US venture capitalists invest in green architecture

Revisiting a favourite theme, albeit one I haven’t written about in a while, the Guardian tells us that the US construction industry is investing heavily in green construction techniques. Good news for sure – but the most critical issue from where I’m sitting is to get these techniques and materials out into the developing world, and especially Asia, where construction of brand-new buildings and even cities is going on at a frantic pace.

It still bemuses me that this isn’t a huge industry in Singapore, where there’s a large construction sector, and a government that appears to have money to burn when it comes to investing in R&D that may bring economic benefit to the country in the future. Although they’ve taken some small steps in terms of the way they build public housing, and some regulatory requirements for private developers, I’m not hearing much about R&D into new techniques and materials. Perhaps it’s not sexy enough – or perhaps the local construction lobby is too powerful. After all, the Straits Times published a leader opposing seatbelts for the foreign workers who travel in the back of trucks – because it would impose excessive costs on the construction companies….* Of course, I would be delighted if someone better informed than me can point me towards a source of information about R&D into green building in Singapore!

* I can’t find an online source for this, but it made a big impression when I read it…

Monsoon worries

Singapore only exists because of the monsoons. It was the alternation of the winds that brought traders from both China and India, and caused Singapore to be established as a trading port where they could interact.

This year, the monsoon rains have been especially heavy; in Singapore (which is well drained) there have been incidents of flooding, but nothing too serious. However, Malaysia has suffered very badly, with a number of states experiencing very serious flooding, leading to the displacement of thousands of people.

That gives an indication of what’s to come, if this article on Newseek is any indication. If global warming is affecting the the Indian Ocean it could mean either much more rain, or much less – either of which could have big repurcussions for this little island…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in the US, “weather-related catastrophe losses have increased from about $1 billion a year in the 1970s to an average of $17 billion a year over the past decade” according to another Newsweek article, and insurance companies are withdrawing coverage from coastal areas. Apparently, ‘The damage from a Category 5 storm directly hitting a major city, could, researchers say, “exceed the total capacity” of the U.S. insurance industry‘. Wow.

However – and this is what I picked up on, given my ongoing advocacy that Singapore should be investing heavily in the development of Green Architecture – ‘some insurance companies are creating incentives for customers who build with climate change in mind. Fireman’s Fund Insurance offers discounts to commercial owners who rebuild damaged property using “green” building practices, which tend also to improve building safety‘.

If the monsoons really are going to become more intense, then it’s yet another argument for building green…

It was this blog that did it ;-)

I joke, I joke… (but, I will say that my last piece on Green Architecture in Singapore produced a massive spike in my visitor statistics, and was pretty popular for a while).

Still, I was delighted to see on the front page of yesterday’s Straits Times that all new public buildings will be going green from 2007. The Building and Construction Authority will require all new public buildings and all public housing blocks undergoing major refitting to adhere to Green Mark standards.

I’ve been writing for a long time that Singapore should do this, on this blog and in MBA strategic papers (and I mentioned before that I felt some of our strategy papers were being passed beyond the business school). If what I wrote had a small contribution to play I would be happy, and even if it didn’t – I’m still happy, because I really think that if Singapore becomes an early player in the mass implementation of environmentally friendly building (rather than the occasional vanity building like London’s Gherkin), then it will really have an future industry of great value.

According to the article, apart from setting quality standards, the BCA has set up a S$20 million incentive fund, and a S$50 million R&D fund, and hopes for 200 more green buildings in the next 3 years. This is all really good; it should nurture home-grown industries and research, in an area for which there is going to be huge worldwide demand; I definitely think it’s a better bet than trying to attract blue-sky industries in which there’s no home-grown talent. Well done, Singapore!

Shape-shifting skyscrapers

OK, so that maybe an exaggeration, but the point is made. Come on, Singapore, attract these researchers to move here! Make Singapore a Green Architecture hub!

