Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Critical Reflection


At the start of the course, I have stated my goals that I want to achieve in this course which is to minimise my weaknesses of displaying limited sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar use in sentences. I too had a problems in conveying my ideas into words due to lack of reading and writing. However now, I do realise that the only effective way in learning and improving myself is to read more and practice what you have learned. By reading sample reports and articles and have guidance from Mr Blackstone and friends, it helped me became a better writer and a communicator among peers.

One of the problems that me and my group faced during the project would be finding limited sources of information in the internet. One good example was to find the electricity consumption of buildings in Singapore. To make our project feasible, we had to support our ideas with these information to let audience/readers understand the main problem of electricity wastage in Singapore. We as a group learned that with the shortage amount of time for the project, we had to learn to be quick and work smart in researching. So we had to change our mindset/perspective  in our research to find sources that are easily accessed and at the same time `meet our needs for information. We then changed into researching how electrical appliance cost in a electricity bill. Information as such were sufficient for the report.

Honestly, it was my first time presenting without a script. Although it is difficult, I did give a tap on my back for putting an extra mile to make our group’s presentation run smoothly. I have learned so much in this phase, from small details such as orientation of bullet points in powerpoint slides to major details such as handing over to the next speaker. I believe our strength as a team was to attract the audience interests in our presentation and include them as much as we can to promote our idea. My weaknesses were still trying to remember and interpret my script to the audience smoothly. With the habit of filler words as well, it shows how low my confidence is in conveying the topic I am presenting. I believe there will always have opportunity for improvement and I am glad that Effective Communication  has gave  me that opportunity.

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Reflection on Mapletree Challenge Forum


The Mapletree Challenge forum was an eye-opener for me as I am person who has no clue and interest about entrepreneurship. It amuses me on how the panelists that were invited share their mindsets of implementing and spreading sustainability into the world and importantly, making a difference through entrepreneurship.
Zack Wilson caught my attention in this discussion as I am able to relate with his expertise in Civil Engineering and its technologies. Zack has over 15 years of experience in engineering, construction and real estate development. He specializes in clean technology, renewable energy, energy efficiency and hi-tech projects for manufacturing plants, cleanrooms, data centres and medical facilities.
He thinks that it is constant challenge to promote clean green and sustainability technologies. He stated that it is also important to approach the right person who is the champion of the organisation who is also at the right level to promote these technologies and make a difference in the industry.
He also believes that “the most sustainable building is the one that you don’t build because you don’t need it in the first place” which I totally agreed on.
Nancy Ling was the other panelist who did caught my attention on how she found an innovation and start building a business from it. Her business focuses on selling premium sustainable disposable cutlery and tableware in Singapore.
In my opinion, I am able to relate more towards Nancy as she explains how she started her business by just a simple realistic idea based on her experience on ordering food on skewers that puts their everything plastic bags especially food and utensils. This opportunity led her to make a decision to make a difference towards sustainability and came out with the establishment of ECO U.
She also added that Singaporeans are addicted to plastic. So to change that habit, you have to make things ‘beautiful’ to convert people to implement sustainability in their every lives.
All in all, I have learnt that you need to have ‘the fire in the belly’ to start on entrepreneurship and not forcing yourself into this industry if you are not ready for it. Eugene, one of the panelists, did made a very good statement on this and stated that we would need to learn and be well equipped to be an entrepreneur. It is not all because of money.   

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Technical Report Draft 1B



1.         Introduction

1.1              Background Information

This report has been prepared in response to the letter of authorisation requesting for proposal on developing sustainable solutions to an engineering problem.

Electricity has become one of the essential daily needs. With the continued development of technology that requires electricity, the demand for electricity to power up electrical devices has also increased. Despite the importance of electricity, many people are still unaware that they may be responsible for electricity wastage in their everyday lives. For example, electricity wastage is common in educational institutions as faculties and students often forget to turn off the air-conditioners, lights, fans and other equipment before leaving.

According to the Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore (n.d.), Singapore imports natural gas from Indonesia and Malaysia to generate approximately 95 per cent of her electricity. Even though natural gas is "cleaner and more energy efficient" than coal and oil, burning of this gas still releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (Ng, 2018). Parfit (n.d.) claimed that it is evident that carbon dioxide produced by coal and other fossil fuels is warming the planet. The carbon emitted from the burning of these fossil fuels traps solar energy in the atmosphere, causing global temperatures to increase.

1.2              Problem Statement

Currently, electrical appliances such as air-conditioners, fans and lightings in SIT@Dover are left switched on even when the premises are unoccupied. An ideal situation would be to switch off these electrical appliances when not in use. However, based on our recent observations of SIT@Dover, these appliances are operated manually. Therefore, if the users do not switch off these appliances, it will result in unnecessary electricity wastage.


