A new platform to engage local and overseas researchers on climate research has been launched. It is called the Climate Science Experts Network (CSEN).

The Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) said the network will complement the work of its Centre for Climate Research Singapore (CCRS).

Director-General of the MSS, Wong Chin Ling, said together, both bodies can build up Singapore’s expertise in climate science and help national preparedness for climate change.

In his address to the inaugural meeting of the network, Permanent Secretary for the Environment and Water Resources, Desmond Kuek, spoke of the need to bridge science and policy more effectively.

He said the ideal situation is for all experts, whether in universities or government, to work together.

More than 20 researchers attended the meeting which was held this week at the CCRS based in Paya Lebar.

Source: Channel NewsAsia

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A global average temperature rise of 4 degC could have a severe impact on Singapore, including flooding, coastal land loss and heat-related deaths.

That is according to a new map launched here yesterday by the Hadley Centre of the United Kingdom’s Met Office, one of the leading centres for climate prediction. The map shows the potential impact of climate change in South-east Asia.

Under the scenario, global average sea levels could rise by up to 80cm by the end of the century, translating to a local sea-level rise of about 65cm.

‘For a small country with a high population density and surrounded by sea, this could have implications for flooding, coastal land loss and salt water intrusion of groundwater aquifers,’ said the centre.

Water supplies could also be affected, as parts of South-east Asia could see droughts occurring more than twice as frequently, it found.

Singapore’s unique geography makes rising temperatures a further health concern, as they could lead to an ‘urban heat island’ effect, which makes a built-up area significantly warmer than its surroundings. Increased temperatures are a major factor in heat-related mortalities, the Hadley Centre said.

Singapore could also be affected by more haze pollution, as higher temperatures would increase the risk of forest fires across Indonesia.

Presenting the map to reporters at the Hilton Hotel yesterday, Dr Chris Gordon, the centre’s head of science partnerships, said this scenario was considered ‘moderate’. In a worse scenario, temperatures could go up by 6 deg C, he said.

The objective of the map is ‘an attempt to bring climate change home to people, to help people relate to it in different areas of the world’.

In preparing the map, the Hadley Centre used its in-house climate model, which was run as many as 34 times on scenarios developed by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The map predicts that a 4 deg C temperature rise would have a negative impact on Indonesia’s fishing industry, and could lead to a drop in rice production in Thailand, and more cyclones in the Philippines.

Dr Gordon said the timescale for this depends on the rate of increase of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

‘If we carry on at the rate we are now, it could happen perhaps by the 2060s… if action is taken, it could be delayed,’ he said.

Dr Gordon added that the Hadley Centre was collaborating with Singapore’s Meteorological Services Division on climate data and research.

The interactive map is now on Google Earth, and can be accessed at www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-change/guide/impacts/high-end

Source: The Straits Times via Wildsingapore

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The National University of Singapore will launch a trial this year to study whether one-seater electric vehicles can enhance travel around its campuses.

Participants will use the Toyota COMS – a single-seater micro electric vehicle (EV) resembling a golf buggy – to shuttle between the NUS Kent Ridge campus and University Town (NUS UTown).

The year-long study will test the viability of using such vehicles to provide ‘personal mobility on demand’ at NUS.

The trial is led by Professor Chua Kee Chaing, who said it is likely to start by April with a fleet of 10 vehicles – provided free by trial partner Toyota Tsusho (Singapore).

For a start, he plans to rope in faculty members who need to shuttle between the two campuses for the trial. They will share the 10 EVs, which can hit a top speed of 50kmh.

Prof Chua, who heads the department of electrical and computer engineering in NUS’ Faculty of Engineering, is joined by two other faculty members – Associate Professor Tan Kok Kiong and Associate Professor Marcelo Ang – in the trial.

Prof Chua said plans for a trial began with an idea to look at the NUS campus as a ‘living test-bed’ to try out new technology for mobility and sustainability solutions.

