform their behaviour, save money and live greener, healthier lives by reducing the impact of waste. users can pass their own advice on to others and share their success with friends.
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x-Dengue (Singapore) Created by a former dengue victim and his data architect friend, the free app X-Dengue allows residents to locate and be automatically notified of dengue cases and clusters in their area by sMs and social media. The app also features guides on preventing the disease
at home and tips for keeping your family safe. It is free to use but is currently only available for iPhone.
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GREENER MOBILITY
Carticipate (USA) Taking cars off the road cuts down on carbon emissions and saves money. Currently for us-based users, Carticipate on iPhone is the first ride sharing application on a
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location-aware mobile platform. Its developer is building a location based mobile social network for ride sharing, ride combining and car pooling, an activity it refers to as carticipation. such practices have largely been opportunistic, since it isn’t practical to call or email several people every time one wants to share transport, especially at short notice. The growing popularity of location-based smartphones and social networks has collided with a rise in fuel prices, driving the carticipation model in which social transport will complement and augment public transport.
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GoMyWay (Singapore) Like Carticipate, GoMyWay is a location based app offering a convenient, secure platform through which smartphone-savvy users can share taxis. When a destination is input, the app automatically rounds up a list of users nearby. The person whose destination is closest to yours will appear top of the list. Just make contact, grab the taxi and you’re off. environmental plus points include fewer idle taxis on the roads and more group journeys, while users should be able to save money, especially on late-night trips. They may even make some new friends.
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SENSING
H(app)athlon ENVISION’s third issue investigated GDP as the de facto standard of progress, looking into the notion of wellbeing and the social and environmental factors that influence it. It specifically examined the relationship between happiness and quality of life – trouble is, how can happiness actually be measured? enter one possible solution. The H(app)athlon project, envisioned as a “global hackathon for happiness to create a new view of value beyond the GDP,” aims to give big data a direction by helping people leverage the mobile sensors in their smartphones to identify what brings them meaning to their lives. scheduled for release on 20 March, 2014, H(app)athlon allows users to identify their Personal Happiness Indicator (PHI) based on active data (answers they provide) and passive data from sensors in their phones. The app will suggest activities – from everyday tasks to volunteer opportunities – that will increase users’ happiness and wellbeing. Great for the local community beach clean-up activity, but there’s more. A ‘mood ring’ function that portrays real-time global happiness data will help policymakers and anyone else see why the holistic measure of wellbeing could help guide their decisions with greater context than GDP.
What you nEED to knoW: BEst praCtiCE in app DEsign As Mike Gualtieri puts it in his report Design Mobile Apps from the Outside In, to “design and develop a user experience that is useful, usable and desirable, and that takes into account the mobile context, you have to design for emotion. Design is the differentiator. Great mobile apps are the result.” When it comes to effective mobile application design, context is king. Here are some tips for designing killer apps: l Attention
to detail is key. Apps that are simple and intuitive to use are more likely to be adopted by target users. l Mobile applications must be designed to address a specific need l Help users to accomplish tasks quickly and efficiently l Provide only what is needed; resist the temptation to add unnecessary flourishes such as pointless extra functions or distracting graphics. l The user interface (uI) and the user experience (uX) matter in terms of app performance, simplicity, ease of use and a pleasing display. These combine to create positive feelings (the emotional reaction) towards the app, encouraging users to reuse it and recommend it to others. l Keep it simple. You application may be meant for complex tasks but this doesn’t mean it should be difficult to use. The uI should be designed in such a way that each stage of use is intuitive and effortless. l Create a positive experience. ensure that using your app is pleasant and effortless by ensuring its design incorporates:
a) Intuitiveness. Keys, tabs and other buttons should be easy to reach – even with one hand. use a combination of icons and text to make the program easier to understand. b) Harmony. Careful consideration should be given to the elements’ size and the spacing between them to allow easy and precise tapping and minimise user errors. c) Accessibility. ensure both left and righthanded users will be able to use the app with ease and incorporate accessibility features for disabled users. d) Design for the small screen. Forty-four pixels – double that for the iPhone 4′s Retina display – is the magic number for a user interface element’s size, according to MobileGov Wiki. That’s the width of the tip of an average person’s index finger. e) Layout. Place important information at the top of the screen. That’s where users look first. Place controls at the bottom of the screen. f) Avoid scroll bars in keeping with mobile device users’ short attention spans. ensure content for each element fits onto the screen without the need for scrolling. g) Alerts should be short. scroll bars are a strict no-no here. h) Balance used and unused space. White space is critical to the aesthetics of user interface design. i) If the mobile application is multilingual, design, develop and test the uI and uX across targeted devices and all relevant languages. source: Drona Mobile http://blog.dronamobile.com/mobile-application-design-best-practices
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BeHAVIOuRAL INsIGHTs
CrowdsourCiNg for a Cause A study that used iPhone-based crowdsourcing to gather environmental data has found that payment can help motivate volunteers – but may undermine their commitment to the cause
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MANAGING eCOLOGICAL PuBLIC HeALTH RIsKs
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nvironmEntalist groups are typically driven by a core of highly motivated individuals, who face an uphill struggle to find enough people willing to carry out their work. Crowdsourcing, enabled by smartphones, has the potential to turn that small group of volunteers into an army, by convincing casual supporters to donate small amounts of time and minimal amounts of effort. In collaboration with local environmental
group, Close the Door, a team at the UK’s University of Bristol has studied the most effective way of motivating this new breed of volunteer. The group aims to reduce energy waste by encouraging shopkeepers to keep their doors closed during cold weather. Many shops leave their doors open, letting heat escape. That wastes energy, as well as the money businesses are paying in gas and electricity bills. Yet despite the environmental and financial
costs, business owners fear a closed door will discourage customers from entering. This is particularly true if a rival business in the same area keeps its door open. To combat this, Close the Door sends volunteers to record whether shops have their doors open or closed. Owners or managers are then approached to see if they want to join the campaign by keeping doors closed when heating or air-conditioning is turned on. In return, they are listed on Issue 5
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the campaign website and Facebook page, and receive a door sticker to publicise their membership. On the customer side, awareness programs promote the environmental benefits of a closed door, encouraging shoppers to support businesses that conserve energy. Lightweight volunteering This requires a lot of volunteers, which is where smartphones can play an important role. “Smartphones are already playing a significant role in citizen science projects for data collection, such as monitoring the spread of invasive plants,” explains Dr Chris Preist, Reader in Sustainability and Computer Systems at Bristol University, and a member of the research team. “I think that they can do the same for environmental issues. There are many people who are motivated by environmental concerns, and would like to find ways to make a contribution which fits in with their busy lives, and smartphones give the opportunity to engage them to do this. I call it ‘lightweight volunteering’; the ability to make small contributions at times that are easy for the volunteer.” For Close the Door, the researchers proposed using lightweight volunteers to identify shops with open and closed doors, via an iPhone application. The app would allow ordinary people to collect data as they went about their daily business, using a map with GPS functionality. As participants moved around the city, the map showed an overlay of shops close by, represented by door symbols. Each person could then click on the door to record whether it was open or closed. Based on user clicks, a traffic light system rated each shop: a door that was consistently open was labelled red, yellow for a door that was sometimes closed, and
“there are maNy people who are motivated By eNviroNmeNtal CoNCerNs, aNd would like to fiNd ways to make a CoNtriButioN whiCh fits iN with their Busy lives, aNd smartphoNes give the opportuNity to eNgage them to do this” total Doors rECorDED, nEW shops aDDED, points anD BaDgEs EarnED By EaCh group Control Virtual Financial
shops Added 221 274 618
Total Points 3,158 4,492 13,112
Total badges 92 90 165
points sCorED By thE 16 partiCipants in EaCh group 3,000
2,500
2,000
Control Virtual Financial 1,500
1,000
500
0
060
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
green for a door that was consistently closed. The map was initially populated using the campaign’s existing list of shops. If a shop was not in the database, users could add it manually. A total of 48 volunteers were recruited via a university bulletin board, an online classifieds website, and local environmental sustainability groups. They were promised they could earn gift vouchers for taking part in a study involving an iPhone application. All they had to do was download the app and then log data as they went about their daily routine. “There are a few reasons why it is good to engage these lightweight volunteers, in addition to the committed campaigners,” says Dr Preist. “Firstly, the campaigners often have a lot of specialist knowledge and skills associated with the campaign. By getting volunteers to collect the data, it can free the campaigners to focus on the highervalue activities, and to target these activities more effectively using the gathered data. Secondly, the lightweight volunteers learn about the campaign through volunteering, and their friends see them using the app; hence it acts as a way of spreading the message and building a pool to recruit more committed campaigners in the future.” A reason to volunteer To test motivation, the study divided the recruits into three groups of 16, each with a slightly different version of the app. Functionality was the same, but each group received different rewards. A ‘control’ group received a GBP50 voucher simply for participating, with no additional reward system regardless of how active they were. A ‘virtual’ group received GBP50 vouchers, but with the additional incentive of earning virtual badges and points, with a leaderboard to track their individual performance. A ‘financial’ group was told the value of the vouchers they earned would be based on how much they used the app relative to other participants, with the total prize pool equivalent to GBP50 per person. The project was highly successful. In two weeks participants made 6,674 individual recordings and added 1,113 new shops to the Close the Door database, which was enough to provide the campaign with a detailed mapping of businesses in the city’s main shopping areas. A random check of 10 per cent of all shops added showed the quality of data was very high. It also revealed that personal gain increased the overall level of a group’s enthusiasm, based on the amount of data collected. Participants in the financial group,
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BeHAVIOuRAL INsIGHTs
who received material gain from putting in more effort, added significantly more new shops and collected significantly more data than the other groups. Results for the control group and the virtual group, which turned the project into a competitive game, were similar to each other. A straight reading of the data would seem to show that personal gain is the best motivator. Money isn’t everything For campaigns that are well-funded, the research showed a financial incentive for participants could yield the best results. However, for campaigns with limited funding, and which hope to build a list of volunteers for the future, it would be counterproductive. “If you are rolling in money, then paying people to do the job may make sense,” comments Dr Preist. “But in the paper we said that caution should be used about financial rewards. It can certainly engage people to do more work in the short term, but it provides ‘instrumental’ rather than ‘intrinsic’ motivation; meaning that people do it for the money, rather than because they feel it is worthwhile. There is some evidence that pay can erode intrinsic motivation, and so make them less likely to do it when the money runs out.” This issue of pay reducing commitment to the cause was one of the findings from qualitative follow-up surveys with participants. When asked whether they would be willing, without financial compensation, to continue using a similar app to help a community organisation, only 70 per cent of the financial group agreed. For the control and virtual groups, on the other hand, 100 per cent said ‘yes’. When looking at individual performances, rather than groups, time was a far more important consideration than money. The highest-scoring participants in each group were not in regular employment during the experiment, and so could use the app whenever they saw fit. In contrast, one low-scoring participant said they could only use the app when walking to or from work, or while on a break. This split held true regardless of how strongly the participants supported the campaign’s objectives. “Environmental motivation alone was not a predictor of the level of contribution that someone made, as their lifestyle needed to be compatible with the task we were asking them to carry out,” says Dr Preist. “Data collection is easy for someone who is wandering around in the relevant area for other reasons anyway, and are happy to just do a bit more to get the data for you.
In our case, people who walked to work in the area made good contributions, but one of the largest contributions was made by a mother of a baby. She would take her child out in the pram and log data for us while she did it. So looking for people with compatible lifestyles is really important, perhaps more so than targeting groups likely to be motivated. An advert on Mumsnet [a
thE Campaign Based on detailed studies of typical 150 square metre high street shops in the united Kingdom, it is estimated that keeping a door closed in cold weather can reduce emissions and energy consumption from heating by between 30 and 50 per cent. The Close the Door campaign was established in 2007 as a response to these findings, encouraging shopkeepers to save energy and their own money. since its inception, the campaign has established chapters in nine uK and two international cities. It operates through advocacy work with shopkeepers, and also by raising public awareness to encourage shoppers to use outlets with closed doors, and to avoid using those that leave their doors open. By targeting both businesses and customers, the campaign aims to make closed doors the accepted norm, benefitting both shop owners and the environment.
popular UK parenting website] looking for environmentally aware young mums, for example, would be effective for the task we were looking at.” Winners and losers Another significant factor that came out of the follow-up surveys was the demotivating effect of rewards. A relatively small group of top-performers underpinned the success of the financial group, while those further down the scale said they became less inclined to participate as they fell further behind. Members of the virtual group reported similar experiences, with a far higher level of activity among those who were “winning” the game. Those who looked at the leaderboard and felt they were losing became less motivated. The research team is now planning a follow-up study, which refines the pointsbased system to improve the experience of those who aren’t at the top of the table. “What we propose is, rather than providing most feedback in the form of a leaderboard, we would provide information about performance by the community as a whole, such as how much activity ‘people like you’ are engaged in,” explains Dr Preist. “In this way, it would encourage a sense of collective action, with each person ‘doing their bit’, rather than competition. However, we would also have a ‘leaderboard’ in the background for the top five contributors only, which would encourage them to compete and push each other’s scores up.” Issue 5
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wakiNg up at work How sustainability can act as a catalyst for organisational change
t
hE naturE of Work is changing. At a macro level, the world is experiencing disruptions in the economic climate driven by demographics, technology and natural resource availability. On a personal level, employees are searching for meaning from work and employers are increasingly responding to this changing context by engaging their employees to ensure longterm survivability of their organisation. The popular, narrow definition of sustainability (or sustainable development) is, ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (WCED 1987). This definition is frequently shortened to mean, ‘protecting the environment’. But in recent years, sustainability has been recast as a broader
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Contributors Cynthia Scott, P.h.D., Presidio Graduate school, usA and Andrew Bryson, saatchi & saatchi, APAC
concept, encompassing the social, economic, environmental and cultural systems needed to sustain any organisation. A sustainable organisation is prepared to thrive today and in the future, and thrive on all levels – from how it affects the environment, to how it affects the health and well-being of its employees and how it serves its customers and the community. This broader definition poses challenges for the company, as the value of sustainability must be addressed on multiple levels. In order to move in this direction, a
company cannot engage a single department or small group in sustainability efforts, it must engage everyone in the company, as well as suppliers, customers and even community members, in this goal. This is a great challenge, and not one that many companies have fully embraced. One of the world’s largest employers, Walmart, has engaged their employees in creating innovative solutions to implement their sustainability goals using an approach called PSP or Personal Sustainability Project. One of the elements that is most interesting about this project is not just how the employees developed creative solutions to sustainability objectives, but also how the project expanded to include issues of personal health (self-sustainability) and how these efforts become linked in the actions of the employee groups in different stores.