1.3              Purpose Statement

The report aims to propose solutions to the SIT Estates Division on reducing electricity wastage in the campus through the use of automation technology. The focus of the solutions will be on addressing the main issue with electricity wastage which is the manual nature of operating the electrical appliances.

2.         Proposed Solution

2.1       Incorporating electricity management system into the campus’ CCTV

The team’s proposed solution to electricity wastage in SIT is to incorporate an electricity management system into the campus. The electricity management system originates from combining the idea of human monitoring used in video surveillance and the application of motion sensors in buildings to improve energy efficiency.

2.1.1    Human monitoring in video surveillance

According to Kaur and Singh (2014), human monitoring in video surveillance can be breakdown into four steps: 1) video, 2) background modelling, 3) human detection and 4) human tracking.  The first step involves the recording of the video footage in the designated area. Followed by background modelling to specify on the background in the designated area for the purpose of differentiating the moving objects from the background. Next, would be human detection to distinguish humans in the video by separating the foreground from the background. Lastly, it would be human tracking to monitor the movements of the human. This is also known as computer vision (CV) which the camera’s software analyzes sequential frames of live video for differences and records a motion event when a significant change is detected.

2.1.2    Motion sensors in buildings

According to Riyanto, Margatama, Hakim, Martini and Hindarto (2018), one of the approach to motion sensors operation is via motion detection by differentiating the foreground image from the background image in order for the moving objects to be detected. In the case of Passive Infrared Receiver (PIR), the device detects the change in infrared radiation caused by moving objects and responds by releasing output voltage (e.g. switching on the lights when a person enters the toilet).

2.1.3    Application

In the context of reducing electricity wastage in SIT, CCTV will be used to replace the need for motion sensors in the automation of electrical appliances such as lightings, air-conditioning and computers. Based on observations, most of the high asset classrooms in SIT such as lecture theatres, computer labs and interactive classrooms are installed with CCTVs for the purpose of surveillance. Existing CCTVs can be programmed to have human monitoring served as an added function.

The concept of electricity management system is to detect students and lecturers entering the classroom through the CCTV monitoring system and responds by switching on the lights and air-conditioning in the classroom. Similarly, if students and lecturers are seen leaving the classroom at the end of a class by the CCTV, the electricity management system will response by switching off the power supply.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be incorporated into the electricity management system to create a more intuitive approach as compared to the rigid structure commonly found in the application of motion sensors in buildings. According to Jarrahi (2018), artificial intelligence (AI) can assist to simplify complex problems by using the correlation between variables and provide a suitable solution from many possibilities. In the case of the electricity management system at SIT, the AI can help to determine the call to action for various scenarios using software algorithms. For example, if students are seen carrying their bags out of the classrooms, it would represent the end of a class and the lightings and air-conditioning can be switched off. While students who entered the classroom with their bags on but left without their bags will be seen as going for a break, hence, the electricity appliances can go into standby mode instead of switching off.
The electricity management system in SIT will be a localized system catered to individual classrooms in the campus. The advantages of having an isolated system is that it does not affect the system operation in the entire campus in the event of a system breakdown.

3.         Benefits of Proposed Solution

3.1       Reduction in carbon footprint

If the problem of electricity wastage has been reduced, the electricity consumption would also decrease. Therefore, lowering the carbon footprint produce.

3.2       Low implementation costs

Instead of retrofitting the classrooms with motion sensors, the CCTV can do the job of the motion sensors by introducing a new function to the CCTV known as human monitoring. Therefore, the costs of purchasing the motion sensors and retrofitting the motion sensors into the classrooms can be removed.

3.3       Innovation breakthrough in electricity management

The adoption of human monitoring using CCTV to replace motion sensors will provide building management with an alternative to electricity management. One of the main advantages of using human monitoring through CCTV is that it allows for greater analysis of the scene.

In addition, the success of the pilot project in SIT would enable the electricity management system to become a case study for other existing buildings on ways to reduce electricity wastage. Therefore, SIT will be able to gain more publicity and improve its reputation among the other universities in Singapore.

3.4       Cost savings

If the electricity wastage in SIT is being minimized, there will be more energy savings for SIT in terms of lower electricity bills. This will allow the school to have more funds that can be better utilized in other areas such as student development.

4.         Proposal Evaluation

The electricity management system addresses the problem identified in electricity wastage in SIT. With the automation of electrical appliances, the problem of operating the electrical appliances manually has been solved.

Other methods to reducing electricity wastage such as motion sensors and operation timer for electrical appliances based on the booking of the venue have been considered before deciding on using human monitoring in the electricity management system. The primary reason for choosing human monitoring is that it provides a balanced approach to the problem. For example, if the operation of electrical appliances is based on the booking of the venue, there will be shortcomings such as electricity wastage when the venue is used for a shorter period as compared to the original timeslot booking.

