Going green saves Keppel millions a year

Keppel Corporation's Keppel Datahub 2 is the first newly built data in Singapore to achieve the Platinum Award for BCA-IDA Green Mark, the highest green award handed out by Building and Construction Authority and Infocomm Development Authority for data centre developments. PHOTO: KEPPEL CORPORATION

SINGAPORE conglomerate Keppel Corporation expects to save about $36 million a year by stepping up its green efforts.

In its latest sustainability report released last week, the firm said that, in 2014, it put in place measures to save 530,983 gigajoules of energy.

This works out to enough energy to power over 380,000 four-room HDB flats for a month.

Assuming that the monthly electricity bill for a four-room flat averages about $95, the total savings that Keppel could reap from its latest green initiatives are roughly $36 million.

The energy savings are a four-fold increase, up from the 129,216 gigajoules in savings stated in last year's report.

Keppel said that it is using more sustainable building design and materials and energy-efficient equipment and devices, as well as improving operations and processes to cut down on energy use.

Other than its green efforts, Keppel has also spent $14.2 million training and developing its employees globally.

It has also increased investment to improve safety systems and training by 30 per cent, to $52 million in 2014.

On the corporate social responsibility front, Keppel contributed $5.88 million to arts, education and community projects last year.

Its property arm - Keppel Land - also released its seventh sustainability report since 2008 last week.

The report highlighted the property developer's biggest achievement to date - being recognised as one of the world's best in going green.

This year, Keppel Land ranks fourth worldwide on the Global 100 list of the world's most sustainable companies, making it the first Asian company to make it into the top 10 for the first time in the ranking's 11-year history.

In 2014, Keppel Land won eight Green Mark awards, increasing its Green Mark-certified projects to 47.

Total energy savings from these properties in Singapore and overseas will be about 125 million kilowatt-hours, or $30 million a year.

That equals the amount of energy needed to power over 22,000 HDB flats for a year.

These green buildings will also save 1.5 million cubic metres of water and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 65,000 tonnes per year

The Green Mark rating is given out by the Building and Construction Authority to buildings or tenants who meet certain standards for being energy efficient and having good indoor environmental quality.

Keppel Land also aims to save up to $250,000 a year in lighting expenditure by replacing all office lamps with energy-efficient light-emitting diode lamps.

The scheme has been extended to tenants of Bugis Junction Towers and Keppel Bay Tower. It will eventually be rolled out to all the buildings in the Keppel Land Group.

kohping@sph.com.sg

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 29, 2015, with the headline Going green saves Keppel millions a year. Subscribe