BeHAVIOuRAL INsIGHTs
Many of the messages we all absorb today related to health risk and the state of the world, including climate change, lead to people feeling overwhelmed and out of control. Their behavioural response to feeling powerless is to avoid the challenges through inaction. Using personal sustainability as a structured approach can provide a focus and the skills needed for people to mobilise and take action. People begin to see how every action they take engages their family, their co-workers and their greater community. They learn that by taking care of themselves and their physical surroundings, they are contributing to a sustainable environment. They are able to see they have choices and can gain mastery in an area of their choosing. They increase their ability to skilfully navigate challenges and learn to accept that obstacles will be present in the future. However, they now experience confidence in their ability to overcome those obstacles, to control their behavioural patterns and to succeed. Viewing change as a challenge is yet another characteristic of happy, healthy people. People who view change as an opportunity for personal and professional development are more likely to take action. Return on engagement This may all sound interesting, but is there a clear business case for investing in sustainability engagement? The short answer is yes, but measuring success necessitates creating a shared understanding of goals and objectives before embarking on the journey. It is also important to be clear about the fact that engaging employees won’t fix structural issues and that culture change is one of the hardest things to do within a company. Two areas where a clear return on engagement can be found are retention and recruitment. More and more of the generation entering the workforce say that they are interested in companies that are actively addressing sustainability issues; 80 per cent of respondents in one Gallup survey are ‘interested in a job that has a positive impact on the environment’ and ‘92 per cent would choose working for an environmentally friendly company’ (Moore Odell 2007). Communicating a demonstrated and credible commitment to environmental responsibility is a powerful imperative in attracting top talent and building a sense of community. There are also numerous examples of companies realising returns on a much shorter time horizon. For example, GE sends its employees on energy Treasure Hunts, in which they identify projects and opportunities
“people BegiN to see how every aCtioN they take eNgages their family, their Co-workers aNd their greater CommuNity” for energy reduction. These Treasure Hunts have created over US$150 million in cost savings and reduced GE’s carbon footprint by over 250,000 metric tons. So if the returns are there for the taking, why aren’t more companies taking advantage of this opportunity? The path to sustainability For many companies, lack of engagement is often a result of indecision on whether or not they are ready to take on such a large initiative. In many cases they are right to ask this question, as broad sustainability engagement will not succeed if undertaken too early in a company’s sustainability journey. While there are many models out there for companies to assess where they are in this process, many of them follow a similar progression:
phasEs of sustainaBlE aDaptation
6 5 4 1
2
3
1. not aware. Non-responsive to sustainability issues 2. Waking up. Responding to outside pressure for change – beginning to pay attention 3. Compliance. Responding to regulations – adoption of minimum requirements 4. operational efficiency. Waste and carbon reduction and supply chain security-focused initiatives in operations 5. strategic engagement. Mobilisation of employees, source of innovation, internal and external brand positioning to support strategic direction. Philanthropy/ corporate social responsibility efforts related to brand promise, green team formation 6. Game changer. Initiating disruptive innovation at industry or market level source: Adapted from Dunphy et al. 2007
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These changes mirror the process of increasing awareness of the need for change, and the realisation that change is not implementing a few policy changes, but a deep shift of awareness and behaviour everywhere in the organisation. To move beyond the operational efficiency level requires broader engagement with the employees to harvest the commitment and innovation to make the behavioural and mind-set shifts needed to sustain these efforts beyond single campaigns. The challenge is that, for an organisation, the process of deep change does not usually work by edict from the top, but by engaging people throughout the organisation. With large and global companies like Walmart, how does this awareness grow and lead to real change? As organisations engage in sustainability efforts they shift from ‘outside-in’ drivers (ie NGO pressure or consumer or community mobilisation) to ‘inside-out’ driven initiatives (ie efficiency, cost savings, resource management). In some cases employee-driven actions turn into more formalised initiatives. There are even opportunities to involve customers in creating ‘community built brands’ where customers interact and shape the efforts (contests in which participants nominate the recipients of awards). Engaging employees The intersection between organisational strategy and employee engagement reached a tipping point at Walmart when it decided to engage its 1.6 million employees in helping reach the three sustainability goals created in 2005: l To
be supplied 100 per cent by renewable energy l To create zero waste l To sell products that sustain people and the environment They wanted to engage employees to create a stronger connection between customers and their sustainability goals and decided to leverage the enthusiasm of their employees to do this. They also realised that these goals could not be completely achieved through technological fixes and that rallying the involvement of their people would be the quickest path to success. While they still have a long way to go in achieving these goals, their people have continued to play a central role in driving innovation connected to all three goals. Another similar example is taking shape at AT&T, one of the United States’ largest telecom providers. It is a culture change
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“the proCess of deep ChaNge does Not usually work By ediCt from the top, But By eNgagiNg people throughout the orgaNisatioN” initiative called Do One Thing (or DOT for short). DOT positions employees as change agents within AT&T and empowers them to choose and implement sustainabilityoriented actions that positively impact their lives, communities and the company. To date, AT&T employees in more than 25 countries around the globe have chosen individual or team-based DOTs that have shown demonstrable results in areas such as energy, water and waste reduction. The company has also received a reputation boost for its efforts, as it is increasingly winning awards like the 2013 CSR Award for
kEys to suCCEssfully Engaging EmployEEs in sustainaBility l Be
honest about where your company is on its sustainability journey l Make it personal and authentic to your company’s culture l Connect your sustainability efforts to the company’s goals, purpose and values l Clearly demonstrate support from the top down and empower from the bottom up l share and celebrate success
Workplace Innovation presented by PR news. Much like Walmart, AT&T has shown that when you create a platform that encourages employees to innovate and change their behaviour, they will find ways to encourage their company to do the same. Designing for success So where to begin? One key success factor that runs through all of these examples is the focus on sustainability as an opportunity for innovation, engagement and growth, rather than a challenge that must be overcome. This is an important distinction, as it requires a new level of honesty and transparency on the part of management. An acknowledgement that they don’t have all the answers, but that collectively the company will uncover them. Truly successful initiatives like those mentioned are also increasingly grounded in cognitive science and behaviour change theory. For example, PSP and DOT were largely designed using insights gleaned from the emerging science of Positive Psychology, which has shown that happiness can be just as an effective a motivator as fear. Ultimately, creating a truly engaged workforce is certainly no easy task, but establishing a shared language and values set around a concept like sustainability is often a great start. Companies are increasingly facing a choice when it comes to sustainability engagement. They can either set the agenda and be proactive or wait until the forces shaping their business environment demand that they become reactive. Which one would you choose? An earlier version of this paper appeared as Waking Up at Work: Sustainability as a Catalyst for Organizational Change by Cynthia scott and Andrew Bryson, in The Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Issue 46, summer 2012, pp. 139-158: greenleaf-publishing.com/jcc46. This paper is included within the sustainable Organization Library (sOL) collection and can be accessed here: gse.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/ collection/gse_susorg2013.
HACKs
iNspiriNg iNterNatioNal ideas
ENVISION introduces a new section called Hacks. With creative and innovative environmental solutions sourced globally, you’ll find inspiration and ideas for your own initiatives
MAKING POLLUTION ExPERIENTIAL One of the biggest problems with pollution is that it isn’t always visible and therefore doesn’t get attention. So called environmental “externalities” may take place far from view, but in an increasingly hyper-connected and wired world, artists, photographers,
Feedlot pollution in the United States Raising cattle has numerous environmental impacts: from digestive tract methane emissions, to excessive water use, to large land footprints for raising livestock – beef is one damaging foodstuff. especially in the us, feedlots where livestock are finished before slaughter are also another major source of pollution. Toxic waste runoff pools are a by-product of these feedlots, and they can create harmful hydrogen sulphide fumes and leach nitrates and antibiotics into local aquifers and groundwater.
musicians, ad agencies and even scientists are finding novel ways to raise awareness. As the cliché of a picture being worth a thousand words suggests, the urgency of tackling pollution can be furthered through creative and experiential approaches.
British artist Mishka Henner, who works with satellite images in his artwork, was pouring over terrain in search of oil fields (another subject of his art) when he came across what looked like infected wounds on the earth’s surface. stitching together hundreds of high-resolution images of each location, Henner created larger prints that document the severity and dramatic nature of the pollution. While the images are formally stunning, they quickly draw the viewer into the nature of the pollution, and the role their diet plays in creating it. More at Mischkahenner.com
The rising tides of London Photographer Rupert Jordan aimed to feature London’s landmarks in a new light, and jumped into the River Thames to do it. Capturing such destinations as the London eye, Parliament, and st Paul’s Cathedral, Jordan’s images eerily portray each increasingly submerged in rising waters. With global climate change pegged to increase both tides and flooding in coastal cities a chief concern, Jordan inadvertently portrays an interesting narrative to urbanites that goes beyond the usual polar bear images used to communicate climate change: it’s coming home. More at flickr.com/photos/ rupertjordan/
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Surfers’ growing call to curb plastics pollution in oceans Both surfrider Foundation and surf photographer Zak Noyle have been working on initiatives to highlight growing plastic waste in the world’s oceans. According to surfrider’s campaign, put together with the help of Arnold Furnace and Cream studios, 90 per cent of all material floating in the ocean is plastic, with each square mile containing 46,000 pieces of it. The images used in their campaign were composites
of floating plastic debris coupled with surfer images. Noyle took his own photo series to an even more graphic level, capturing Indonesian surfer Dede surinaya in an ocean swell littered with debris near untung Jawa Island, not far from Jakarta. In the case of Indonesia, the call to clean up becomes quite clear: the country should take action lest it diminish its reputation as a tourism hotspot. More at surfrider.org and ZakNoyle.com
A song of our warming planet Taking NAsA surface temperature data from 1880 to 2012 and using data sonification, university of Minnesota student Daniel Crawford turned climate change into a
Coal mine sludge to fine art product Coal mines pose numerous environmental dangers, including runoff of substances like iron, bauxite, sulphuric acid and other metals which can pollute waterways. An engineer and artist in Ohio teamed up to create beautiful paintings from this hazardous material. Noting that at least one local stream had turned orange from acidic pollution and was killing fish, Guy Riefler – an environmental engineer and university professor – set out to turn it into an economically viable paint product. He is refining a line of pigments that he plans to sell, which will in turn offset the cost of a water treatment
plant near abandoned mines in his area. Working with artist John sabraw – whose paintings and teaching focuses on sustainability – Riefler is exploring opportunities with paint companies interested in capitalising on this unusual pigment source. sabraw has produced a number of large scale paintings with the pigments for exhibitions, and worked to educate his students and his audiences in the course of his practice. ultimately, the goal is to clean up the local streams and see if the pollution can be turned into something useful instead. What other forms of pollution could be transformed into useful products? More at Johnsabraw.com
Not breathing easy Air pollution from transportation and power generation is a major issue in many cities worldwide. In Belgrade, serbia, ad agency McCann installed a number of cloth ‘lung’ sculptures made of white cotton on behalf of its client, a mountain resort outside of town. The lungs grew increasingly discoloured over a 10-day period from pollution exposure, raising a public controversy over air quality and
musical score for cello. In his piece entitled A Song of Our Warming Planet, each note represents a year and the pitch corresponds to the average temperature. Like Rupert’s photographs, there is an ominous message delivered through the performance of the music as the notes scale ever higher. The video of his performance concludes with a startling and stark message that should not be missed.