Moving away from the “air-conditioned nation”

Lee Kwan Yew famously chose air-conditioning as the greatest invention of the twentieth century and, indeed, it’s highly likely that Singapore couldn’t be what it is today without the ubuquitous airconditioners.

Aircon has a downside, though: it’s very energy-intensive, and it spews heat out into the environment, contributing to making the outside even warmer.

During my MBA, I wrote a strategy paper for Prof Wee Chow Hou, arguing that it’s time for Singapore to move on, and try to leave the aircon behind. The first reason is economic: Singapore has to import its energy, and so using less aircon would be an economic Good Thing. Secondly, Singapore needs to diversify its economy, and bring in more visitors. Thirdly, Singapore needs to move its economy ever further up the value chain, and establish more R&D in up-and-coming sectors, gaining a lead on competitors.

One thing that, in my view, can get this done is Green Architecture. There’s an opinion piece about it in today’s IHT. Why do I advocate the wholescale adoption of low-energy architecture for Singapore?

• Massive reductions in overall energy use make Singapore more secure, and reduce dependency on energy imports
• Green architecure uses a lot of roof gardens and surrounding vegetation, which fits perfectly with Singapore’s existing ‘Garden City’ brand
• Green buildings tend to be very distinctive visually. Adopting a “Green architecture” policy for new buildings and, where possible, the upgrading of old ones would in quite a short space of time make Singapore’s urban environment very unusual and very striking – which would make the city itself an attraction, boosting tourist and MICE numbers.
  
• A mandatory Green Architecture policy would provide a critical mass, making Singapore a centre of excellence for new architectural design skills, and for R&D in the new and innovative materials that are used in low-energy builldings. This would put Singapore in the lead of an industry that is going to become huge as oil prices continue to rise and global population continues to urbanise.

As the IHT article shows, this is an idea whose time has come. Singapore, with its huge financial reserves and dirigiste government, has an opportunity if they would only seize it; otherwise, some other country or city will do it.

About

I am:

• an MBA graduate of Nanyang Business School, Singapore, and Tsinghua University, Beijing, PRC. I also have an MSc in Computer Science. My Bachelor’s degree is in International Relations.
• international. My roots are in the Romano-British culture and green hills of Wales. I’ve lived in the mountains of the Roof of Africa¹, the heart of the Middle Kingdom², and a post-modern Eastern Port³. I’ve also worked in the Paris of the South⁴, the Land of the Morning Calm⁵, and 7 member states of the EU. To varying degrees, I speak English, Welsh, French, and some Mandarin. I hope to add Bahasa Indonesia in the mid-term; long-term, Japanese would be nice as well. I used to know some Afrikaans and Sesotho, but I’ve sadly forgotten it all now.
• experienced as a consultant, in the field of innovative personal development techniques. I have worked in career and lifestyle training services for managers in multi-national corporations. I’ve also worked as a marketing consultant for SMEs.
• a knowledge engineer, with lots of experience in on-line learning, knowledge management, and information architecture.
• contactable via gmail: cyberpunk.mystic

This blog started off on blogspot as a record of my application for a place on an MBA, and as a record of my subsequent MBA experience. It’s migrated across a couple of blog platforms since then, and these days vaguely relates to a lot of themes that are covered in cyberpunk literature:

• The impact of technology on humanity – and on our understanding of what it means to be human
• Environmental degradation, its effects, and responses to it
• Ubiquitous access to information and advanced technology
• Attempts by governments and the corporate sector to use technology to commodify, control, and exploit individuals.
• Attempts by individuals and self-identified communities to use technology to resist those attempts
• The globalisation of the economy, and its effects on governments, corporations, and individuals
• The responses, and interactions, of traditional and emergent cultures

… as well as being about China, Singapore, Wales, and other things that mean a lot to me. As such, this blog is a record of my personal interests and journey, and (oblig. disclaimer) do not represent the views of any employer or employers, past or present.

¹ Lesotho

² Beijing, China

³ Singapore

⁴ Buenos Aires

⁵ Korea