‘NUS is like a microcosm of a city,’ he added. ‘What we want to do is provide a means of transportation between the UTown campus and the Kent Ridge campus. Our interest is in looking at possible modes of providing personal mobility.’

For that purpose, micro EVs were quite attractive, he noted.

He will send invitations to NUS faculty soon, but has yet to decide on the total number of participants.

‘What we’re also interested in is how far you can stretch the use of one EV,’ he said.

The trial will also examine whether participants take to the idea of sharing a vehicle, their travel patterns, the demand for the system and possible problems.

Prof Chua said he would like students to take part in the trial, but this would depend on whether there were sufficient vehicles to go round.

Noting that personal transportation mobility is a real problem in cities, he added that the broader thrust of the trial is to examine whether micro EVs can be a sustainable solution to the problem of first or last-mile connectivity.

However, he admits that it will require a lot of scaling-up to expand the concept to a wider audience, and that the process will have its own set of challenges.

For now, the next step is to put the test infrastructure in place. Safety signs will have to be erected to alert other motorists to the presence of the EVs.

Prof Chua and his team will also have to decide where to site the vehicles. While the Toyota COMS can be charged at any regular power point, he said he is in discussions with a company about setting up campus charging stations.

The NUS trial is the latest in a series involving EVs.

Environmental start-up company Clean Mobility Singapore started one last November renting out the vehicles.

And last June, the Land Transport Authority and Energy Market Authority rolled out a three-year, $20 million trial.

It will test the durability, running cost and long-term performance of EVs, and after three years, the Government will decide whether it is worthwhile to provide incentives for the use of EVs.

Source: The Straits Times

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Institutional investors are increasingly aware of the investment risks and opportunities afforded by climate change, a Mercer survey has found.

More than 50 per cent of respondents to the survey decided to include climate change considerations in their future risk management and strategic asset allocation processes.

This reflects the growing awareness of investors of the threats posed by global warming to their assets, and is of particular importance given the lack of global consensus on climate change issues, which has stalled the implementation of a new climate policy.

‘A new binding (climate change) agreement is not expected to be in place until 2020,’ said Mercer’s Asia- Pacific head of responsible investment Helga Birgden. ‘For its part, Mercer will continue to offer forward- looking, strategic advice and solutions to help our clients address long-term risks and opportunities associated with climate change.’

This is further exacerbated by the fact that traditional models for strategic asset allocation cannot adequately capture the changing effects of climate change.

‘By embedding a scenario analysis process and monitoring key climate change developments over time, investors can develop an ‘early warning’ system to help form and track a view of future climate-related outcomes that will influence the volatility and returns of asset classes,’ the survey report said.

In addition, the report found that ‘climate-sensitive assets’ such as sustainable equities, renewables and commodities such as timberland and agricultural land performed comparatively well across the mitigation scenarios compared to core assets.

Australia and the Pacific region were also seen as being particularly vulnerable to climate change risks, such as days of extreme heat and greater wind speeds that would contribute to a higher fire risk.

As a result of the report, superannuation fund AustralianSuper has contracted a specialist engineering firm to undertake an assessment of the physical risks that could impact its assets from 2030 to 2050.

Similarly, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has adopted climate change as a top priority, and is ‘implementing a number of actions which are consistent with the findings of the study’, said Anne Simpson, a senior portfolio manager for corporate governance.

These are just two of the 12 investors surveyed, whose total nett assets under management come to approximately US$12 trillion.

The report of the study that examined the long- term investment implications of climate change for strategic asset allocation was released as part of the two-day Investor Network on Climate Risk Meeting (INCR) and Investor Summit on Climate Risk and Energy Solutions being held in New York and ending today.

Source: The Business Times

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At a corner of Golden Mile Tower is a dim, but airy room, filled with whirring equipment, the shiny new pumps and chillers looking bright against the dusty walls.

Though the office-and-retail block on Beach Road is four decades old, it had all this installed last year, along with a cooling tower and a panel to monitor the performance of the system.

The hardware, fitted in to conserve energy, has done its job.