Check out the video
environmental issues by making pollution so clearly visible. The use of these installations illustrates how advertising can be effectively used beyond mere commercial purposes, driving consumerism to a higher purpose that draws attention to environment quality. How can other art installations be used to generate rapid awareness and critical discourse on environmental issues? Issue 5
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HACKs
REMAKING THINGS Good design can mean powerful improvements in the world around us, while bad design can lead to disastrous consequences. By re-examining, redesigning, repurposing, or even remaking the objects we use every day we have the chance to improve environmental outcomes.
Double-duty sink urinal combo saves water According to its Latvian designer Kaspar Jursons, the stand urinal “is not just a fancy piece of art”. The thoughtfully designed contraption streamlines toilet time by integrating a urinal with a sink built in the top, the water from which serves as the flush after its user is done with his business. It’s a clever way to both improve hygiene and save water at the same time. One hopes though that the aim of the user is as good as the design of the urinal. What other daily fixtures could yield environmental benefits from integrated functionality? More at: standpage.com/en/stand/
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Sustainability upon receipt Want to get your customers to know more about your corporate sustainability efforts? Try putting it in their hands at the checkout. That’s exactly what european hypermarket chain Auchan did by printing codes to its sustainability report on receipts presented with each transaction at the checkout. easily scanned with mobile phones, these receipts put key facts, figures, and information in easy-to-read fashion in front of customers. Could similar communication tactics be used for other green customer initiatives?
Servers to heat homes Data servers use a lot of energy to operate, and more still to cool them. A German company named AOTeRRA aims to put servers in residential properties in cool climates and use the waste heat to keep the homes warm. The company will provide cloud computing services using this decentralised model, putting each server in a secure, fire-proof cabinet which will channel the heat to power the property’s boiler. ultimately the approach would hit two birds with one stone: cutting home heating costs and cooling costs of traditional data centres – and of course slashing the carbon emissions
resulting from both. The genius lies in combining two existing services into one more elegant and environmentally friendly approach. Business interest has been strong, and crowdfunding for this new solution has been overwhelmingly successful. In what other ways can wasted heat be used more intelligently? More at aoterra.de (German)
Smart objects come alive Increasingly, as part of the emergent ‘internet of things’, urban fixtures are becoming more communicative. Fitted out with sensors, transmitters and a variety of interactive features, even some of the most banal utilities are getting ‘smart’ and interactive. In Bristol, uK, various street furniture
is waking up and wants to talk to citizens. Through an initiative called ‘Hello Lamp Post’, these ordinary fixtures become a focal point to have a fresh look at the systems that ordinarily might be taken for granted. Objects such as lamp posts or mailboxes were first kitted out with unique reference codes and a phone number. An sMs with the object’s code can be sent to the number, and a conversation between the citizen and the fixture can ensue. How might smart sensors and communication technology be used to improve other urban experiences? More at: hellolamppost.co.uk and enevo.com
How many bacteria does it take to change a light bulb? Keeping the lights on is an energy intensive activity, and that’s assuming there’s a steady source of power – a luxury many in developing countries don’t have. Taking cues from jellyfish and fireflies, several undergraduates at university of Wisconsin launched a crowdfunding initiative to fund what they call ‘Biobulb’ – a kit that naturally illuminates by harnessing a closed ecosystem of several different microbes that recycle micronutrients. A starter kit was furnished to all crowdfunders in the initiative. each contains a special e.Coli that has been transformed by a plasmid containing the genes for bioluminescence which is recharged by ambient light during the day. Raising a larger question as part of their initiative, the students enquire: what other roles synthetic biology might play? More at facebook.com/biobulb
ELIMINATING WASTE The issue of waste globally is a big problem: today, 52 per cent of the global population – more than 3.6 billion people – have no access to waste management. By 2025, solid waste in Asia alone is expected to reach 1.8 million tonnes per day. Developing countries especially struggle with the enormous volumes that are generated, and often this waste can cause disasters both for communities and their local environment. There are many smart ways to make better use of materials and eliminate waste.
Eat your package Disposable packaging causes big waste issues. The people at WikiPearl aimed to help bring packaging to a new level – the kind that can be eaten. Created by Professor David edwards, designer Francois Azambourg, and biologist Don Ingber, a new WikiCell technology was developed. It forms a sort of membrane around foods such as yogurt or juice that allows it to be handled and eaten with the membrane still intact. The trio now offers WikiPearl products at their WikiBar establishment in Paris and has plans for expansion. How could this edible membrane technology be used for other food products to reduce or eliminate the need for packaging?
Hello Compost! From Hello Lamp Post to Hello Compost: New York is aiming to reduce its landfill waste and encourage residents to exchange organic material for compost in exchange for fresh produce credits. The goal is to close the loop by getting lower-income residents better access to healthy food while at the same time slashing organic waste and subsidising local farmers. Those in the programme get special freezeable bags to store their food waste. Once full, they can be weighed and credits issued for purchasing fruits and vegetables. How many other communities could improve their waste management, health outcomes, and local agriculture through creation of similar initiatives? More at: facebook.com/HelloCompost
Food waste to energy and fertiliser A distribution centre for several Kroger owned grocery stores in Compton, California came up with a unique solution for food that could not be sold or donated. They worked with FeeD Resource Recovery to create an anaerobic conversion system to handle the food waste. Food is collected and input into a blending system that removes inorganic matter such as packaging before the slushlike mixture is put into a digester. There, it breaks down into biogas,
which is then sent to power microturbines and boilers at a nearby creamery. Leftover water is purified and other materials are turned into fertiliser. The net result is a reduction of 150 tonnes of waste per day, production of 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity and elimination of 500,000 diesel truck miles annually. Could other large-scale industrial facilities make better use of their organic waste through anaerobic digester technology? More at: feedresourcerecovery. com/#kroger
Star power to replace glow sticks Across Asian countries, glow sticks are commonly used at music concerts, resulting in a prolific amount of plastic waste after each performance. Working with Ocean Recovery Alliance, Hong Kong singer G.e.M. used an app creating a glowing coloured screen to mimic the effect of glow sticks with her concertgoers. This reduced the need for over 25,000 glow sticks at recent concerts. Check out the video (Chinese) of the performance, and watch the crowd’s response at 1:04. Are there other ways of using everyday devices for even more purposes that help reduce consumption?
Check out the video
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eNVIRONMeNTAL AWARDs WINNeRs
eNviroNmeNtal awards wiNNers Celebrating excellence in environmental sustainability
senior leadership representatives of awardwinning organisations at the business Excellence Awards 2013, with Guest of Honour, deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean
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s thE agEnCy that champions safeguarding, nurturing, and cherishing the nation’s environmental quality, Singapore’s National Environment Agency pursues excellence in its own operations and supports leaders from all sectors championing environmental sustainability. Envision magazine salutes the many individuals and organisations making a demonstrated impact on environmental issues. Envision recognises the year’s major award winners.
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Tan Kai Hoe (CEo of sPRinG singapore), Tan Eng Kim (director CQsd, nEA), accepting the sQC star Award for nEA, with Professor Cham Tao soon (Chairman of sQA Governing Council)
Managing ecological public health risks
MAJOR AWARDS WON BY NEA
United Nations Public Service Award 2013 NEA secured the prestigious United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) 2013 in recognition of its efforts in data sharing and co-creation initiatives. The annual competition organised by the United Nations rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public institutions towards a more effective and responsive public administration internationally. The United Nations commended NEA for its outstanding achievement for demonstrating the agency’s efforts to serve public interest and their needs. NEA won the 2nd Prize under the category of ‘Promoting Whole-ofGovernment Approaches in Information Age in the Asia and Pacific Region’. A total of 601 nominations were received in this year’s competition. Best First Time Sustainability Report Award In 2013, NEA won the ‘Best First Time Sustainability Report’ Award at the ACCA Singapore Awards for Sustainability Reporting (SASR). It is the first public agency to win this award. The award reflected publishing of NEA’s first Sustainability Report, written in 2012 in line with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. These guidelines highlight some of the key economic, environmental, social and governance parameters that an organisation adopting sustainability should undertake. NEA achieved a “B” grading on its first attempt.
Singapore Quality Class (SQC) Star Since its establishment in 2002, NEA has developed significantly in various ways to keep Singapore clean and green in line with the growing population and increasingly high demands of the public. In order to raise its standards for environmental performance and at the same time ensure that Singapore stays competitive economically, it is important for NEA to continuously work towards excellence in all areas of the organisation. NEA embarked on its Business Excellence (BE) journey since 2003. Through the hard work, dedication and passion of many, NEA has done much to safeguard the environment and nurture the community to cherish the high environmental standards that have been achieved. BE provides NEA with a framework to strengthen its management systems and processes by knowing where the organisation is on its excellence journey, and what it needs to do to achieve higher levels of performance. NEA has attained several BE milestones, namely the Singapore Quality Class (SQC), People Developer (PD), ISO 9001: 2008, Service Class (S-Class) and Innovation Class (I-Class). The various BE awards and standards conferred by SPRING Singapore provide affirmation that NEA is on the right track towards being an excellent organisation, and motivate the organisation to always do better. The attainment of these standards made NEA a proud recipient of the Public Service Achievement Award in 2011. After an intensive period of preparation and hard work, NEA has been awarded the Singapore Quality Class (SQC) Star with a scoring band of above 550 which
is a significant improvement from its last assessment in 2010. This has brought the agency closer towards achieving SQA. With this, NEA will continue to sustain its passion and efforts, and work towards excellence. As a result of our commitment in the BE journey, NEA has been recently invited to join the Partnerships for Capability Transformation (PACT) circle administered by SPRING. The PACT circle aims to foster mutually beneficial collaborations between large private and public organisations on board the BE initiative and SMEs in the areas of capability upgrading and engagement of SME suppliers and partners in their value chain. These collaborations may be supported in the following areas: Partner Development: Large organisations work with their new and existing SME partners to upgrade their capabilities in the area of productivity, customer service and quality. Knowledge Transfer: Transfer of knowledge from large organisations to SMEs through the sharing of best practices and industry know-how with SMEs, via training workshops and mentorships. Co-innovation: Large organisations work with SMEs to co-develop and test-bed new products or processes. This spurs growth among local SMEs by helping them to build up track records, so that they can be more competitive when bidding for subsequent projects. In all, 20 leading organisations in the BE journey including NEA will be joining the PACT circle. Through the circle, NEA will be able to share our best BE practices and help to raise the capability of SMEs and contribute towards the competitiveness of the economy.
Permanent secretary, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources Choi shing Kwok with then CEo of nEA Andrew Tan
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ECOFRIEND AWARDS The EcoFriend Awards was developed and launched by NEA in 2007, to recognise and honour individuals who have made significant contributions to Singapore’s efforts in achieving environmental sustainability. This annual award also aims to encourage and inspire individuals at all stages and walks of life to do their part for the environment, by showing that an individual’s effort can have a significant, lasting and positive impact on our clean and green environment. Nominations for the 2013 EcoFriend Awards lasted for eight weeks from March 2013 to April 2013. A total of 419 nominations were received – the highest ever to date. The eight recipients of the 2013 EcoFriend Awards are: Mr Desmond Chua, General Manager at Keppel Club, is a passionate advocate of the environment who has led Keppel Club in achieving many eco-friendly practices in its operations. Apart from installing resource-saving devices, he also preserves biodiversity by conserving greenery and creating habitats suitable for organisms to thrive. He also reaches out to the community through an iconic Earth Week Exhibition held annually to educate people on environmental issues. Public Sector Category Mr Eden Liew, the Principal of ITE College East, championed numerous environmental initiatives at the school such as the Tray Return Programme and kNOw Cleaners Day that promoted social graciousness and the importance of public hygiene. He also collaborated with NEA and South East CDC on various events that reaches out to regional schools and the community on environmental issues. Educational Institutions Category Ms Susan Tan, Principal of Kinderland Preschool at Ministry of Manpower, is a firm believer of the green cause and advocate of early learning, Ms Tan is devoted to educating young children in her preschool on environmental issues. Beyond her duties
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as an educator, she actively encouraged and led her colleagues from other Kinderland preschools to engage their preschoolers in environmental activities. She has also reached out to parents by involving them in educating their children on the importance of practicing the 3Rs. Non-Government Organisations and Grassroots Category Ms Olivia Choong, CoFounder of Green Drinks Singapore, is the key driver behind the startup and sustained efforts of Green Drinks Singapore, a movement that organises monthly talks and/or discussions to raise awareness on diverse environmental topics, such as recycling, electric vehicles, biodiversity, collaborative consumption and more. The campaign has made notable contributions in reaching out to people from varied industries and forged collaborations between budding environmental activists. Ms Regina Chong, Chairperson of the Kim Seng Community Centre Youth Executive Committee, started the Environwise Interest Group at Kim Seng Community Centre, in which she spearheaded numerous activities to heighten environmental awareness among residents in her constituency. One of her key initiatives is a four-month recycling project that reached out to over 3,000 residents. She also founded the Youth Spirit, a percussion interest group that creates music from recycled materials, to promote recycling to youths.
