Singapore strides towards green building

At the beginning of Singapore Green Building Week, Mr Lee Chuan Seng, President of Singapore Green Building Council talks exclusively to Valere Tjolle about a green future.

Valere Tjolle: What benefits will Singapore’s tourism obtain from the Green Building Council initiative?
Mr Lee Chuan Seng: The World Green Building Council International Congress and the Inaugural SGBC Green Building Conference together with the BEX Asia Exhibition which makes up Singapore Green Building Week from 13 to 16 Sept 2010 will bring several international delegates to Singapore with its related spin offs to tourism in Singapore

VT: What financial savings could Singapore hotels make overall from taking a greener approach to tourism, hotel construction and management?
LCS: All new buildings in Singapore from April 2008 are required to meet the minimum green standards. So new hotels and shopping malls in Singapore are now green and they are more efficient in their use of energy and water and therefore save money for their owners and operators. For example, the Resorts World Sentosa have gone even further and won the Green Mark (District) Gold plus Award earlier this year because the whole district has met that standard. Several buildings in Singapore that have met the Green Mark Platinium Awards are able to save millions of dollars a year in energy costs

VT: Eastern countries are making a determined approach to green their tourism, how do you see this vis a vis Western countries approach? What place do you see that certification takes in this approach – both green hotel certification (such as LEED) and wider green tourism certification including cultural, social and economic dimensions (such as the GSTC)?
LCS:  In Singapore we have had the Green Mark grading systems for buildings since 2005. The Green Mark which is developed by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore is more suitable for our tropical climate and also places much more emphasis on energy efficiency and water efficiency than LEED. Since 2005, more than 480 buildings have met the minimum Green Mark standard and many of them have gone beyond to achieve Gold or Gold plus or even Platinium standards. This is more than 16 million square metres of built up area and is about 8% of the total built up floor area in Singapore 

VT: Singapore has a reputation for being a very clean and well-managed destination, will going greener enhance this reputation? What benefits will tourists get from a green approach?
LCS: Going Green will enhance the green garden city image of Singapore. In fact we also have a Green Mark rating system for Parks to make sure that they are efficient in energy usage and water usage for watering the plants, in the way they take care of their waste and also the use of fertilisers etc.

Tourists will get a much better and safer environment as the Green Mark also look at the indoor environmental quality in the buildings like hotels, shopping malls, tourist attractions, etc

VT: Is the green building approach part of a movement that Singapore is making towards the green economy?                                                                                                                          LCS: Yes, very much so. In Singapore buildings consume 16% of all energy used and households and consumers another 9% – so if you add them up 25% of all energy is consumed by buildings or in buildings. When we reduce this energy consumption by making our buildings green we help to reduce energy consumption overall

VT: Is it likely, if so by when, that Singapore may become a completely green destination?
LCS: The 2nd Green Building Masterplan for Singapore which came out in 2008 has set the target to green 80% of all buildings in Singapore including the existing ones by 2030 – once this is done all major buildings will be green and we will effectively have a completely green built environment

VT: What benefits will a sustainable approach have for local Singapore citizens?
LCS: Singapore residents will have a much more environmentally friendly country to live in and will at the same time save money because of the savings in energy costs, water costs as well as costs of combating the effects of pollution

VT: What is your own view as to the value of carbon emissions and the coming COP16?
LCS: Singapore will play its part in lowering carbon emissions

VT: Is Singapore planning to become ‘Carbon Neutral’ and what benefits (including sustainable competitive advantage) will that entail?                                                                                       LCS: The Singapore Government had stated last year that it will aim to reduce carbon emissions by 16% from 2005 levels by 2020

VT: Do you see Singapore as being able to become a global centre of excellence of green tourism?
LCS: I am not able to comment regarding tourism. In the area of Green Buildings, Singapore has already become a regional centre of excellence for green buildings and globally I would say that we are a centre of excellence for green buildings in the tropical climatic zone]

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Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suitewww.travelmole.com/stories/1143624.php