The block’s power bills have been cut by $30,000 a month, from $100,000.

The owners of older buildings such as this one and People’s Park Complex are sinking money into such systems ahead of energy-related laws that may be passed this year.

One is the Building Control Act, which could require all building owners to meet yet-to-be-decided minimum standards when they retrofit their premises with energy systems.

Existing minimum standards apply only to new and existing buildings above a certain size.

The other piece of legislation is the Energy Conservation Act, which if passed, will require companies using more than 15 gigawatt hours of energy a year to appoint energy managers, monitor energy use and submit improvement plans. That amount of power is what 3,000 four-room HDB flats would use.

Air-conditioning typically accounts for half a building’s energy costs. In Golden Mile Tower, it was 80 per cent.

Its centre manager, Mr Max Lim, said it was retrofitted because it was costing more to maintain the ageing building, with the spare parts for its air-conditioning system becoming harder to find and more expensive.

The retrofitting was done just in time too: Electricity tariffs rose 0.61 cent a kilowatt hour, or 2.3 per cent, this month.

Retrofitting a building is not always easy, due to space and structural constraints.

For instance, the JTC Summit building in Jurong, which is not oriented to encourage natural ventilation, cannot cut back on air-conditioning.

And in another building, plans to go for water-cooled air-conditioning instead of air-cooled air-conditioning were dropped when architects found that its rooftop would have to be reinforced to bear the extra weight of water.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) nevertheless has a menu of incentives and financing schemes designed to defray the costs of retrofitting.

For instance, the Building Retrofit Energy Efficiency Financing scheme gives building owners financing of up to $5 million for energy retrofits.

Standard Chartered Bank, United Overseas Bank, Orix Leasing and energy services companies Johnson Controls Singapore and G-Energy Global were on the scheme.

There is also the $100 million Green Mark Incentive Scheme for Existing Buildings, which covers half of energy audit costs and up to 35 per cent of retrofitting costs.

Under this scheme, $8.2 million has been given out; 27 applications for retrofits and 21 for energy audits have been made.

The National Environment Agency also oversees energy-efficiency grants and incentives.

Large energy users, for whom energy makes up a large proportion of their costs, do not need much persuasion to become more energy efficient, but some businesses will fall through the gaps – usually smaller users of energy, or those for whom energy makes up a small part of their costs.

Small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up 99 per cent of businesses and hire 62 per cent of the workforce, are often reluctant to improve their energy efficiency, or lack the manpower and resources to do so.

Experts say they could help themselves by perhaps banding together to ask for, and fund, energy efficiency.

Asia Carbon senior business development manager Irfan Pawennei suggested that they do so under a United Nations emissions cuts programme, which accredits the carbon emissions cuts of a group of small users.

Mr Terence Tan, the director for integrated building services at Johnson Controls, said all sectors can benefit from energy efficiency.

‘The challenge is informing building owners and tenants about the operational and productivity gains and cost savings that can be realised,’ he said.

Source: The Straits Times

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More agencies are communicating environment-related messages to the public via social media and engaging in public consultations this year.

In some cases, public consultation has proven to be productive.

For instance, consumers often do not pay attention to labels on electrical appliances, which tell consumers how much energy they would use.

But after a recent public consultation exercise by the National Climate Change Secretariat, a suggestion — to pitch in terms of dollars and cents so that people will see the real savings and buy the idea — was made.

This was was among about a thousand ideas floated by participants at the exercise.

It began in September to hear from different segments of society — including households, industry players, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) — on climate change.

Some of these ideas look set to shape the National Climate Change Strategy, to be released in the middle of next year.

National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) 3P Network director Yuen Sai Kuan said: “NCCS will be working more closely with various partners and stakeholders in the effort to tackle climate change.

“This will include the likes of NGOs, youth groups, businesses, communities and even other government agencies.

“One particular area that we’re working with is with MOE (Ministry of Education), to enhance the school curriculum to incorporate climate change topics.”

Besides the change in climate, Singapore faces another looming threat to its environment – flash floods – a result of heavier-than-average rainfall.