Youth and Students Category Mr Loh Yi Rong, ViceChairperson of Keep Singapore Beautiful Movement Youth Committee, conceptualised and led many activities and events to support KSBM. Apart from the Tray Return Initiative at Tampines Round Market, he was instrumental in the campaign’s I(+1) Starts Now! mass mobilisation activity in 2012, where he rallied 250 youths to go the extra mile to extend social graciousness and keep Singapore beautiful. He was also involved in organising Eco Singapore’s Earth Hour Observance in 2009, an island-wide event which aimed to raise awareness on the importance of conserving energy. Ms Lee Qian Yi, Membership Secretary of the Ci Yuan Community Centre Youth Executive Committee, was the founding member of the council that conceptualised the National Youth EnvirOlympics Challenge (NYEC) 2008. It was the largest youthinitiated environmental event that garnered the support of 1,200 youth participants. She went on to become the Chairperson of NYEC 2013, where she led a team of young people in a series of outreach activities to share NYEC’s message on eco-urban living. Mr Lee Jun Wei, Executive Committee Member of the National Youth Achievement Award and Gold Award Holders’ Alumni, spearheaded several activities to reach out to the youths and the community. In 2012, he organised a dialogue session involving 250 students on climate change with the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. He also initiated an e-waste collection exercise in Tampines, and led a group of youth volunteers on house to house visits to collect unwanted e-waste for recycling.
Managing ecological public health risks
PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AWARD Three distinguished organisational recipients were presented the President’s Award for the Environment (PAE) from Singapore President Tony Tan. The award is the highest environmental accolade in Singapore and is being presented for the eighth year since its inauguration in 2006. The three award recipients stood out from the 32 high-quality nominations received for this year’s PAE. They have taken innovative steps to make our environment much cleaner and greener for every Singaporean to enjoy. They have also demonstrated a high level of commitment and excellence both in educating our young on environmental matters as well as leading the drive for green business.
Dunman High School can be described as a veteran advocate of the environmental cause. The school bears the distinction of having been named the first Friends of Water in 2006, in recognition of its efforts to protect water resources and promoting the water cause to its students. Over the last six years, Dunman High School has broadened its scope beyond water issues to cover recycling and waste minimisation, nature preservation and public cleanliness. The students also consistently reach out to the community to spread environmental messages such as anti-littering, nature preservation, resource conservation and toilet cleanliness. Fuhua Primary School is the first primary school to be awarded the President’s Award for the Environment. The school operates a wide spectrum of well-structured and comprehensive environment-related programmes for staff and students alike. Environmental messages, which promote water conservation, waste minimisation and biodiversity preservation, are well-infused into the school curriculum, and communicated in a lively way to the students. Through activities such as the annual ‘No Cleaners Week’, the students are inculcated with a sense of responsibility towards the cleanliness of the school premises. Siloso Beach Resort is the first hotel to be awarded the President’s Award for the Environment. Conceived and designed with environmental preservation in mind, Siloso Beach Resort was built with all natural habitats in its surrounding area preserved. The resort also used unconventional construction techniques to build over 200 hotel rooms while preserving over 200 fully grown trees and planting another 450 trees post-construction. It reused a significant amount of materials in its built structure; taps extensively on rainwater harvesting and purification for its water needs; grows a rooftop garden to reduce its carbon footprint; and has the largest wormery in Singapore to compost its food waste. Issue 5
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SINGAPORE ENVIRONMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS The Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (SEAA) was launched in 1997 by Mr Yeo Cheow Tong, Singapore’s former Minister for the Environment. This longrunning accolade is presented by the Singapore Environment Council and aims to inspire Singapore-based and regional organisations to become more committed to environmental and social responsibilities. It is the only local award that addresses overall environmental initiatives and awareness within an organisation.
Kimberly-Clark Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (Services) Keppel Land Limited was the winner selected based on the strength of their environmental management systems and commitment towards environmental protection. The company has also aligned itself with best practices by adopting several external global benchmarks in environmental reporting including United Nations Global Compact, Carbon Disclosure Project, Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, ISO 26000 and ISO 14000, to name a few. The company takes a proactive approach towards environmental management and protection
across all of its properties. In shaping the future, Keppel Land has also set the goal of reducing carbon emissions intensity by 16% below 2010’s emission levels.
Lee Foundation Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (Public Sector) Institute of Technical Education (ITE) was chosen due to their numerous industry tie-ups and robust student involvement in their environmental programmes. One such tie-up is with Renewable Energy Corp (REC), wherein REC donated 150 photo voltaic panels to support the ITE-REC PV System, a 15kW Grid-Tied Solar System
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set up at ITE College West. The system was used for real-time learning opportunities for the staff and students. ITE views innovation as essential when it comes to developing creative ways to inspire students and their programmes have been successful in engaging the student population in environmental sustainability. Staff’s and students’ efforts in greening the school have included projects ranging from maintaining a solar energy farm, to harvesting rainwater, and developing a solar heating system.
Managing ecological public health risks
DFS Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (Regional), and CDL Outstanding Singapore Environmental Achievement Award KUB-Berjaya Enviro Sdn Bhd developed the Bukit Tagar Sanitary Landfill on a long-term concession awarded by the Government of Malaysia. It is currently the largest and most advanced engineered sanitary landfill in Malaysia. Since commencing in April 2005, the Bukit Tagar Sanitary Landfill is receiving 2,800 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily. With 120 million metric tonnes capacity, it can provide waste management solution for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor
for over 60 years. Several pioneering and innovative technologies are adopted in Bukit Tagar as part of its holistic approach to solid waste management, including zero-discharge policy for treated effluent, state-of-the-art leachate treatment plant, reed bed polishing
system, and comprehensive landfill gas management system. It has one of the largest grid-connected renewable energy facilities in Malaysia, generating electricity from its 4.4MW gas engines using methane harnessed from municipal solid wastes.
SEC-Senoko Energy Green Innovation Award Housing & Development Board (HDB) won for its Prefabricated Extensive Green (PEG) Roof System. The system is a simple and cost-effective greening solution which mitigates the impact of urbanisation by offering green visual relief in high-rise living environments, and reduces reflected heat and glare. Its lightweight, modular design ensures that it is highly portable and
provides “instant greening� effects. Wastage is minimised as the resource-efficient system can be reused. Through careful selection of plant species, as well as an innovative design comprising built-in compartments that can contain rainwater to weather plants through dry spells of up to 21 days, minimal maintenance is required. Besides serving the plants, the PEG Roof System’s water retention capabilities also help to alleviate peak flow discharge during heavy rain. Issue 5
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SINGAPORE SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS Several leading organisations were recognised for their innovative sustainable business practices at the 2013 Singapore Sustainability Awards. An initiative of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), the Awards are into their fourth season. The winners were judged on their sustainability excellence and innovation by an independent panel of 30 judges from private, public, and academic institutions. Comprising the Sustainable Business Awards (SBA) and the Green Technology Awards (GTA), this year’s top winners comprised of companies from both SME and large business tiers.
Sustainable Business Awards, Small & Medium Enterprise, Top Honour ECO Special Waste Management is one of Singapore’s leading specialised waste management companies, providing a range of on and off site services to customers in the industrial, commercial, and utility sectors. Operating out of a seven hectare integrated waste management complex in Tuas, the company handles a variety of difficult, hazardous (toxic), and industrial wastes. It operates on the basis of “Industrial Ecology”
such as waste to energy, waste to substitute chemical, waste treat waste and waste & resource recovery. Many kinds of materials are recycled, treated and disposed of via more than a dozen advanced technology systems deployed at their Tuas site. CEO Rick Reidinger says, “ECO’s strategy is to ensure environmentally sound, safe treatment of all hazardous waste, and to maximise recovery of chemicals and energy from the waste for both environment and commercial sustainability.”
Sustainable Business Awards, Large Enterprise, Top Honour Keppel Land Limited is one of Asia’s leading property companies, recognised for its sterling portfolio of award-winning
residential developments and investmentgrade commercial properties as well as high standards of corporate governance and transparency. Guided by its vision to be the premier multinational provider of urban living solutions, Keppel Land strives to create desirable live-work-play environments of enduring value for the community with its hallmark excellence. In going green, Keppel Land adopts a proactive and holistic approach in the way it designs and develops its properties. The company strives to improve the quality of life and empower communities in Asia while at the same time positively impacting the living environment.
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Sustainable Business Awards, Large Enterprise, Achievement of Excellence Gammon has operated in Singapore for more than 30 years and has a strong reputation for delivering high quality projects regionally. The company’s sustainability approach holistically incorporates Zero Harm (safety), resource efficiency & energy conservation (environmental protection), safe & responsible procurement, sustainable construction (Green Mark, LEED certifications) and caring for the community.
Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Keppel Datahub achieved the Building and Construction Authority Green Mark Gold Award and was among the first data centres to receive the SS564: Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres. Key energy-saving features of its data centres include the Dynamic Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supply and chilled-water cooling system. This system gives more precise control of environmental factors within the data centre and contributes to energy savings.
Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO) is committed to its journey towards Net Zero Environmental Impact. Activities in support of this goal combine practical actions in offices and on vessels with larger corporate initiatives. SPO received the Singapore Environmental Council Eco Office Certification in 2010 and 2012. Across the vessel fleet, it uses TBT-free anti-fouling paint. The company also sponsors Biosphere Foundation studies on cetaceans and other marine mammals (which often suffer mortality by ship-strikes off the southern coast of Sri Lanka).
Managing ecological public health risks
The company has successfully installed solar leasing projects in various industries, with the total installed capacity exceeding 10MW, making Sunseap Leasing the largest solar asset owner in Singapore to date.
Green Technology Awards, Small & Medium Enterprise, Top Honour Greenpac was founded in 2002 and they provide innovative, holistic solutions for more efficient and environmentally friendly packaging that enable clients to achieve bottom-line cost savings. A knowledge-based company, Greenpac works with strategic suppliers to customise environmentallyfriendly packaging materials according to the specific needs of each customer. One example of this is the collapsible Honey Bee packaging, which offers tremendous savings on freight and storage cost and reduced carbon emissions whilst increasing operational efficiency and productivity. Less
Green Technology Awards, Small & Medium Enterprise, Achievement of Excellence Biomax Technologies specialises in the research and development of enzyme-based solutions for agribusinesses. Biomax had successfully developed and commercialised Rapid Thermophilic Digestion Technology, which converts organic by-products from agriculture and food processing into topquality pathogen-free organic fertiliser within 24 hours. It is an internationally patented technology which consists of a specially designed digestor and a unique mix of enzymes. The system shortens the waste processing time, produces a commercially valuable output and does not create any polluting by-products. Sunseap Leasing was the first company to offer solar leasing in Singapore and Asia. Solar leasing provides building owners with solar solutions with near zero capital costs,
Green Technology Awards, Large Enterprise, Achievement of Excellence AkzoNobel is a leading global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. It offers energy saving and a more responsible way to manage temperature through the Green Label certified low-VOC heat reflecting Dulux Weathershield Keep Cool exterior emulsion paint, which reduces exterior surface temperature by up to 5°C and cuts energy costs by up to 15 per cent. AkzoNobel has a commitment to adopting sustainable business practices extending from the choice of raw material suppliers to the longevity of its products.
fuel is required to transport the material, thus ‘greening’ the supply chain. The equipment can also now be stacked during shipment, which translates to 100 per cent increase in shipping capacity. It won the Singapore Star Packaging Awards 2012, Asia Packaging Star Awards 2012, and World Star Packaging Awards 2013.
allowing them to utilise green energy at competitive rates. Organisations can therefore make a green statement and enjoy savings at the same time. Sunseap Leasing has implemented the first HDB solar leasing projects at Pasir Ris - Punggol Town Council. These projects have a total system size of 5.6MW and are worth close to S$20 million.
