JTC engineers win in individual category

JTC's committed and multi-faceted approach towards energy efficiency and sustainability has won recognition for two of its engineers at this year's EENP Awards in the public sector individual category. The two JTC engineers who have won individual category awards are Loh Wai Soong and Nagarajan Ratha.

"I feel honoured to receive this award as it serves as a recognition of my efforts in advancing energy efficiency, which underpins sustainability. It motivates me to continue this journey towards sustainable development," Loh says in an interview with The Business Times.

JTC plays a key role in the development and operation of most of the industrial estates in Singapore. It recognises the importance of environmental sustainability in its estate developments. This includes sustainable planning and design, sustainable construction, operations optimisation and industry transformation.

Covid-19 has brought about a paradigm shift in building operations and management. To operate sustainably, JTC took the opportunity to trial smart building systems to gain energy efficiencies in managing its industrial buildings. Building data on lighting, air-conditioning systems, occupancy, and environmental data such as temperature, are monitored for optimising operations and facilities management.

This digital and data-based approach will provide more insights and control over the sustainability performance of its industrial buildings.

In addition, JTC also explored innovations to meet BCA's higher Green Mark 2021 standards on energy performance. This includes the development of energy-efficient and cost-effective green technologies to ramp up solar deployment and smart buildings controls. On top of that, it has been adopting passive design strategies to maximise natural ventilation for its buildings, bringing down temperatures so that cooling loads are reduced at the onset.

Loh says that improving energy efficiency is one of the most cost-effective ways to address the challenges of high energy prices, energy security and independence, and global climate change as well as air pollution.

"Our energy efficiency measures include setting an optimal range of operations for air-conditioning systems. We ensure that JTC's buildings are consistently maintained and operated optimally using building management systems. JTC is also making the transition towards lower energy consumption LED fittings, which will become mandatory for all subsequent renovation and retrofitting work. Motion sensors are installed in toilets and car parks to reduce lighting and ventilation energy consumption when these spaces are unoccupied."

In collaboration with industry partners and customers, JTC launched the SolarLand and SolarRoof programmes to advance solar deployment and contribute to Singapore's target of at least 2GWp (gigawatt peak) by 2030. Under these programmes, it is working with solar vendors to install solar panels on rooftops and vacant industrial land in its estates.

Nagarajan, the other JTC engineer to win the award in the public sector individual category, tells BT: "It shows me that sustainability efforts are recognised as a contribution to the national effort. This will motivate me to share more about energy efficiency efforts with others in the hope that they will be inspired to do their bit for our environment."

He sees energy efficiency as having multiple layers of benefits, each building on the other to maximise the impact to the environment.

For instance, it optimises energy consumption with relatively low cost or effort. This can be as simple as optimising the lighting schedules, choosing more energy efficient equipment or raising the air-conditioning temperature setpoint.

"This then sends a strong message to the industries, showing them that in every little thing JTC does, energy efficiency is at the back of our minds. As the nation's industrial developer, hopefully these actions will encourage our businesses to take environmental footprints seriously should they want to work with JTC on future projects. Every small effort we make in improving energy efficiency makes a difference for our planet."