Experts said it is too early to tell if climate change is indeed the cause behind more intense showers, but the change in weather patterns has compelled PUB to review its drainage system.

A panel of experts appointed by the government reviewed the country’s flood measures.

Under a revised Code of Practice, new drains will be able to hold more water – with capacity increased by up to 50 per cent – depending on the size of the catchment.

Another focus is to improve current infrastructure, which could take three to five years.

Eight out of 10 drainage-widening projects will commence in the first quarter.

PUB chief executive Chew Men Leong said: “We will put in place a drainage master plan that is much more forward-looking, to be able to understand what could well be the kind of scenarios we will face, and then start working from right now, to see how we can expand our drainage capacity, as well as put in other measures – both controlling runoff as well as protecting buildings.

“So there is a system, and we become more robust.”

Over the year, PUB also worked to become more open in its communication.

By adding water level sensors and introducing CCTVs in flood-prone areas, information can now be obtained and shared with the public more immediately.

Businesses and property owners welcome this, on top of their own efforts to mitigate flood risks.

Many are in the midst of installing flood barriers at their premises.

Source: Channel NewsAsia

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The United Nations climate talks in Durban, South Africa, earlier this month resulted in what some have called ‘a plan to make a plan’: an agreement for all countries to negotiate a new regime of greenhouse gas emissions cuts by 2015 and have it take effect by 2020.

The current Kyoto Protocol was extended for another five-year commitment period, but it covers only developed nations.

What’s a developing country to do in this interim grey area? They could get some pointers from Singapore, perhaps.

Though the island state aligns itself with the Alliance of Small Island States and the developing world Group of 77 (G-77), which want the developed world to bear responsibility for the emissions it put into the atmosphere, it bears characteristics of both developed and developing countries.

Hence, the Republic serves as a model of how a relatively advanced economy could navigate the tricky shoals of climate change.

Singapore has close relationships with both Eastern and Western nations, and Asian countries in particular look to it on many counts. For example, it has collaborated with China on projects like the Suzhou industrial park and a planned eco-city in Tianjin.

But the implication is that serving as a role model means Singapore must shoulder some responsibilities, and tackling climate change is one of those responsibilities it must bear.

Singapore’s stance is: It is keen on a binding agreement that all countries adhere to, according to their respective responsibilities and capabilities.

Singapore Environment Council executive director Jose Raymond commented: ‘As a small island state, Singapore certainly has a vested interest in a legally binding deal being reached as soon as possible.

‘The longer it takes, the greater our vulnerability to climate change, and the greater our investment in mitigation and adaptation measures will be,’ he said.

But torn between its twin interests as a small vulnerable island state and an economy that relies on energy-intensive industries such as petroleum refining, it can be a little split personality.

Arguably, it is not absolutely necessary for Singapore to go any greener.

Compare cutting emissions with the case of electricity. Electricity is not subsidised here, to encourage people to use less. But for many residents middle-class and up, electricity is a small proportion of overall costs, compared with the overall benefit they derive from running the air-conditioner and the computer 24/7.

Likewise, Singapore now has such a high gross domestic product – US$43,867 (S$56,800) per capita – that adapting to the impact of climate change would be a small proportion of overall costs, compared with the potential short-term benefit of continuing to produce carbon emissions by encouraging consumption and industrial growth.

At the same time, Singapore is not sitting around waiting for a real deal, so to speak, before it starts cleaning house. In 2009, it announced it would cut emissions by 7 per cent to 11 per cent by 2020 if no global, binding deal was reached, and by 16 per cent if one was.

Already, other emerging economies that have grown very fast in the past few decades – such as South Korea and China – are adopting similar voluntary targets.

Singapore’s targets are down from the ‘business as usual’ case – in other words, if it continued on the growth trajectory it was on. If no changes were made, Singapore was predicted to have reached some 72 million tonnes of emissions by 2020.

It is aware it will have to pay for adaptation measures anyway, and has already raised minimum levels for land reclamation and new building platforms.