Carrier Singapore was a founding member of the Singapore Green Building Council and many others worldwide. They believe green products must start at a green company. Carrier applies a rigorous, formal review during its product development process to minimise the environmental footprint of its products while maximising environmental technologies. Evergreen chillers provide customers with a high-efficiency, chlorinefree, long-term solution unaffected by refrigerant phase-out. Carrier’s decision to utilise non-ozone-depleting HFC-134a refrigerant provides customers with a safe and environmentally sound choice without compromising efficiency. Ricoh’s corporate activities are based on its belief that economic, social, and environmental issues are closely-knit. Together with the stakeholders, it strives to simultaneously achieve the creation of a sustainable society while improving the economy. As one example of green product offering, Ricoh’s Quick Start-up energysaving technology enables copiers to quickly start up from the sleep mode – offering both high energy savings and productivity. Total Green Office Solution characterises Ricoh’s environmental strategy that supports visualising, analysing, and minimising the environmental impacts and costs at customers’ sites, and that support customers’ knowledge management. Issue 5
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Electricity touches everyone’s life. As Singapore’s Preferred Electricity Retailer for Businesses, Seraya Energy is attuned to offering a wide range of electricity solutions that allow users to choose electricity packages that best suit their ever-changing needs. Even though its core product is electricity, Seraya Energy is really in the business of helping companies improve their overheads and financial budgeting. This is done by helping businesses lower their risk exposure to electricity price volatility. Other than helping businesses better manage electricity costs, Seraya Energy also seeks to empower customers with the knowledge and ability to consume less electricity. One of the products, GreenPlus, is an innovative energy solution package that comes bundled with energy management services to help companies achieve or improve their energy efficiency. Businesses with commercial or industrial buildings of high energy consumption can choose to sign up for a plan that provides either a complimentary Energy Audit or Green Mark service under GreenPlus Energy Audit or GreenPlus BCA Green Mark. GreenPlus-Energy Audit helps to identify areas of significant energy consumption, costs and waste. Companies will be able to achieve energy savings and such energy audits will also explore the potentials of increased production capacity without major equipment or plant expansion expenditure. GreenPlus BCA Green Mark will cater to companies who will like to achieve BCA Green Mark certification. Businesses on this plan can embark on BCA Green Mark certification (Gap Analysis) immediately as GreenPlus plan does away with the need to budget for project expenditure. Under both GreenPlus Energy Audit or GreenPlus BCA Green Mark, companies will be able to achieve energy
savings and reduction in operational costs through the savings from their electricity bills. In
addition, Seraya Energy conducts regular orientation programmes to familiarise customers with online information, energy conservation tips, and energy consumption patterns for their respective companies. As a result, Seraya Energy’s customers are equipped with energy usage analytical skills and can better manage their energy consumption. Essentially, all these initiatives Seraya Energy engages in plays a role to preserve the environment for Corporate Social Responsibility. Having built a strong foundation, Seraya Energy continue to roll out innovative initiatives that further enhance operational efficiencies, save energy, and promote sustainability. At the same time, the company has improved its systems, enabling employees to become more efficient and effective. The solutions and services it offers the market have helped customers achieve their own tangible results. There is a distinct focus on helping customers succeed, and Seraya Energy accomplishes this by elevating the quality of service in the energy industry; providing end-users with the best service and most competitive value-driven power; and delivering a positive purchasing experience in a de-regulated market.
Who is
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• Retail arm of YTL PowerSeraya, one of Singapore’s largest power generation companies. • One of the leading electricity retailers in the contestable electricity market in Singapore. • Proven track records since 2001 with substantial list of awards and accolades. • Business Superbrands (2010 to 2014) • Singapore1000 (2005-2010 and 2012-2013) • Fastest Growing 50 (FG50) Certification (2006) • For more information, visit www.serayaenergy.com.
About the Electricity Market The Singapore electricity market has liberalized since 2001. Since then, companies with contestable status granted by Energy Market Authority will be able to work with their preferred private electricity retailer who offers the most competitive price and service for customised energy products, designed for specific business needs. There are several reasons that commercial and industrial consumers make the switch to a private energy retailer. For example, they may be offered options they could not get from an existing provider, including the ability to customise energy packages. They may be offered more competitive pricing, enjoy other value-added services, and incentives. Switching service providers is a seamless, risk-free process to the end-consumer and only involves a change in the service contract; there is no disruption to the physical supply. 1 Harbourfront Place, #16-06 Harbour Front Tower 1, Singapore 098633 Tel: 6363 6688 Email: marketing@pseraya.com.sg Website: http://www.serayaenergy.com.sg
makiNg the most of e-waste Revenues from recovery of valuable materials from electronics are growing, but regional regulation remains a problem
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hE markEt rEvEnuE for e-waste recycling in Asia-Pacific accounted for $1.7 billion to $1.85 billion in 2012 and is expected to reach $4.01 billion in 2017. The rapid industrialisation and advancements in technology of the AsiaPacific region have led to the accumulation of electronic waste, compelling governments to pass regulations mandating e-waste recycling. Apart from government impetus, the market has got a boost from the increasing awareness of the potential value of
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Contributor Melvin Leong, Research Manager, energy & environment, Frost & sullivan resources that discarded electronics contain. Hence, the market is largely driven by increasing awareness among governments in the region about the hazards and environmental dangers of unregulated processing or disposal of e-waste in the environment, and the corresponding legislative response to curb this issue. On
the other hand, the market is being inhibited by the lack of consumer awareness on the lifecycle of their purchases of electronic goods and the amount of wastage taking place from mere disposal of such End-ofLife (EOL) items. Singapore’s position The total volume of e-waste generated in Singapore is not as extensive as other countries in Asia such as Japan, South Korea and China simply because of Singapore’s relatively small population. However, it must
INDusTRY INNOVATION
Users per ‘000 population
intErnEt usErs pEnEtration, southEast asia, 2005-2015 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0
Indonesia Malaysia Philippines singapore Thailand
2005 35.9 477.1 54.8 618.6 158.8
2006 47.6 505.8 58.3 587.1 181.7
2007 58.0 544.5 60.6 657.4 212.8
2008 67.8 584.5 63.1 728.1 246.7
2009 78.3 625.9 65.5 797.3 283.0
2010 88.9 663.3 68.1 863.1 321.1
2011 99.6 706.6 70.7 923.5 360.3
2012 109.6 750.7 73.4 976.5 399.9
2013 2014 2015 119.6 129.0 138.1 795.3 840.3 885.4 76.1 78.8 81.7 1,028.3 1,078.7 1,126.3 438.9 476.3 511.0
moBilE usErs pEnEtration, southEast asia, 2004-2014 500 Users per ‘00 population
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
Indonesia Malaysia Philippines singapore Thailand
2004 14 57.1 39.9 95.8 44.2
2005 21.3 74.8 41.3 102.8 49.9
2006 28.7 73.1 50 108.8 64.8
2007 36.5 85.9 59.3 129.1 125.4
2008 44.1 96.9 66.3 144 160.3
2009 52.5 107.5 72.9 157 199.8
2010 61.4 116.8 79.2 169.3 243.1
2011 70.7 126.2 84.8 180.5 291
2012 80.3 135 90 191 342.6
2013 90 143.3 94.6 200.9 398.2
2014 100.1 150.8 93 210.2 457.1
2012 3.2 21.0 10.1 64.5 11.7
2013 3.4 21.0 10.4 66.5 12.2
2014 3.5 21.0 10.6 68.5 12.6
2012 16.2 25.4 27.6 28.4 37
2013 16.5 25.7 28.3 28.4 38.3
2014 16.8 25.8 29.0 28.7 39.6
pC pEnEtration, southEast asia, 2004-2014
be noted that Singapore has the highest rates of ownership of electric and electronic devices in Southeast Asia, and one of the highest in Asia-Pacific at close to 100 per cent. This affirms that the e-waste recycling market intensity in Singapore is prospective and there is an opportunity for the country to be the centre of growth excellence in the region. As Singapore is considered to be one of the most developed nations in the region, it has the technological capability and financial viability to scale greater heights in e-waste market expansion. In addition, the progress that Singapore has made in the area of overall waste management and recycling is well-noted. Potential… and problems Asia-Pacific contributes close to 60 per cent of the world’s volume of e-waste. Therefore, the magnitude of e-waste
60 40 20 0
Indonesia Malaysia Philippines singapore Thailand
2004 1.4 19.2 4.5 62.4 6.0
2005 1.5 21.4 4.6 65.6 7.0
2006 2.2 21.4 7.8 75.0 7.8
2007 2.4 21.3 8.2 67.5 8.6
2008 2.6 21.3 8.8 62.9 9.3
2009 2.8 21.3 9.2 62.6 9.9
2010 2.9 21.1 9.5 62.5 10.5
2011 3.1 21.0 9.9 64.4 11.1
tv pEnEtration, southEast asia, 2004-2014 45 Users per ‘00 population
iN asia
Users per ‘00 population
80
35 25 15 5 0
Indonesia Malaysia Philippines singapore Thailand
2004 15.2 22.8 20.2 31.2 29.8
2005 15.2 23.3 21.2 31.2 30.4
2006 15.2 23.7 22.2 30.7 31.1
2007 15.3 24.1 23.2 30.1 31.9
2008 15.4 24.5 24.2 29.6 32.8
2009 15.6 24.8 25.1 29.1 33.7
2010 15.7 24.9 26.0 28.7 34.8
2011 15.9 25.2 26.8 28.6 35.8
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INDusTRY INNOVATION
disposal and treatment problems appear to be consequential to the general health of the environment. The issue is compounded by the fact that the Asian population is rapidly increasing the level of electronic device ownership. These devices include mobile phones, computers, and general electrical appliances and gadgets. The Asian population is increasingly technology
conscious with the average rate of change of communications device dropping from 3.5 years to two years. Asia-Pacific is also the import destination of e-waste from other regions. Laxer waste regulations in Asia mean that it is easier and possibly economically viable to ‘dispose’ of e-waste from other parts of the world into developing nations.
hotspots in asia-paCifiC Region/Country south Korea
General Market Characteristics The country places the responsibility of recycling e-waste on the producer, and mandates that more than half of the goods manufactured must be recycled. As it is a producer-driven market, consumers pay the least costs ensuring further market growth.
Japan
Limited land area for landfilling combined with a densely populated urban environment is key in driving the e-waste recycling market. While e-waste recycling is funded by the consumer, government regulations require businesses to effectively manage resources and minimise wastage.
Australia and New Zealand (ANZ)
There is significant governmental action for lowering e-waste in the form of legislation on management of hazardous waste. Moreover, bans on exporting e-waste to developing countries are expected to drive growth of local recycling.
southeast Asia
A key growth market for Asia-Pacific, this region will be driven by impending legislation in emerging countries, and increased consumption of electronic goods in line with rapid development and urbanisation.
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While Asia-Pacific has become a good destination for e-waste import, the development of e-waste supply and demand has given rise to many legal and illegal recycling centres which extract precious metals from e-waste. While the escalating volume of e-waste may appear to be a cloud with a silver lining, the market stands the risk of being undermined due to inappropriate technological application, lack of safety and poor treatment standards that are adopted by illegal or unlicensed recycling centres. These illegal e-waste recycling centres are usually unregulated and unmonitored by local authorities. While legitimate recycling centres are obligated to comply with certain industry standards and processing procedures as governed by the law, the illegal e-waste recycling companies may not necessarily do the same. For instance, inappropriate disposal of unwanted metals from these e-waste recycling centres may lead to contamination of water sources that eventually put water safety in danger. Therefore, for many parts of AsiaPacific, a well-regulated process of e-waste recycling is required in order to reap the economic benefits without compromising on environmental safety. The e-waste recycling
t e l b a t r u o y n o N O I S I V N E d a e R out now! NeA launched ENVISION magazine because it believes informed discussions are crucial for achieving a cleaner, healthier and more beautiful world. It’s now easier than ever to read compelling articles on environmental management by accessing its tablet-friendly edition. simply visit www. nea.gov.sg or scan the QR codes found below for the latest government and industry news and perspectives, or see http://tinyurl. com/b85h8xs to download a PDF version.
Previous Issues
FROM FUNCTION TO IN STYLE One step further in interior door solutions.
Form follows function. As easy as the rule is, as stunning are the results with DORMA. Seamlessly integrated door components and innovative interior systems to bring comfort to life.
DORMA. THE ACCESS.
Contact DORMA Far East Country Offices Singapore,Tel: 65 6268 7633 Indonesia, Tel: 62 21 293 0376-2 Korea, Tel: 82 31 776 0051 Malaysia/KL, Tel: 603 7665 1683 Malaysia/Senai, Tel: 607 5985730 Philippines, Tel: 632 893 4077-8 Taiwan, Tel: 886 2 2709 6611 Thailand, Tel: 66 2236 4994-6 Vietnam, Tel: 84 8 62 888748 www.dorma.com.sg
E-WastE rECyCling markEt: sharE of markEt rEvEnuE By rEgion, asia-paCifiC, 2012
E-WastE rECyCling markEt: pErCEnt rEvEnuE By matErials rECovErED, asia-paCifiC, 2012 15
southeast Asia 10%
21
30
Japan 40%
AnZ 18%
E-WastE rECyCling markEt: pErCEnt rEvEnuE By sourCE strEam, asia-paCifiC, 2012
24
25 55 31 south Korea 32%
Metals
Materials Plastics
source Others entertainment and Consumer electronics Office and ICT Devices Household Appliances
Glass
Note: southeast Asia includes Malaysia, singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Note: Others include industrial equipment, medical equipment and machinery.
market growth potential can be harnessed through proper regulatory framework and implementation, funding, and technological/ knowledge transfer. With such multi-dimensional problems in e-waste recycling, many Asian governments are already actively looking at ways to control e-waste dumping and illegal processing. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have already implemented e-waste regulations, placing recycling responsibility on the manufacturers of the products themselves. Currently, 75 per cent of a manufacturer’s yearly e-waste production needs to be recycled as per local regulations in these four countries. This best practice has also been followed by developing and emerging economies in Asia-Pacific. For instance, the Philippines has had regulations in place to control the disposal of consumer electronics since 2000, while Thailand has strict regulation on the import of e-waste and is also developing a national strategic plan to address the issue. Indonesia plans to develop an e-waste recycling market that is regulation-centric, and embark on a national inventory of its e-waste recycling activities. While there are may be national plans and policies, the market remains challenged by the significant gap between implementation and enforcement of these e-waste recycling policies, and the seemingly out-of-control and elusive illegal e-waste recycling operators. Japan has the largest market share in e-waste recycling at approximately 40 per cent, followed by South Korea (32 per cent), ANZ (18 per cent), and Southeast Asia (10 per cent).
