There will be a new benchmarking scheme, called Green Mark 2015, for non-residential buildings, and this will have an expanded focus to “address sustainability in a more balanced and holistic manner”, said the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) on Wednesday (Sep 2).
The Green Mark 2015 has been structured into four main sections: Climactic response; building energy performance; resource stewardship; and smart and healthy building. There is also a bonus section on advanced green building efforts, to “spur efforts beyond requirements”.
Key benefits for building occupants and users include a stronger emphasis on indoor environmental quality in relation to enhanced health and well-being, and buildings that are equipped with smart controls and analytics to assist in the management and optimisation of building resources, it said.
The revamped scheme will also enable projects to analyse its energy effectiveness in both the optimisation of energy efficiency and consumption, while greater recognition for renewable energy will be considered, BCA said.
Dr John Keung, Chief Executive Officer of BCA, said: “Green Mark 2015 will play a more prominent role in driving and communicating sustainability outcomes in Singapore, as buildings consume more than 30 per cent of the total electricity.”
Findings from the BCA Building Energy Benchmarking Report (BEBR) were also released, and it showed that commercial buildings had better energy performance in 2014 compared to 2013. Retail buildings showed the most improvement.
BCA Green Mark-certified commercial buildings continued to perform better than non-certified ones, it added.
Additionally, the world’s first high-rise rotating laboratory for the tropics will be built on the roof of a new building at the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Academy, the agency touted.
The BCA SkyLab will be located on the roof, and can turn 360 degrees to test energy-efficient building technologies. It will also have two similar indoor units that simulate an office environment to compare tests results. The units are equipped with sensors to measure energy performance and environmental parameters.
Each unit measures 40 square metres and its layout can be easily changed and configured for installation of different testing technologies, BCA said.
Dr Keung said: “With the BCA SkyLab, we are moving another step closer to the ambitious goal of achieving ‘low-energy high rise’ buildings and ‘zero-energy low-rise’ buildings in the tropics.”
The BCA SkyLab is expected to be opened in the first half of 2016.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 2 Sep 2015