But the crux of the matter is that Singapore’s current energy demand outstrips its current alternative energy supply.

With constant cloud cover and intermittent wind, Singapore is not able to take full advantage of alternative energy sources like solar and wind power.

So it must rely on energy efficiency to achieve those cuts, and has put a new Energy Conservation Act up for discussion, meant to rein in large energy users. (In fact, this is an important symbolic shift, signifying a willingness to use the law instead of simply offering energy users monetary incentives to improve.)

But energy efficiency goes only so far.

That’s why Singapore is genuinely concerned about meeting more stringent binding targets, if in future, all countries must limit their emissions.

Speaking to The Straits Times after the UN talks, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan acknowledged that Singapore might have to purchase carbon offsets one day, depending on how future negotiations go.

Still, Singapore could do more to go green systematically – for example, taxing cars by emissions instead of fuel type, truly supporting the use of public transport and cycling, or offering tax incentives to cleaner and more energy-efficient firms.

That suggests one way to be a role model. The Republic is an emerging economy, which has grown very fast in a few short decades, and countries like China and Thailand are on a similar trajectory (and so are their carbon emissions). While the island state taking the plunge will not transform the world’s climate, it can, by its own action yet, nudge such emerging economies towards deeper, binding targets.

This is not to single Singapore out.

Many countries at the negotiations were also loath to commit to internationally binding, absolute targets, even though they had passed domestic legislation to trim emissions.

With its energy performance requirements and green building legislation, Singapore is already on something approaching the right track.

But now it needs to take the lead and make the difficult decision on how much further to go.

Source: The Straits Times via Wildsingapore

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Singapore’s plan to import electricity – as set out in a consultation paper by the Energy Market Authority last week – is currently a one-way document which does not present the possibility for gencos here to export spare electricity to neighbouring countries as well.

It covers, for instance, the issue of licensing for authorised importers, but is silent on exports.

PowerSeraya – which in May this year did the first commercial power sales to Malaysia’s Tenaga Nasional – could only do so after getting an ‘exemption’ from the EMA under Singapore’s Electricity Act, and following approval from the Trade & Industry Minister.

EMA’s proposed electricity imports of up to 600 megawatts per source country, which is quite sizeable, should also not undermine the billions of dollars in investments here, by both foreign and local corporations, in power generating capacity, industry officials here say.

‘Singapore has to look beyond just importing, but also exporting electricity, and by doing so, help contribute to bringing about a regional market for electricity,’ suggests PowerSeraya CEO John Ng.

Concurring, Tuas Power president and CEO Lim Kong Puay said that any changes in the market structure here to allow for electricity imports should similarly also provide for exports. Besides, the plan to lay submarine power cables to connect the overseas power sources to the Singapore power system to facilitate imports means that the physical connections for exports will also be available.

Electricity exports will also be in line with EMA’s statement that ‘the new electrical interconnections with neighbour countries for electricity imports will contribute towards achieving the longer-term vision of an Asean power grid’ that will enhance regional electricity supply security and cost-competitiveness.

Other pluses, cited by EMA, for electricity imports include that it will allow ‘Singapore to gain access to new energy options that may be unavailable or economically unfeasible’, like coal or hydro. Furthermore, ‘as overseas power producers could have access to lower-cost fuels, labour and land, they can offer electricity at cost-competitive prices’, it added.

While the regulator is mindful that electricity imports should not undermine the integrity of the power system here, its proposal to ‘mitigate concentration risk by spreading imports across various sources’ and allowing in up to 600 megawatts per source country is alarming the industry. This is more than the previous import ceiling of just 600 MW.

Given that Singapore’s peak demand is currently 6,000 MW, imports from, for instance, just two source countries, say Malaysia and Indonesia, works out to 20-25 per cent of this.

And while Singapore is planning for electricity imports only starting from 2017/2018, ‘usage demand growth in electricity here, which has been around 3-4 per cent per annum in the last decade, is expected to be very muted, going forward,’ PowerSeraya’s Mr Ng said.