In terms of recycled materials of e-waste, metals generated the largest revenue share (55 per cent) while plastics and glass generated 30 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively. Household appliances currently make up the largest source stream of e-waste because most of the existing legislation pertains to hazardous waste generated by appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners. However, by 2017, telecommunications devices and computers will become the largest contributor to the e-waste recycling market due to rapidity of technological development of these products. The key to success The e-waste recycling market in Asia-Pacific
“while asia-paCifiC has BeCome a good destiNatioN for e-waste import, the developmeNt of e-waste supply aNd demaNd has giveN rise to maNy legal aNd illegal reCyCliNg CeNtres whiCh extraCt preCious metals from e-waste”
is at a growth stage, and the competitive level here has not reached its peak. With less than 100 reputable e-waste recycling market participants, and a large number of smaller unrecorded or unregistered market participants, it is very much a consumercontrolled market where collectors and recyclers attempt to outbid each other in an effort to gather supply of e-waste. Moreover, consumers are still not compelled to recycle their e-waste or take responsibility for at least sorting or disposing e-waste in appropriate manner. While prices paid out for e-waste brought in to any collector or recycler are competitive and only marginally different, the smartest participants understand that such small sums of money do not outweigh convenience for the consumer. Successful market participants are the ones that are able to expand their network of collections through strategic collection points in an environment where waste management standards in general have not been at par with global ones, particularly those of Southeast Asia. In this highly competitive environment, it is as common to see companies exit the market as it is to see new entrants, and those that survive are the companies that understand the need for increasing their technological capacities to maximise output from recycling activities.
Footnotes: l Asia-Pacific includes Japan, south Korea, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), and southeast Asia only. l unless otherwise indicated, all revenue figures are quoted in us dollars. l source for all exhibits is Frost & sullivan
INDusTRY INNOVATION
how do moBile e-waste reCyCliNg programmes staCk up? Mobile phones from business and personal use as well as a variety of household e-waste items can be recycled in singapore. Here’s a quick look at what’s on offer, and note that a variety of recycling partnerships are available for interested organisations
About the programme: In March 2011, singTel launched the first operator-led mobile phone recycling programme in singapore. since then, they have been providing the means for mobile phone users and the general public to recycle their unwanted mobile phones through the programme. To make it more convenient, they can either drop the mobile phone in any of the seven mobile phone recycling bins or get a prepaid self-addressed mobile phone recycling envelope from any of of the singTel Retail shops and post the mobile phone in any singPost letterbox directly to the electronic waste vendor.
vs
Date started: March 2011 Type(s) of e-waste handled: Any brand of used mobile phones, chargers and accessories. Locations: Mobile phone recycling envelopes are available at 10 singTel shop locations in malls across the island, and mobile phone recycling bins are available at seven singTel shops and exclusive Retailer locations. Customers can also drop off their phones at Nokia Care Centres. Refer to the website below for more information. How much e-waste has been collected to date? More than 2,000 mobile phones have been collected to date through the programme. Bonus points: For every phone that is recycled via the programme, Nokia will plant a tree in the donor’s name. As an extension of this, from April 2013 to March 2014, singTel and Nokia will donate s$5 to the singTel Touching Lives Fund for every phone recycled via our mobile phone recycling programme. Interested singTel enterprise customers who want the programme extended to their company can get in touch at csr@singtel.com. For more info and locations: http://tinyurl.com/nnkye7w ENVISION comment: Big gold star to singtel for kicking things off, and also for widening the reach with corporate partner Nokia, as well as with the charitable tie-ins. starhub has rapidly caught up though. Both in terms of collection volumes and types of e-waste collected, there’s some strong competition in this space. What’s the next step to expanding this programme and increasing participation?
Did you know? l The NeA, with the help of a number of public and
private sector partners, offers recycling and take-back schemes for a number of different types of e-waste, including appliances, toner cartridges, computers,
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About the programme: starHub’s electronic Waste Recycling Programme is a non-profit community outreach initiative to help enable individual consumers to dispose of their electronic waste responsibly. Date started: 31 March 2012, expanded in August 2012
Type(s) of e-waste handled: A variety of electronic waste from various brands, regardless of whether it was purchased from starHub. These items include: mobile phones, battery chargers, lithium-ion batteries, cables and wires, DVD players, laptops, cable modems, portable music players, CDs, set-top boxes, VCRs, etc. Locations: 38 bins at 20 locations island-wide, including starHub customer service centres in malls, schools, condominiums, Community Clubs and even the environment Building. Organisations can request for a bin to be placed at their premises. All requests will be evaluated. How much e-waste has been collected to date? Almost seven tonnes have been collected. Bonus points: This is a purely voluntary effort, from implementation to participation in hopes the public will use the bins to responsibly discard their e-waste. For more info and locations: http://tinyurl.com/p7yszub ENVISION comment: While starhub was slightly late starting out, they have moved proactively to expand locations and waste-types. This is positive to see. seven tonnes is a good start, but how will the company continue to promote this initiative and increase the volume of materials collected?
Possible game changer? To both stem the flow of mobile device e-waste, and to enable refurbished handsets a second life in developing countries, a new service paying cash for mobile phones recently launched in singapore. The company offers valuation via their website, free pick-up, and payment via bank transfer or Paypal. While not all handsets may be accepted, the service offers yet another way to responsibly deal with old handsets. More available at bouncemobile.com.sg
and mobile devices. To learn more about these programmes and how you can recycle e-waste, visit http://tinyurl.com/n9kagjn l The NeA is currently also working with the Infocomm
Development Authority and sPRING singapore to
develop a singapore standard for ICT equipment Recycling, which will result in a management system standard for recycling of a wide range of e-waste. To learn more about how this will promote best practices by the ICT equipment recycling industry, visit: http:// tinyurl.com/lujt5mq
Elms provide professional recycling and management services of electronic scrap. We understand the customers’ requirements for technological protection, procedural adherence and compliance to regulations. We have a superb track record in our line of business. • Environmentally-responsible with a view to international best practices. • 20 years of track record in serving electronic producers and generators. • Security control of sensitive devices from collection to processing • Provision of destruction services • We work with customers to formulate recycling programs tailored to your requirements and concerns • Processes and operations certified to the standards of ISO 9001; ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 • Among materials that we handle are: - Semiconductors and electronic components, - Printed Circuit Board Assemblies, - Wafers, - Secondary Batteries, - Telecommunication products, - Hard disk drives and other storage media, - Miscellaneous electronic peripherals and equipment, - Miscellaneous electronic products such as servers, mobile phones, MP3 players, etc.
10 Tuas View Square, Singapore 637552 T: (65) 68628880 / (65) 68618880 F: (65) 68620220 E: elms@elms.com.sg www.elms.com
7 Tuas Avenue 10 Singapore 639131 Tel: +65 6861 6668 Fax: +65 6861 5326
Veolia is a leading public cleansing service provider. We provide public cleansing services to majority of the public roads in the Northwestern, Southwestern and Central regions as well as cleaning of all the expressways in Singapore. Well-equipped with a fleet of mechanical and pavement sweepers and a team of experienced work force, Veolia is able to render consistently high service quality to the general public, providing cleansing services for all the public roads, pavement, grass verge, back lanes and bus stops as well as clearing the litters from the litter bins within its sectors. Core Services: • Public Waste Collection Services • Commercial Waste Management • Public Roads, Expressways and Street Cleansing Services Certifications Achieved: NEA Clean Mark Gold Award GlobalGROUP ISO 9001:2008 GlobalGROUP ISO 14001:2004 GlobalGROUP OHSAS 18001 BizSAFE Star Award
http://www.veolia-es.sg
LIAN CHENG CONTRACTING PTE LTD 105 Sims Ave #06-11, Chancerlodge Complex, Singapore 387429 Tel: 6742 8755 Fax: 6742 7071 Email: lianchen@singnet.com.sg
We are professionals in:
Company’s Certifications
• Contract Cleaning & Maintenance for
• NEA Clean Mark Silver Award
Commercial, Industrial and Residential Buildings
• DAS Certification
• Polishing of All Types of Floorings
• BIZSAFE Level 3
• Steam- Cleaning, Shampooing of Carpets,
• ISO 9001 : 2008
External Facade Cleaning • Refuse Removal
Company’s BCA Workheads
• Grass-Cutting
• MW02 - Housekeeping, Cleaning,
• Spring Cleaning
Desilting & Conservancy Service - L5
• General & Dry Cleaning for all Fabric Materials
• MW03 - Landscaping - L1
• Pest Control Services
• MW04 - Pest Control - L1
INDusTRY INNOVATION
the value of data
Industry experience shows energy management and verification yields operational savings, especially for sMes
o
vEr thE past decade, many countries have set ambitious targets on renewable energy, looking at non-fossil-fuel sources as a way to boost their supply. However, equally important is the need to curtail the demand for energy, and manage its use, rather than just finding more sources of energy. Electricity and gas prices have been climbing steadily. In countries like Singapore and the Philippines, where electricity costs are not subsidised, this cost has a huge impact on operational expenses. A study published by the OECD recently predicted Brent crude oil prices almost doubling by 20201. This should come as no surprise to many companies as their utility bills arrive every month. Companies face a multitude of challenges today. To survive competition, they know they need to remain efficient, cost-
competitive and versatile in doing business – CEOs, operations and finance directors are continually reviewing their expenses. Up until a few years ago, energy was seen as a fixed-cost item, much like rental and overheads. It simply did not stand out as
“iN order to maNage eNergy effiCieNtly, ColleCtiNg aNd reviewiNg eNergy usage data is iNstrumeNtal to uNderstaNdiNg where it is BeiNg CoNsumed”
an opportunity for cost-saving. However, high energy costs have increasingly become a striking item on the balance sheet, directly affecting business profitability. This has compelled many companies to take calculated steps to manage and improve their energy consumption. In order to manage energy efficiently, collecting and reviewing energy usage data is instrumental to understanding where it is being consumed, what the best solutions to reduce wastage are, and how to use existing energy to its fullest potential. It is widely-known that companies that measure and manage their energy consumption tend to realise more returns from improving their energy efficiency. With proper measurements, companies can quickly identify energy wastage “hotspots” and take action. Diligent measurements over time also make way for corrective actions Issue 5
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seAs seCReTARIAT
ManagIng ecologIcal publIc health rIsks
when equipment begins to deteriorate. With today’s computer technology, tools such as energy management systems have simplified such tasks tremendously. Data can now be automatically logged and analysed periodically, allowing energy managers to focus on the decision-making process. Control systems can be programmed and autonomously alter equipment idling time and dimming lights when no one is around. Measurement and Verification (M&V) As management guru Jack Welch once proclaimed, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”, so being able to measure energy consumption and savings empowers businesses with information to make savings. The process of measuring and collecting data on energy use to determine energy savings is termed measurement and verification (M&V), and energy management systems are the tools used in this process. The M&V process is an integral part of any energy savings project as it is used to determine the amount and accuracy of the savings achieved. Two key features of good M&V practices are isolation and real-time data collection. Isolation allows energy measurement on individual equipment such as the lights, chillers, and boilers etc. Realtime data collection is necessary for plant and building owners to obtain feedback on energy use throughout the hour, day or week. Accurate M&V has allowed NCS Cold Stores verified savings of 21 per cent, equivalent to $150,000 annually. The project
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was conducted by G-Energy Global for the company providing cold storage and warehousing solutions. After learning that the refrigerator plant was consuming 50 per cent of the facility’s energy, an upgrade was undertaken, relying on key data such as liquid flow, suction/discharge pressures. Without M&V, plant and building owners will only know the energy consumption at the end of the month when the bills arrive, without knowing when and where energy has been used. The benefits of M&V are numerous. While the energy consumed is a key piece of data that is collected, plant owners also use M&V to collect data on temperature, pressure, flow and other parameters critical to operations or correlative to energy use. Furthermore, continuous monitoring of energy performance can help in diagnosing and correcting issues that would have otherwise gone unnoticed in the absence of M&V, such as unnecessary energy wastage caused by energy inefficient human practices (leaving unused equipment switched on for example), or by technical faults in equipment such as leakages. With the help of M&V systems, further savings are achievable even in highly efficient facilities. Energenz, an energy management solution company, recently helped a major food retailer design and implement a detailed energy management information system (EMIS). The electrical sub-metering provided extremely valuable insights into the operation of the store. The monitoring system identified issues such as incorrect
scheduling of AHUs, high overnight base load and equipment left powered-on. The food retailer, with its already highly energyefficient store, was able to squeeze further savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Validity of M&V To achieve energy efficiency, M&V needs to be valid. Dr Chua Sze Wey, Principal Metrologist & Head (Electrical Metrology) at the National Metrology Centre, A*STAR, explained that “a properly developed and implemented M&V protocol and plan would need to include the accuracy of measurement as a fundamental requirement, as it can significantly affect the validity of the data collected and subsequently the reliability of the M&V results”. For example, inaccurate measurements often cause problems on control systems. “A 0.5oC error in chilled water temperature measurement resulted in additional hundred thousands of dollars of operating cost due to unnecessary switching on of additional chillers,” Dr Chua said, emphasising the importance of data to be accurate in the first place in order for M&V to achieve greater energy efficiency. Dr Chua added that the correct measurement instruments and methodology need to be used, as well as the appropriate means to validate the accuracy performance of the measuring system. This ensures that the measurement data are accurate. Standards such as the BCA Green Mark Version 4 and the ASHRAE Guideline 22 Instrumentation for Monitoring Central Chilled-Water Plant Efficiency specify the
INDusTRY INNOVATION
Importance of M&V in Financing When organisations invest in energy efficiency, their executives naturally want to know how much they have saved and how long the savings will last. Therefore an M&V protocol is typically put in place even before any energy conservation measure (ECM) is undertaken. By comparing the pre-retrofit and post-retrofit data collected, the savings can be accurately quantified. A review of several hundred million dollars’ worth of efficiency retrofits in buildings revealed that projects with strong M&V protocol achieved energy savings that are 20 to 30 per cent higher than projects with little or no M&V. The Sustainable Development Capital LLP, an investment and financial advisory firm, whose investment arm focuses on investment in energy efficiency, funds and implements energy efficiency projects on a “paid from savings” basis. As part of their commercial structure, they work only with the best energy service companies (ESCOs) and suppliers, seeking a guarantee of performance from them to ensure that savings are indeed achieved from their energy efficiency solutions, so as to get a return on their investments. Thus, financing institutions and investors are increasingly willing to fund energy saving projects with a strong M&V plan. This helps companies and investors accurately measure the return on investment from energy saved, and guarantee the level of savings over time. What’s happening in Singapore Industry is clearly one of the largest consumers of energy – manufacturing, F&B, marine, precision engineering, and chemical industries have been found to be some of the largest consumers of energy due to production processes, equipment used in their business, and the nature of their operations. 40.2 per cent of Singapore’s electricity is consumed by the industrial-related sector2. Thus, industries can make a huge impact on Singapore’s carbon footprint by improving their energy efficiency. So in 2013, the Singapore government made two huge steps towards energy efficiency: First, the Energy Conservation Act was put into place in April, mandating large consumers of energy of more than 15GWh annually to appoint a certified energy manager in their company to audit, report
seAs seCReTARIAT
requirements for sensors/transducers and measurement instruments in capturing relevant process parameters, their installation, commissioning, operational monitoring and maintenance for energy efficiency assessment M&V.
