What did Singapore do to its low efficiency dependence on air conditioning?

As the temperature dropped to 21 degrees Celsius, Singaporeans dug up the cold weather in the first few weeks of January. However, according to the eco-commercial regional survey conducted by 424 people from November to December 2017, this is not a one-time phenomenon.
For more information about the save energy on your aircon , please call our Singapore Aircon Service Expert to assist .

68% of respondents from Singapore said they often experienced excessive cooling in public places such as offices, shopping malls and movie theaters.

It is worth noting that this is the highest percentage in the region.

One of the respondents, Jair Smits, managing director of the Singapore Institute of Hydrological Information, responded to many people’s views when he proposed that “air conditioning settings (should be dependent on outdoor temperature and humidity).”

“They stayed the same during the rainstorm and turned the air-conditioned space into a refrigerator, which is ridiculous,” he added.

According to a recent study by the National Environment Agency of Singapore, air conditioning accounts for 40% of the average household electricity bill.

Singapore is the country with the highest installed air conditioning rate per capita in ASEAN countries.

By 2040, electricity demand in the region is expected to more than double to 2,000 trillion hours (TWH).

Most of the growth will come from residential and commercial buildings, mainly for cooling.

By 2040, air conditioning may account for 40% of ASEAN’s overall electricity demand, up from the current 25%.

The rapid growth of ASEAN’s electricity demand in recent years has led to a surge in carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants, which may cause environmental crises in areas that have been affected by extreme weather and poor air quality.

The good news is that this crisis can be avoided if the region adopts more effective technologies and supports cultural changes in cooling consumption.

If ASEAN countries turn to energy-efficient products and lighting, they can reduce electricity consumption by 100 TWH, saving $12 billion annually.

This is equivalent to producing 500 power plants with a capacity of 500 megawatts per year, which means there is no need to commission 50 power plants.

For Singapore, although there is currently no statistics on the exact percentage of inefficient air conditioners, it is certain that the industry standards will improve every few years, and people do not upgrade their equipment often, and the inefficiency is not negligible.

If all the residents here convert the air-conditioning equipment into the best available technology, then even if the population (and the number of apartments) continues to increase, the overall electricity consumption of the home cooling will actually be reduced to the second half of the next decade.

Commercial buildings are not difficult to turn down the air conditioner when the temperature drops.

Dave Mackerness, head of Kaer, an air conditioning service provider based in Singapore, explained that the technology used to regulate temperature has been around for a while.

However, most building operators manage their own cooling systems directly, and typically do not prioritize settings (eg, in the event of heavy rain) for maximum efficiency, even if this leads to energy savings.

Singapore can also seek other measures to change the cooling culture.

For example, passive cooling systems and other non-air conditioning systems can be used more aggressively.

Although the goal of the Building and Construction Authority is to have at least 80% of buildings in Singapore green by 2030, survey respondents did not report seeing public buildings using other cooling systems such as fans, shutters, natural air systems, and chilled beams. , sunshade and cool roof, etc.

For this measure, respondents in Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia stated that the level of such passive systems in their respective countries was 15% to 27% higher.

The team members of the industry forum on air conditioning and the environment in Bangkok recently proposed other ways to change the cooling culture in Singapore and the region.

Toby Peters, a professor of cold economics at the University of Birmingham in the UK, said countries need to consider better integration of systems that generate heat or cooling.

For example, most apartments in Singapore and the rest of the world contain separate water heaters, refrigerators and air conditioners that do not work together or capture heating and cooling by-products.

The same concept can be extended to a city-wide integrated thermal system.

There are also industrial opportunities.

The “cold”, a by-product of the conversion of liquefied natural gas from a liquid to a natural gas state, can be diverted from the liquid nitrogen Jurong Island to cool buildings or buses in Singapore.

Singapore is the country with the highest per capita electricity consumption in the ASEAN region.

It has a good legislative approach to air conditioning manufacturing standards and ensures that the public is aware of the savings that can be obtained from more energy efficient models.

Respondents in Singapore surveys are more likely to agree with “the people of our country understand the energy labeling and rating system, indicating that different brands and models of air conditioning power” statements, rather than respondents from other ASEAN countries.

Survey respondents also appreciated the government’s initiative to implement energy efficiency standards in air conditioners.

By systematically considering cooling needs and by focusing on some of the obvious deficiencies in commercial buildings, Singapore can set an example for the rest of the region to achieve sufficient thermal comfort to reduce overall demand for electricity.

The social pressures of citizens may help drive this process, putting pressure on developers of the energy efficiency of apartments and mall operators to ensure that the cooling settings of public buildings are adjusted.

And hope that in the short term, the public can also save the cost of winter clothing.