One of the challenges faced in the implementation could be due to the complexity of the solution. The software for human monitoring is relatively new in the market and may not be readily available, hence, the time needed to implement the solution may take a longer time. The project can be collaborated with other SIT courses such as Information Technology and Electrical Engineering to create the software for human monitoring in CCTV. This will also help to reduce the cost of implementing the solution.

Another challenge would be the accuracy of the human monitoring in CCTV. There may be chances of false detection by the device.

5.         Methodology
In this section, the research methodology used in the report is described. The primary research is based on our observation and on the utility bills and energy usage data. The secondary research is based on implementation of Electricity Management System has been conducted.

5.1       Primary Research

The utility bills of SIT@Dover were obtained from the SIT Estates Division to understand how much is being paid for the electricity monthly. This is shown in Appendix _. SIT is paying a total of a total of $59,715,90 for 314 582 KWh and $60,668.20 for 320 119.41 KWh respectively at Academic Plaza and University Tower.

Research were being made in National Environment Agency’s GO GREEN TIPS Singapore where setting an air conditioner at the temperature about 25˚C would save up to $25 a year for every degree you raise. This is based on average 2012 electricity tariff of $0.2989 per kWh, assuming a single-split, 1000W air-conditioner. Used for 365 days a year.

In addition, standby power can account for up to 10% of electricity use. Switching them off when not in use will save up to $70 a year. This is based on average 2012 electricity tariff of $0.2989 per kWh, assuming 35W of standby power in a home.

According to Energy Efficiency Programme by NEA, computers should be switched off completely when not in use for long periods (e.g. more than 30 minutes). Leaving a desktop (300W) switched on for 8 hours (e.g. overnight) daily will cost about $240 a year.

Observation were made in SIT@Dover campus when the team noticed electricity wastage in classroom after 10pm for 3 consecutive days as shown in Appendix __.

5.2       Secondary Research

To further reinforce the Electric Management System, secondary sources from journal/scholar articles and conferences were used for the purpose of this report. This is in order to find out the functionality, cost and efficiency for both human monitoring in video surveillance and motion sensors. Researches were also being made on Artificial Intelligence on the detection of human behaviours in and out of the classroom for the system’s functionality. In conclusion, information on these functions were needed for research in order to invent the improvised Electric Management System for minimising electricity wastage in SIT @ Dover.

6.         Conclusion

Electricity wastage has a negative impact on the environment as it increases electricity consumption which will increase carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.
Electricity wastage increase the carbon footprint

With the implementation of this proposal, it will not only help to reduce the utility bills of the schools, but also improve energy efficiency and reduce electricity wastage in Singapore.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Technical Report Draft 1

Background
Electrical fixtures in SIT@Dover such as fans, air-conditioners and lights are manually controlled. Our recent observations revealed that these fixtures have been left switched on even when the areas are not occupied. This results in high electricity consumption and energy wastage which also increases the carbon footprint.

According to Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Building Energy Benchmarking Report (2018), the total annual electricity consumption of educational institutions is the second highest in Singapore among the Building Types.

 

To conserve energy, SIT@Dover’s electricity consumption should be kept to a minimum when not in use. Energy conservation will increase the environmental quality and reduce electrical costs. Since energy is a finite resource, lowering the energy consumption can minimise the depletion of resources.

Therefore, SIT Estate Division should consider alternative methods to reduce energy wastage.

Problem Statement
Currently, electrical appliances at SIT such as air-conditioners, fans and lightings are in operation even when the premises is unoccupied. Ideally, electrical appliances should be kept switched off when not in use. This is mainly due to the manual nature of operating the electrical appliances.  The implication of the current situation is that it results in unnecessary energy wastage. Energy is a finite resource, hence, minimizing energy wastage will improve the sustainability of energy. SIT Estate Division can implement methods to reduce energy wastage to tackle the problem of energy wastage.

Purpose Statement
The purpose of this proposal is to propose to the SIT management to suggest ways of reducing energy wastage in the campus through the adoption of centralised control system such as the installation of Intergrated Building Management System (IBMS). The aim is to ensure the continuity of the energy. Conversely, energy savings can be harness as well.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Summary Annotation


Summary Annotation
In the article, ‘Improving the energy efficiency of the existing building stock: A critical review of commercial and institutional buildings’, Rajeev, R., Kasun, H. ,& Rehan, S. (2015) analyzed on the energy efficiency approaches for operating commercial and institutional buildings based on Canada’s energy use. The article stated that these buildings have played a part in the emission of greenhouse gases in Canada and further contributed in Canada’s secondary energy use. Enhancing the energy efficiency of commercial and institutional buildings is a critical step in the reduction of environmental impacts in Canada. Various approaches such as integrating technical methods and technologies, having awareness programs among building users, making occupancy and operation specific requirements and enhancing building energy management were focused in the article to improve the building energy performance. However, further research is required to better understand the areas of building energy efficiency and to ensure organisations develop energy management best practices. This included researches on ‘metering and control systems, measures to ensure low cost thermally comfortable and productive environments, state-of-the-art equipment and technologies that provide heating or cooling and electricity with lower carbon footprint’. The article then concluded that it was important to examine the research on life cycle performances, implementation and cost factors related to the previously mentioned approaches. This is to better enhance the energy efficiency of commercial and institutional buildings.