“with more siNgaporeBased CompaNies implemeNtiNg eNergy effiCieNCy sChemes, siNgapore will have a pool of Best-iN-Class examples to showCase to the rest of the regioN” and improve energy consumption in their facilities. Energy in large companies like these is easily tracked and these companies are clear on which areas are using the most. But in much smaller Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), reducing energy isn’t one of their top priorities when they are trying to run a business. However it can account for a significant portion of their revenue. For SME manufacturers, energy costs can often swell to as much as 40 per cent of the operational expenses of the business. In particular, SMEs in energy intensive industries such as food manufacturing, marine engineering, printing, chemicals and precision engineering are most vulnerable to increases in energy prices. With rising oil prices, it is therefore reasonable to anticipate increasing utility costs leading to 2020 and beyond. Recognising these challenges, the Singapore government launched the SME
Energy Efficiency Initiative in July 2013. Developed by SPRING Singapore, and led by the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS), this S$17 million-dollar initiative brings together existing government grants to help SMEs reduce their energy costs, increase productivity, and promote energy efficiency. One such grant is the iSPRINT grant, where companies can get reimbursed for the M&V solutions that they implement, which will help them become more energy efficient, more productive, and it helps them to reduce costs as well. Singapore as a regional leader in energy efficiency solutions Singapore is on the path to position itself in the region as a leader in implementing energy efficiency solutions, and any regional governments in Southeast Asia have pledged to increase their energy efficiency nationwide. Singapore is an important stakeholder in expanding energy efficiency projects in the region, and it will be able to contribute in terms of financial, technological and knowledge expertise. With more Singapore-based companies implementing energy efficiency schemes, Singapore will have a pool of best-in-class examples to showcase to the rest of the region. This is the time for Singapore-based companies to take the leap and be pioneers in energy efficiency. For more information and assistance with energy M&v please visit seas.org.sg. oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/the-price-of-oil-will-it-start-risingagain_5k49q186vxnp-en Singapore Energy Statistics 2012, energy Market Authority of singapore, ema.gov.sg/media/files/publications/eMA_ses_2012_ Final.pdf
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PARTING sHOT
(HVAC) industry is known as Measurement and Verification (M&V) and has grown into an industry on its own. The Building and Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA) has also acknowledged the importance of M&V by tightening its standards in the latest Greenmark v4.1. The prestigious programme now has the same stringent M&V standards for all its awards, instead of the former tiered requirement. Despite the great strides Singapore has made in the field of M&V, the industry is still a fledgling one and many issues stem from poor practices. Likewise, I contend that Big Data’s grand entrance is very premature. Let me put it this way: to design a Ferrari before the wheel is invented is an exercise in futility.
Big data: the solutioN or the proBlem? It is touted as the future, but could Big Data be causing as many problems as it solves? It might be time to start thinking small
t
hE prEmisE of Big Data is this: by collecting large amounts of data, mathematical algorithms running computer simulations can replace the complicated decision-making process. Admittedly this is a tempting proposition, as most errors in engineering project arise from human error. However Big Data’s proposition is a flawed premise – not in theory, but in execution. Hiring more software and computer engineers may solve your IT problems, but not your Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) issues. Why Big Data is still in its infancy The issue with Big Data is not what it tries to accomplish, but how. Over the years, I have witnessed expensive damage caused by unwise attempts to simply ‘replace’ the
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Contributor Lee Eng Lock M&E engineer. Projects ignoring the skills of a properly-trained and experienced M&E engineer have made huge blunders like installing 21 transformers when a comparable campus down the road uses only two. I shudder to think what their idling load must cost them on a daily basis – that is to say nothing of wasted space, maintenance costs and the excessive amount of wiring that such a setup requires. My scepticism of analytics aside, for Big Data to operate effectively, the accuracy of data collection must be improved. The science and art of data gathering in the Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning
Data – Big data’s Archilles heel All sensors degrade over time. HVAC engineers refer to this variance in data gathered as ‘drift’. Even in the wellestablished HVAC industry, extremely poor quality sensors and inaccurate systems are rampant. Until today many engineers and academics are still incredulous to the fact that high accuracy is needed. The reason I bring this up is that the concept of sensor drift (anticipated or not) goes directly against an underlying belief in Big Data: Sensors and data points are always correct. The only way to catch a sensor drift is with another accurate sensor that, in simplified terms, can also ‘measure the sensor’. Sensor drift is not caught by having multiple cheap low-quality sensors in multiple locations – the respective drifts and inaccuracies contribute to create a system so confusing and complex that it would render the entire batch of data useless. Sudoku is a good analogy here: the puzzle is difficult to complete if you have just one number inaccurately placed and near impossible if there are several mistakes. Never confuse quality with quantity. Big Data believes that abundant data can be used to extract useful information. This is typiCal Consumption profilE of largE BuilDings Chiller plant lighting AHU/FCU office equipment Car park fans lifts others
43% 20% 13% 10% 6% 3% 8%
false, especially in engineering. A thousand erroneous data points merely leads to more confusion. Let’s start with small data I would like to propose a new concept instead: Small (accurate) Data. Small Data uses just a few quality data points that allow engineers and business managers alike to make informed decisions. See the box for an overview of what NEA has done just by using Small Data. By focussing on a few key performance metrics and issuing strict performancebased contracts, NEA’s Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance (GESP) projects have consistently shown tangible improvements and returns. The success of these projects was due to hardworking engineers who went straight for the area with most potential and utilised sound engineering practices with accurate data collection.
“Nea’s guaraNteed eNergy saviNgs performaNCe (gesp) projeCts have CoNsisteNtly showN taNgiBle improvemeNts aNd returNs” The beauty of Small Data is that for starters, we can simply use metered usage. Note that we are talking about energy consumption here, not efficiency. Starting with energy consumption is also a painless exercise – no additional equipment installation or business processes are needed. Every building in Singapore is already metered by Singapore Power, and given that their entire business depends on it, the accuracy is beyond question (usually!). Measuring efficiency then becomes a simple matter of comparing consumption with various other commonly available measures. A common mistake is to only compare against the total footprint of the building – this gives rise to situations where empty warehouses get gold stars for being energy efficient. Since the data are readily available and the infrastructure already in place, what is to stop us from using Small Data right now? Can we – right now – produce a national database of power and water consumption for the last 10 years? Easily, I suspect! Can we then group buildings according to their types (eg school, hotel, hospital etc),
BasiC units of mEasurEmEnt for small Data Name Power Consumption
Method of Measure sensors
Unit of Measure kWh/MWh
Reasoning The raw measure of power consumption is used to derive most efficiency metrics.
Population/Traffic
Occupancy data
No. of People
The total amount of people serviced by the building is a useful measure to determine the true efficiency of a project. Not useful to projects where load is determined by floor area or equipment heat (ie: data centres). Otherwise a useful determinant of demand-side efficiency. For hotels it is known as the per key.
Total Cooling Load
sensors
RT
The total cooling load of a building is used to derive many cooling-related efficiency metrics. Or total energy demand.
Installed Capacity
As-built documentation
Various (MW, RT, MVA)
A good efficiency measure is also the total installed capacity. The installed capacity can be easily compared with actual loads to determine if excessive redundancy has been installed. excessive installed capacity leads to excessively high lifecycle costs owing to higher maintenance complexity and system inefficiency when running below optimal loads.
DErivativE pErformanCE inDiCators for small Data Cooling efficiency
Capacity efficiency
kW/RT
The kilowatt per cooling tonne is a measure of the amount of energy needed to produce a tonne of cooling. This is an elegant way to measure cooling efficiency as it is independent of the cooling load/demand. This is a pure measurement of how well your cooling systems are working for you. A useful determinant of supply-side efficiency. A car analogy would be how a Ferrari will be fuel inefficient no matter how gentle you are with the accelerator.
kW/person
An equally effective measure of efficiency is the kW/person. Cooling is often (but not always) delivered for human comfort. Therefore the ability to provide a comfortable environment with the least amount of energy is a good measure of actual cooling efficiency. This measure gives a better account of the utility of non-chiller technologies to deliver thermal comfort such as fans, shading and natural ventillation. Also known as kW/key for hotels, it is a useful efficiency measure for hotels. Hotels need to be efficient in both low and high seasons.
%
Capacity efficiency is an easily available efficiency metric and an important one too. For transformers this greatly affects the idle load. For cooling systems this affects cooling efficiency as most cooling systems are designed to be efficient at specified loads. Half-loads are an excellent way to waste your state of the art cooling facility.
RT/person
The effectiveness of installed capacity is also a good indicator if the project has been too oversized compared to market standards.
estimated traffic and projected occupancy? I would like everyone in the energy efficiency industry to pay special attention also to three areas: large buildings, cooling systems and lighting systems. Large buildings make up almost 50 per cent of Singapore’s overall energy consumption, while cooling and lighting account for over 60 per cent of most buildings’ usage. One singular movement can yield quite significant results on a national level. A new high tech class-A office building that I worked on has an installed transformer
capacity of 42MVA, but has used only 6MVA in its four years of operation. Could similar projects benefit from benchmarking against such easily available data? Certainly! I can imagine benefits ranging from rationalising installed equipment at the planning stage and optimisation of utility supply at the operation stage. I invite us to forget buzzwords and attention-grabbing headlines. If we insist on having the next big thing, I hope we can make it Small Data and leave the rest to people who ask good questions. Issue 5
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25, Tanjong Kling Road, Singapore 628050 Tel No: (+65) 6265 3222 Fax No: (+65) 6264 8097 E-mail: enquiries@jml.com.sg Website: www.jml.com.sg
• Gas Turbine Inspection & Overhaul
• Dimensional Restoration Journals & Steel Areas
• Steam Turbine Overhaul
• HVOF & Cold Coatings (Corrosion Protection & Anti Fouling)
• Full inspection services (Visual, Dimensional, NDT) • Rotor Disassembly & Re-Assembly • Rotor & Stator Re-Blading • Rotor Balancing (Low Speed Dynamic) • Seal Repair & Replacement
• Complete Rebuilding of Turbine • Relocation of Turbine Unit • Engineering Services
• Boiler Rehabilitation
• Replacement and Overhauling of Valves
• Ducting Modification
• Replacement and Overhauling of Instrumentation
• Air Pre-Heaters Element Replacement
• Calibration of Instrumentation
• Heater Tube Replacement
• Loop Test and Interlock Test
• Replacement of Boiler High Pressure Parts
• Trial Run Test of Aux. Equipment for Commissioning
• Replacement of High/Low pressure Heaters • Overhauling of Fan & Pumps • Overhauling of Combustion Equipment • Overhauling of Boiler Drum (Internal Replacement & Shell Visual/NDT Checks)
CERTIFIED BY:
• Ignition Test of Igniter and Main Burner • Combustion Adjustment & Combustion Test • Engineering Services
MEMBERS OF:
Complete Services Pte Ltd
Contact us
Office Address: Bizlink Centre, 59 Ubi Ave 1 #04-15, Singapore 048 938 Tel : (65) 6227 6515, (65) 6444 2034 Fax : (65) 6749 7568 Correspondense Address : 5 Jalan Bangsawan Singapore 457793
Our Services Our services are just as important as our clients. Providing our specialized services in not all, but ensuring that it meets the excellent standard is a priority. Whatever the size of the business, we offer only the best in cleaning services, customized to meet our clients’ needs. Residential Cleaning
• Overhauling of Rotor & Casing
Email ID : complete@holytree.com.sg Web site : www.holytree.com.sg
Carpet & Steam Cleaning
Event Cleaning
Specializing in floor stripping, scrubbing, sealing and maintaining, using the best grade products and latest cleaning equipment.