This suggests that the current capacity overhang – of 9,000 MW chasing 6,000 MW of demand, with another 3,000 MW of new capacity coming onstream in the next few years – will remain for a while.

Tuas Power’s Mr Lim says that in this regard, Singapore should be mindful that electricity imports not undermine the multi-billion dollar investments by gencos in gas-firing plants here which helped underpin the development of the S$1.7 billion Singapore LNG terminal project.

Another industry source added that the electricity imports should also not compromise the long-term piped gas and LNG deals by others like Sembcorp, Gas Supply Pte Ltd and BG Group.

‘As the EMA plan is strategic and long-term, with electricity imports starting from 2017, and carried out by licensed importers for some 20 years, it’s very important not to analyse the proposal in isolation, but to look at the bigger global picture,’ the source said.

‘We should also look at issues like whether there will still be piped gas supplies to gencos here in future, on one hand, and also the technical details like whether, going forward, there will still be non-contestable consumers here (which a hedging contract by importers is meant to benefit), on the other’.

Source: The Business Times

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The Government is seeking public feedback on the draft of a new law which would get energy-hungry firms to be more efficient.

Reacting to the draft bill yesterday, many of the affected companies said they already have energy plans and personnel in place, while commentators welcomed the efforts to improve energy efficiency.

Under the proposed Energy Conservation Act, firms in the industrial and transport sectors that consume more than 15 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy a year – roughly equivalent to the energy consumed by 3,000 four-room HDB households – would have to appoint an energy manager.

They would also have to monitor and report energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as submit energy efficiency improvement plans.

Failing to do so warrants a maximum fine of $10,000 on the first offence, $20,000 on the second, and $1,000 a day thereafter.

By comparison, those who break construction noise control laws under the Environmental Protection and Management Act face a first-offence fine not exceeding $10,000.

If passed next year, the Energy Conservation Act will come into force from 2013.

Firms that might be affected include petroleum refiners, real estate developers and land transport operators. It is estimated that the Act could affect some 200 such companies.

Current energy performance standards and labelling schemes for household products and cars governed by other legislation will also be consolidated into the Act.

These include labelling for air-conditioners, fridges and clothes dryers, minimum efficiency standards for fridges, and fuel economy labelling for passenger cars and light goods vehicles under the Environmental Protection and Management Act.

In its 2010 sustainability report, property developer City Developments said that it ‘already exceeds’ the requirements. It said the upcoming legislations have ‘no impact’ on its operations.

Its report said it has energy managers in place and has also been disclosing its energy and carbon emission data in its reports since 2008.

Likewise, land transport operator ComfortDelgro said it has pledged to protect the environment since 2007 by recycling waste and reducing vehicle emissions.

ComfortDelgro spokesman Tammy Tan said the firm was studying the details of the proposed Bill and welcomed efforts to improve energy use and formalise environmental conservation.

A spokesman for oil and gas company Shell said it hoped the requirements for the certified energy manager and energy performance reporting format would be ‘customised and aligned to each industry’.

Fellow petrochemical firm ExxonMobil said it would review the draft Act in greater detail over the consultation period. A spokesman said the firm was on track to achieve its goal of improving energy efficiency across its worldwide operations by at least 10 per cent between 2002 and 2012.

Experts praised the draft Act for compelling the economy to go greener.

Mr Edwin Khew, chairman of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS), noted that the Act does not take effect until 2013, which gives the industry time to adjust.

But companies that use more than 15GWh of energy per year are usually large firms which can afford the adjustment, he said.

‘This should also help companies improve on their bottom line, especially if energy cost continues to go up,’ he said.

In the future, companies could also be taxed based on their carbon footprint, and they should prepare for this, he added.

National University of Singapore (NUS) transport researcher Lee Der Horng noted that the transport sector is rightly included, as it consumes about 19 per cent of energy here.

But during the transition to boost energy efficiency, he said, costs could ‘come up a bit’.