(224 words)

Article
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032115010540

Friday, February 15, 2019

Reader's Response Final Draft


In the article, 'Green buildings, Singapore' natural ally for a greener future', MacKenzie (2017) stated that green building designs portray a conducive environment for living and carry significance to Singapore's counter against climate change. With the current state of Singapore’s economic rise, buildings have generated increasing amount of carbon emissions which significantly contributed to climate change. This issue of carbon emissions, steered an opportunity to be countered through green building designs and technologies. Asia Square is one example of an efficient green building in Singapore which reduced energy consumption with its green design concept. Applying bright colors, fully utilizing sunlight, using of technology and selecting sustainable materials are design elements that should be incorporated to counter climate change. MacKenzie also further states that with the adoption of design and sustainability, Singapore guarantees the reduction of environmental impacts by hosting events to spread awareness of going green and enhancing ways to fight climate change.

Based on the points elaborated in the article, I agree to a certain extent that green buildings play a key part in fighting climate change in Singapore. However, in my opinion, investing and building green buildings are not the only solution towards the reduction of environmental impacts. It can also be further improved with the help of Singapore’s community, contributing by ‘living green’ and adopting environmental-friendly practices to their everyday routine.

In terms of statistics on global emissions, Singaporeans played an essential role in contributing carbon footprint. In the article ‘Climate change: Many think they can't make a difference’, Tan (2018) stated that even though Singapore produced 0.11 per cent of global emissions, it is ranked 26th out of 142 countries in terms of emissions per capita. This is based on 2015 data from the International Energy Agency. The results demonstrate that individuals in Singapore produce more than the people in Britain, Switzerland or France in terms of carbon emissions. There are a number of ways individuals and the community in Singapore could make a direct impact in climate change and make simple steps to reduce carbon footprint.

This can be done by applying the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). Firstly, in reducing, individuals are encouraged to use only with what they need. Few examples are done by  buying energy efficient appliances with ‘Green Labels’, setting air conditioner at 25 degrees Celsius, switching off appliances after use and using of public transport, cycling or walking.
Secondly, individuals can start reusing things for the same purposes. For instance, using reusable stainless steel metal straws instead of plastic straws when drinking, reusing the water used for dishwashing to water the plants and bringing their own reusable shopping bags when shopping.

And lastly, recycling. Recycling helps in converting waste into useful products for other usage. This can be done through recycling e-waste at designated e-waste recycling bins and depositing recyclables into recycling bin. In a nutshell, individuals will be able to reduce climate change significantly with these simple steps.

The awareness on how impactful these simple steps are were not publicized efficiently.  An article on ‘How simple lifestyle changes can reduce your carbon footprint, help the environment’, Williams (2018) stated a few ways that citizens did make a big impact in saving the environment in the United States. ‘Recycling one aluminium can save 90 percent of the energy required to make a new one. Taking mass transit, walking or biking can also save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile a person doesn’t drive, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. New LED light bulbs give the same light for 15 percent of electricity. Using them can reduce your carbon footprint by 6 tons per year.

In conclusion, I believe that we can further reduce carbon footprint not only with design planning for future green buildings or large organisations to adjust to greener functionality but also, involving the community to play a part in this fight against climate change.

(685 words)

References:

Tan, A. (2018, January 26). Climate change: Many think they can't make a difference. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/climate-change-many-think-they-cant-make-a-difference


Monday, January 28, 2019

Summary Draft 1

In the article, 'Green buildings, Singapore' natural ally for a greener future', MacKenzie (2017) states that green buildings designs portray a conducive environment for living and carry significance to Singapore's counter against climate change. With the current state of Singapore’s economic rise, buildings have generated increasing amount of carbon emissions which significantly contributed to climate change. It steered an opportunity to counter the issue through its green building design and technology. Asia Square is one exemplary example of an efficient green building in Singapore. In comparison to other buildings, it proved a reduced energy consumption rate with its concept. Applying bright colors, fully utilizing sunlight, use of technology, selection of sustainable materials and working with interested parties are design elements that should be incorporated to counter climate change. With the adoption of design and sustainability, Singapore guarantees the reduction of environmental impacts by hosting events to spread awareness of going green and enhancing ways to fight climate change.

As a Garden City, leaders, building designers and big organisations were not the only ones who should prevent climate change. It is now needed for the community and individuals in the country to be involved in enhancing the environment and reduce the impacts towards it.