Energy & Climate

Ang Shi Wei Gwenda, Foon Xin Yi, Koh Jun Ming, Tiffany Tan Hui Hoon, Chehak Bhandari

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

In Singapore, the use of air-conditioning is responsible for 24% of its electricity consumption (Abdullah, 2017). As the nation’s energy usage grows, its carbon footprints grow larger and become more harmful than before. This results in disastrous impacts on our environment, including rising temperatures and sea levels (MEWR, 2019). The issue becomes even more problematic upon the realisation that electricity wastage is still an ongoing problem today. While efforts to encourage conservation through social nudges have been present, they have generally been unsuccessful as there is still a high amount of electricity wastage, given the unpredictability of human behaviour (Houde, Todd, Sudarshan, Flora & Armel, 2013). Hence, this project aims to explore the effectiveness of alternative methods to conserve electricity, namely automated technology. Relating the observed issue to Ridge View Residential College, our initial survey found that an astounding 66.7% of respondents witnessed the air-conditioner left running while unused in the lounges three or more times per week (n=52). With this number in mind, we implemented our solution that automatically switches off the air-conditioner by connecting it to bidirectional infrared sensors that detect human presence and absence in the lounge. After comparing the amount of time by which the air-conditioner was observed to be left on unused before and after our solution was implemented, we concluded that electricity wastage has been reduced, with the sensors in place. Hence, we put forth the recommendation to shift future conservation efforts to technological-based methods in order to effect real, effective change.

Keywords: Energy, Energy & Climate, Sensor

Koh Wen Xiang, Nicol Lam Xian Li, Tran Quang Thanh, Zhang Anqi

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

Given the undesirable and unsustainable future of Singapore’s current energy supply, there is a need for an alternative energy source like wind power to replace our heavy reliance on unsustainable energy sources like Natural Gas (Energy Market Authority. 2018). This project aims to determine the feasibility of installing wind turbines in RVRC to power up a 20000mAh power bank. We are going about this project by building our own version of wind turbine using low cost, recycled materials such as water bottles and umbrellas. Initial testing of our prototype involves putting it in a controlled environment of using a fan to blow at the turbine at a constant speed of 5m/s which is higher than the actual average wind speeds. Since results may vary between the controlled experiment and the actual experiment as there are variables like weather that will affect the wind speeds and its consistency, we decided to test the prototype at RVRC (Ridge View Residential College). We tested out the average wind speeds using an anemometer at 4 different locations, on different timings throughout a week, we identified that the RVRC Tower Block Level 8 balcony as the optimal location for installing and testing our wind turbine. Further testing is needed to account for variations in the yearlong weather patterns and the different monsoon seasons which have different wind directions that can affect the results of our experiment.

Keywords: Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine, Energy & Climate

Kang Chanwoo, Liu Guangyuan, Sun Xiuqi, Tran Quang Dat

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

95% of Singapore’s electricity is generated using natural gas. While natural gas gives Singapore a stable and well-connected electrical grid, it is unsustainable due to the high environmental and energy cost in extraction. Solar energy as an alternative to natural gas has been implemented in recent year. However, hydropower research in Singapore is still in its infancy. According to Meteorological Service Singapore, it rains an average of 167 days a year and much of the rain is heavy. Furthermore, Singapore has 8000 km of drains, rivers and canals. These gives Singapore a lot potential in harnessing hydropower from rainfall. Our group aims to examine the feasibility and efficiency of hydropower generation using Singapore’s rainfall, with minimal modifications to existing infrastructure. In particular, our project focuses on generating power from the rainwater harvesting system deployed by newly built HDB flats. We assembled a prototype with a small hydro turbine, water hose and a funnel to examine the effects of various parameters on the efficiency of hydropower generation. From the data collected and studies done on Singapore’s infrastructure, we examined whether hydropower from rainfall collected by buildings would prove to be a viable supplement to Singapore’s energy supply. While its prospects initially seemed promising, much remains to be developed and researched on, for the results from our experiment falls short of our expectation. However, it is still possible that hydropower generation from rain fall could be integrated into buildings and underground drainage systems to generate electricity on a larger level.