High Pressure Jet Cleaning
Landscaping, Tree Pruning & Grass Cutting
Commercial / Industrial Cleaning
External Facade / Window Cleaning
Packages offered for a clean home.
Floor Cleaning
Tailored cleaning packages of premises includes cleaning of work stations, vacuuming and mopping of floors and carpets, clearing waste material, washroom cleaning, janitorial services and more.
We do bonnett & steam extraction cleaning for stain removal and stain proofing to maintain your carpet so that it lasts longer with the use of proper shampooing techniques. Methods - Execution of the Carpet Mites
High pressure jet cleaning tailored for any job size and texture ranging from our hand units to platform mounted units.
We provide external cleaning regardless of height constraints, with the use of different scaling technique such as scaffolding, boom lift, gondola and rope access system to achieve optimal results.
From the supply of manpower to the cleanliness of your event, we manage it all for you.
Landscaping and grass-cutting would be the start of all garden maintenance offered by us to you to bring out the beauty and the greenery of nature.
Pest Control
We are here to help you eliminate all undesired pests control problems from our environment by identifying problems, creating solutions and applying treatments against common pest such as rodents, cockroaches, ants and mosquitoes.
OPPORTuNITIes
Career opportuNities The National environment Agency (NeA) is the leading government body responsible for sustainability and cleanliness in singapore. Committed to encouraging individuals to reduce the ecological impact of their actions, it develops and spearheads numerous initiatives SENIOR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (HAWKERS ACCOUNTS & CONTRACTS) Leading a team of Procurement and Accounting Officers, your job scope will include the following: Oversee and coordinate Contracts & Hawkers Accounts matters for Hawker Centres Division. ensure that procurement and finance-related activities adhere strictly to prescribed workflows and timeline. spearhead procurement and contracts-related initiatives, including reviewing and modelling of contracts and implementing productivity measures. Benchmark internal processes with best practices in the industry. Provide direction and management of revenue & expenditure of Hawker Centres Accounts. Requirements A good university degree, preferably in Business/Finance/estate Management/ engineering or related disciplines. At least 10 years of working experience, with 3-5 years in a supervisory position. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (TENANCY SERVICES – PROCUREMENT) You will supervise a team of officers in providing strong procurement support to the various sections within the Division. You will need to work closely with the relevant stakeholders to ensure smooth implementation of contracts for the management of hawker centres. You will also be required to gather information from the stakeholders and present recommendations to support agency’s initiatives such as promoting cleaning industry productivity drive and other assigned projects. Requirements Degree with at least 3-5 years of relevant working and supervisory experience. experience in drafting contract specifications, contracts administration and familiar with public sector procurement procedures. Good writing skills. ASSISTANT MANAGER (TENANCY MANAGEMENT) You will be working in the Hawker Centres Division to assist in the management and
through partnerships with the People, Public and Private sectors. If you care passionately about the environment and making a difference, why not join us? Candidates are invited to apply at nea.gov.sg/careers or the singapore Public service Job Portal, careers.gov.sg.
administration of hawker licences and tenancies. Your duties will include: Assess and process applications for rental/lease of hawker stalls and licences. Assess and process termination and refund of monies. Manage rental arrears. Handle stallholders’ and public feedbacks pertaining to markets/hawker centres. Work closely with the policy section to provide feedback and data analysis to support review and formulation of hawker policy. Requirements A good university degree, preferably in estates Management. At least 2 years of working experience in tenancy management. Customeroriented and with the ability to multi-task. strong verbal and written communication skills. MANAGER, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS (MEDIA RELATIONS) As part of a dynamic team, you will actively engage the media to enhance NeA’s reputation as the lead agency in improving and sustaining a clean and green environment. You will also conceptualise, manage and implement integrated media relations and marketing communications programmes to profile NeA and its diverse range of initiatives and programmes. Interested applicants should submit at least three samples of their written work together with their application. Requirements Degree in Mass Communications or relevant discipline. Minimally 6-8 years of experience in media relations, public relations or corporate communications. experience in developing and implementing integrated public relations and communications programmes. effectively bilingual, with excellent oral and written skills. MANAGER, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS (SOCIAL MEDIA) As part of a dynamic team, you will actively engage NeA’s stakeholders to enhance its reputation as the lead agency in improving and sustaining a clean and green environment.
You will also conceptualise, implement and monitor social media initiatives to profile and strengthen the NeA brand, as well as support its diverse range of initiatives and programmes on its online platforms. You will assist the team to manage NeA’s social media assets. Interested applicants should submit at least three samples of their recent work (written) together with their application. Requirements Degree in Mass Communications or relevant disciplines with at least 4-6 years of experience in corporate communications or marketing communications. experience in social media management and a good understanding of social media engagement is a must. effectively bilingual, with excellent oral and written skills. QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER (CONTACT CENTRE) Reporting to the Head of Contact Centre, you will be responsible for the following: Improve customer service quality results. Determine customer service requirements. Achieve customer service objectives. Work closely with team and internal customers to implement and support on-going service enhancement efforts. Build the knowledge-based capability within Contact Centre so as to deliver excellent customer service experience. Prepare call centre performance reports by collecting, analysing, and summarising data and trends. Perform training and support the learning and development needs of staff. Requirements Degree in any discipline with at least 3 years of supervisory experience in a Contact Centre training and/or quality assurance environment. experience with building and running Contact Centre quality assurance programs preferred. Conversant in quality assurance, training and process management. Passion for working with people to improve their performance and maximise their potential. strong customer service mind-set. Hands-on in approach. Issue 5
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TEAM MANAGER (CONTACT CENTRE) Reporting to the Head of Contact Centre, you will be responsible for the following: Lead a team of Customer service Officers to provide excellent customer service in handling public written feedback. Manage the daily operations of the team to meet performance targets for service delivery and efficiency. Recruit, schedule, train, coach and motivate staff. Build strong teamwork among staff. Conduct audits of individual team member to improve quality and efficiency. Investigate and resolve public complaints. Analyse statistics or other data to continuously improve performance targets.
enhancement efforts. Integrate data with custom research findings and other data sources to support business goals.
Requirements Degree in any discipline with at least 2 years of supervisory experience in a Contact Centre environment. Proficient in writing skills and knowledge of email best practices. Customer service and quality mind-set. experience in leading or managing teams of 10 or more people. Decision-making and problem-solving abilities.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER (PORT HEALTH) Key duties vary depending on the specific area of work assigned, but may generally include: Carry out inspections on ship sanitation. Communicate with ship captains and grant clearance for ships to enter singapore. Issue ship sanitation Control Certificates. Issue various permits after verification of relevant documents. Carry out risk assessment analysis on travellers coming from countries with health risks.
ENGINEER Working in the energy efficiency and Conservation Department, you will: Monitor and promote compliance with energy Conservation Act (eCA) including field inspections. evaluate energy consumption reports and energy efficiency improvement plans. Provide guidance / advice to registered corporations to improve energy efficiency. ensure effectiveness of current regulations and provisions. Develop energy efficiency standards for industrial systems. Manage the singapore Certified energy Manager (sCeM) programme. ensure relevancy of the eCA online reporting system. Requirements Degree in engineering or environmental related discipline. 3-5 years of working experience, preferably in process plant or manufacturing industry. SENIOR ExECUTIVE/ ExECUTIVE (PLANNING & ANALYSIS) You will be responsible for the following: Plan customer research strategies and manage internal and external resources to successfully deliver plans. undertake project work for all phases of the research process, which includes writing survey questionnaires, doing analysis and report generation. Pro-actively communicate and collaborate with internal and external customers to perform data analysis. Identify reviews needed to policies, process and people development and translate accurate and sophisticated insights into meaningful actions and strategies. Work independently with internal customers on a wide range of business issues to support ongoing service
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Requirements Applied quantitative skills gained through a Masters or Bachelor’s Degree in one of the following disciplines or quantitative sciences related to the study of consumer behaviour: Market research, statistics, sociology, Marketing/Communications, systems engineering. 2 to 3 years of experience in quantitative research and analysis preferred. Hands-on approach.
Requirements Polytechnic Diploma in any field. 3 years of working experience in related fields of sanitation, vector control and ship inspection would be an advantage. Able to withstand harsh weather conditions. Able to perform night duties and shifts. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER (SPECIAL SQUAD) You will be responsible for the planning and execution of raids on illegal hawking activities which may pose public health risk to the community. Your main duties include: Gather intelligence and carry out investigations on illegal hawking activities. Conduct raids and take enforcement actions against illegal hawkers. Collaborate and liaise with other agencies to conduct joint operations. Assist in seizing goods/food from illegal hawking sites and undertake its disposal. Assist in the management of street hawking licensees. Requirements Diploma in Civil & environmental engineering/ environmental engineering/Public Health engineering, Biotechnology, Applied Food science & Nutrition, Chemical Process Technology (Food Technology), Process engineering. Physically fit for outdoor field work. Good verbal and written communication. Good inter-personal skills to work effectively with a team and external parties. Meticulous in paper documentation. Must be willing to work either during the day or at night on weekdays, weekends and public holidays.
OFFICER (DEVELOPMENT) Your duties will include the following: Assist in the development of markets/hawker centres. Provide support in liaising and facilitating regular reviews of design and progress of works with project consultants on development project. Assist in monitoring progress of works. Conduct design reviews, including materials to be used and their costs. Assist in conducting briefings on issues relating to development. Provide support in contract documentation as well as other projects and assignments. Requirements Diploma with technical knowledge of Building science/Building Technology/Building Design/ engineering science. Highly motivated. Good interpersonal and communication skills. MANAGEMENT SUPPORT OFFICER (PROCUREMENT & PROJECT) You will be responsible for the following: Assist to review and formulate internal procurement/ project sOPs, processes, templates etc. Assist to evaluate funding proposals for minor development projects. Assist to execute the calling and awarding of tenders and quotations in GeBIZ. Compile and analyse financial cost data and space planning norms for development projects. Review quotation reports to ensure compliance with IM on Procurement and NeA guidelines. Liaise with various stakeholders to obtain project updates. Coordinate committee and project meetings. support director in any other assigned duties. Requirements Diploma holder. At least 3-4 years of public sector financial administration and procurement experience. Good writing, communication and interpersonal skills. strong analytical and organisational skills, meticulous and confident. Inquisitive and work well under stress. MANAGEMENT SUPPORT OFFICER (TENANCY SERVICES – ACCOUNTS) Reporting to the Assistant Director, you will work with a team of officers in providing strong accounting and operating support to the various sections within the Hawkers Centres Division. Your duties will include the following: Perform monthly analytical review of revenue and key expenditure accounts. Work with HCD departments & Finance Department in facilitating financial submissions. Co-ordinate, verify and process supplier invoices. Perform Goods Receiving in Finance NFs system. Requirements Diploma in Finance or Accounting. Proficient in Microsoft Office application, especially in Microsoft excel. Organised and meticulous.
DOWA ECO-SYSTEM Co., Ltd. (Japan)
Collection transportation
Waste management
Landfill
Soil remediation
Metal recycling
Clean soil
OUR BUSINESS IN SINGAPORE • Waste Management
• Collection Transportation
Technochem Environmental Complex Pte Ltd Address: 23 Tuas Avenue 11, Singapore 639086 Tel: (65)-6862-3130 Fax: (65)-6861-1873 Website: www.wms-technochem.com Email: info@wms-technochem.com
ISO 14001
CERT NO.:99-0059 ISO 14001 : 2004
• Metal Recycling
• Soil Remediation
Dowa Eco-System Singapore Pte Ltd Address: 13 Benoi Crescent, Singapore 629976 Tel: (65)-6261-7366 Fax: (65)-6261-8723 Email: in_eco@dowa.com.sg