‘The operator should also take this as an opportunity to become more energy-efficient, and therefore more competitive.’

His NUS colleague, sustainability researcher Kua Harn-Wei, added that an energy conservation Act should be complemented by incentives or technical help for companies to go green.

Some such schemes already exist, like the Singapore Certified Energy Manager programme to train and certify energy managers.

But he said the two weeks given for public consultation might be too brief.

The text of the draft Bill does not specify which country’s laws it is based on, but the UK and India have similar legislations.

The draft Bill, posted online on Thursday evening, can be viewed on the Reach government site at http://bit.ly/rQlphP, where feedback can be given.

The feedback period closes on Dec 28.

Source: The Straits Times

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BACKGROUND

2 The Energy Conservation Act (ECA) will mandate energy management practices for large energy users in the industry and transport sectors to promote energy conservation, improve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. The introduction of this Bill is in line with Singapore’s target to improve our energy intensity by 35% from 2005 levels by 2030, as stated in the 2009 Sustainable Singapore Blueprint.

3 Based on consultations with industry and benchmarking studies, there is currently a wide spread in terms of the quality of energy management among companies, with some facilities managing their energy consumption less closely than others. Mandating energy management practices under the Energy Conservation Act will focus management attention on proper energy management.

KEY FEATURES OF THE DRAFT BILL

4 The key features of the Bill are:

a. Large energy users in industry and transport sectors that consume more than 15 GWh of energy each year will be covered in the legislation.

b. All large energy users in the industry and transport sectors that consume more than 15 GWh of energy each year will be required to (i) appoint an energy manager, (ii) monitor and report energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and (iii) submit energy efficiency improvement plans.

c. Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) and Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for household appliances as well as the Fuel Economy Labelling Scheme for passenger cars and light goods vehicles under the Environmental Protection and Management Act will be consolidated under the Energy Conservation Bill.

FEEDBACK SOUGHT

5 MEWR and MOT welcome interested parties to provide their feedback on the following:

a. Currently, under the Bill, the energy manager (one of the employees of the corporation) is to

- Assist the corporation to prepare the energy use report and energy efficiency improvement plan;
- Train and educate employees of the corporation on energy conservation practices of the corporation; and
- Encourage energy conservation efforts by the corporation.

In addition, large energy users are required to submit, on an annual basis, information on their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as energy efficiency plans.

Are these provisions adequate in ensuring sustained top management attention on energy use? What other provisions would spur lagging companies to adopt best practices and manage energy like a strategic resource?

b. Since 2010 MEWR and MOT have been engaging corporations in consultations to communicate the intent and provisions of the Bill. We are currently developing a web-based system to support online submissions from corporations and plan to develop guidance and instructional materials. We welcome suggestions on how else to ensure a smooth transition to complying with the provisions of the ECA.

c. Energy labels for household appliances allow consumers to compare the energy efficiency and lifecycle costs (Lifecycle cost includes both the upfront cost as well as the operating cost, which consists mainly of the cost of electricity consumed, over the useful lifecycle of the appliance) of different models, and to make better informed purchasing decisions. Currently, household air-conditioners, refrigerators and clothes dryers are covered under the MELS. To complement MELS, MEPS was implemented for household air-conditioners and refrigerators from 1 Sep 2011. MEPS removes the most inefficient appliance models from our market, by prohibiting the sale of all appliances that fall short of a specified minimum energy efficiency level. A wide range of energy efficient appliance brands and models remain available after the implementation of MEPS. We are exploring the possibility of extending MELS and MEPS to other appliances in the future. Do you find the information on energy labels useful? Do you continue to enjoy a good selection and variety of brands and features with the implementation of MEPS?

6 All feedback can be sent electronically to MEWR_ECBill@mewr.gov.sg. The feedback should reach us by 5.00pm, 28 December 2011.

7 The public may view the draft Bill at http://www.reach.gov.sg/Portals/0/EConsult/42//EnergyC%20Bill%202011.pdf

Source: REACH

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