Singapore's energy-saving initiatives were reviewed this week as experts assessed local progress on creating a sustainable built environment. The review coincides with the Building and Construction Authority's (BCA) second Green Building Masterplan and their recent study on energy savings achieved at existing buildings that underwent retrofitting.

In the past eight years, the number of green building projects in Singapore has grownfrom 17 to 1,600 - about 20-percent of Singapore's total gross floor area.

To meet the BCA's goal of greening 80 per cent of building stocks by 2030, the BCA said at a media conference on Wednesday that much more can be done. Education in schools, among building users and financial institutions are where green awareness needs to continue growth, said Dr John Keung, chief executive of BCA.

"We need to create a critical mass of green buildings. We need to get the financial industry to look at green buildings seriously - to fund these improvement schemes," he said.