It costs $11m to retrofit and is the first building of its kind in SE Asia
The republic’s first zero energy building (ZEB) was launched by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday at the start of Singapore Green Building Week.
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| Touch of greenery: The ZEB is estimated to be about 40-50% more efficient than a normal office building of a similar layout, and all things being equal, is expected to save $84,000 in electricity costs |
The ZEB, within the Building and Construction Authority’s BCA Academy, costs $11 million to retrofit and is the first building of its kind in South-east Asia.
It does not need any external energy supply. The roof is fitted with about 1,540 square metres of solar panels that generate about 207,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year – enough to power 45 four-room HDB apartments.
The ZEB is estimated to be about 40-50 per cent more efficient than a normal office building of a similar layout, and all things being equal, is expected to save $84,000 in electricity costs.
BCA chief executive John Keung estimates that retrofitting a building to qualify for the Platinum Green Mark award would cost a 5 per cent premium on average.
BCA is using the ZEB as a testing ground for various kinds of efficient devices such as single coil twin-fan ventilation systems and mirror ducts.
The refinement of these technologies is geared towards meeting the target set out in the Singapore Sustainable Blueprint, which aims to have 80 per cent of all buildings in Singapore achieve at least the basic Green Mark Certification by 2030. Continue reading
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