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A. Low Carbon Transition
Operations
How might we achieve on-site clean energy solutions for our buildings, significantly reduce the energy consumption in existing buildings?
Challenge Description
On-Site Clean Energy
On-site clean energy presents an opportunity for building owners to diversify their energy sources and minimise carbon emission. Clean energy can be generated from waste heat recovery, solar thermal collection, photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, etc.
While technological advancements have raised standards on safety and performance, not all solutions can be cost effectively deployed at all locations due to varying reasons (e.g., minimum system size for deployment, low solar irradiance).
Reduced Energy Consumption
Low-energy buildings are characterised by energy-efficient design and systems that provide high standards of occupant comfort at low energy consumption. A combination of passive strategies (e.g., solar shading, natural ventilation, daylighting), active strategies (e.g., energy efficient HVAC, energy efficient artificial lighting), and energy management (e.g., building automation, smart control, and plug-load management) can be adopted to significantly reduce an existing building energy consumption. Innovative robotics systems that clean solar panels, drones to inspect building facade/roof for heat leakage / insulation issues will also be considered. However, not all solutions can be effectively deployed at an existing building given its site constraints.
CapitaLand seeks innovations and technologies that can push the boundaries of on-site clean energy generation, energy efficiency in buildings, or of heat resilience enhancement as we strive towards super-low energy and beyond the highest rating in national green building standards across the globe in an efficient, effective commercially viable, and safe manner considering the limited space for deployment within our existing assets.
Pain Points
A.01 Limited space for on-site installation at existing building and competing use of said limited space (e.g., urban farming versus solar panel installation)
A.02 Limited availability of renewable energy sources at certain properties (e.g., properties in urbanised area might have limited opportunity for wind power or thermal power)
A.03 Limited cost effective and efficient technologies to harness renewable energy
A.04 Costly to further improve energy efficiency of assets that are already fairly energy efficient (e.g., buildings that have already attained national level green ratings)
A.05 Existing portfolio of buildings with different HVAC systems (e.g., buildings with mixture of centralised and split units, buildings with only split units) and varied building management systems
A.06 Existing portfolio of buildings in various stages of energy efficiency
A.07 Limited opportunities to improve energy efficiency due to site constraints (e.g., age of the asset, legacy plantroom, legacy building systems, etc.)
A.08 Hard to achieve optimal indoor thermal comfort conditions due to varying weather conditions, layouts, occupancy and individual thermal comfort preference
Solution Requirements
We seek solutions for on-site clean energy generation and reduced energy consumption for the portfolio of CapitaLand's assets that meet the relevant following requirements:
- Occupant experience - occupants' comfort and experience in the building are not compromised
- Small installation footprint - suitable for installation within limited space available in our existing properties
- Carbon reduction - measurable reduction in carbon emission
- Cost efficient - strong financial benefits relative to its cost
- Measurable and trackable - clear calculation methods of energy consumption and auditable data
- Relative ease of implementation - implemented with minimal disruption to business operations
- Ready to pilot - at least Technological Readiness Level 8 with proof of implementation
Opportunity Areas
Opportunity areas include but are not limited to:
- Recovery of waste heat
- Building integrated solar PV or modular PV panels of high-capacity output or co-location of solar PV with rooftop farming
- Best in class energy efficient solutions that optimise heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) and lighting
- Efficient energy management