Keywords: Energy and Climate, Hydropwer, Rainfall

Benjamin Fheng Guo Jing, Kerie Tham Jialing, Ng Ca Lin, Ng Yong Zheng, Pang Kim Jin

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

2 billion people worldwide live in rural areas without ready access to hot water, with over 67% of them relying on burning biofuels such as crop residues or manure for their energy needs. While crop straws are a renewable source of energy, burning them inadvertently produces more than 550 kg of CO2 annually, significantly contributing to global warming (Niu et al., 2017). Our project aims to bridge this energy gap by designing an off-grid solution for environmentally-friendly water heating especially targeted at users in tropical.

The key design features of the water heater we designed are ease of fabrication, portability, and economical. Our prototype circulates water from a storage tank through a network of copper pipes, which are heated when placed under direct sun exposure, before storing the heated water back into the tank. To test this, we built and tested our prototype over 4 weeks to measure water temperature change in a controlled setup. We followed this with a volunteer group experiment to measure user comfort levels of the temperature of the heated water using our prototype and compared it to results from the electric heater.

We found that our solar-powered water heater prototype was able to consistently heat water above the average comfortable hot water shower temperature of 42.8°C. Based on these results, we have shared our prototype with NUS OCIP and recommend field testing the heater during NUS student OCIP visits.

Keywords: Energy

Bian Xiaoyan, Chen Su, Ding Ning, Zhang Yiping

Academic Advisor: Mr. N Sivasothi

Effective and sustainable last mile solutions in a transport systems can lead to reductions in carbon emissions by encouraging private car users to adopt public transport. In NUS, the shuttle bus system is a last mile solution which was supplemented by an e-scooter trial called GrabWheels. Our project examined the viability of GrabWheels as a safe, sustainable complement to the campus shuttle bus. We compared unit CO2 emission, efficiency and capacity of shuttle buses and E-scooters and made observations of the threat E-scooters posed to pedestrians, along two popular routes in campus. While E-scooters produce significantly less carbon dioxide than shuttle buses, they are only more efficient during non-peak hours. Parking space was inadequate at some stations, leading to pathway blockages. Most significantly, most pedestrian pathways are not wide enough to accommodate E-scooters alongside pedestrians. We conclude that while E-scooter have the potential to be an effective and sustainable complement, the problems posed in safety and parking areas need to be addressed.

Keywords: Energy & Climate, E-scooters, Shuttle bus

Chan Shi Jun, Kathlynn Wong Jin Tine, Kwok Kuin Ek Jeremy, Lee Jun Hong, Zhang Zilong

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

Clothes cleaning consumes both water and energy, which amongst other negative environmental impacts, could lead to global warming and climate change. Yet, our preliminary survey shows that even in tropical Singapore, respondents are unaware of excess energy consumption at higher temperatures, and primarily select hot or warm laundry wash temperatures. As studies have approximated a linear correlation between electricity consumption and wash water temperature, selecting a lower wash temperature would reduce energy consumption. However, there are limited studies on consumer’s laundry habits and their preference for either a low temperature or high-temperature laundry wash program. Given that approximately 0.015kWh of energy, equivalent of 25 minutes of fan usage, can be saved just by switching from a hot laundry wash to a cold one, our project aims to promote energy savings through a two-pronged approach. Firstly, educational posters will be put up around RVRC to educate residents on the best suited wash temperature for their textile type and the benefits of washing at a lower temperature. Secondly, we would experiment with a laundry sharing program as a viable way to cut laundry energy use. The success of our approaches would be based on pre and post surveys and an observational study on the actual proportion of resident who adopt lower temperature for laundry. This project contributes data on the potential energy savings of different laundry wash temperatures, highlights excessive energy usage in the laundry process and encourage consumers to change their laundry habits and use reduced temperatures.

Keywords: Energy and Climate, Laundry, Washer Temperature, Dryer