Tomorrow's cities: Engineering the energy transition

Singapore has been lauded as a model of sustainable development in the region and has successfully reduced its emissions intensity by 37 per cent between 2000 and 2014, yet absolute emissions are growing. With the bulk of Singapore’s emissions coming from the burning of fossil fuels for energy, the question of clean energy and energy efficiency looms large over the resource-strapped island nation. How can Singapore, with its goal to become a leading smart nation in the region, harness technology to improve energy efficiency? Is technology enough to stop the climate crisis?

• With few clean energy alternatives, how can Singapore’s industries minimise their energy footprint and maximise energy efficiency to meet its climate targets?

• With few clean energy alternatives, how can Singapore’s industries minimise their energy footprint and maximise energy efficiency to meet its climate targets?

• What are the technological solutions available that could have an impact?

• Is Singapore’s carbon tax, which recently came into effect, enough of a push?

• How can Singapore’s regulators achieve bigger impact with existing energy efficiency policies?

• What can other sectors of society such as consumers do to pitch in, especially in light of the liberalised energy market?

• Where are the business opportunities for those that keep up with the pace of change?

3 tracks: Green buildings, Cold chain, Maritime electrification

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According to the International Energy Agency’s 2-degree scenario, building-related carbon emissions must fall by 85 per cent from current levels by 2060. While green building standards and the adoption of renewable energy is paving the way for new builds with lower carbon footprints, there still leaves a large building stock to be greened, as Singapore alone aims to green 80 per cent of its building stock by 2030. But energy efficiency is the unsexy, neglected child of the climate debate, and funding the retrofits needed for greener cities has been a challenge. How can city planners and building owners overcome this?

• The urgency of the climate crisis demands immediate action in reducing the carbon footprint of cities.

• Are there low-hanging fruit left for Singapore? Can old buildings really be retrofitted to be as sustainable as new builds?

• What kind of technologies or behaviour change do we have to implement, and isIoT the solution? Besides the energy efficiency of a building, how can we ensure that retrofits will take into account the behaviour and culture of its occupants?

Venue: Gallery 10

The growth of the cold chain for food distribution has enabled citizens of the developed world to enjoy whatever they want, whenever they want. For a country such as Singapore that imports 90 per cent of its food, ensuring a reliable cold chain s more than a matter of food safety, it’s about food security. The increasing popularity of e-grocers among Singapore’s time-starved urban population is driving expansion of the cold chain locally, and governments around the world are tightening regulation on production and supply in the wake of food safety scandals. But as any supply chain manager knows, cold storage demands a massive amount of energy, and also uses environmentally polluting refrigerants. How can logistics firms, food retailers, and cold chain managers meet the demand for cold storage while keeping energy and ecological costs low?

• Have natural refrigerants made a sizeable impact in the cold chains of today?

• What benefits does the digitisation of supply chains, currently sweeping the industry, offer for the cold chain in Singapore?

• What does a green, modern temperature-controlled storage facility look like?

• What are some of the most cutting-edge technological innovations that can shrink the energy footprint of the cold chain?

Venue: The Salon

It’s not a vision of the future; marine electrification is already here. Countries from Norway and Finland to Asian neighbours China and Taiwan proving water and electricity can mix. Advances in battery technology and tighter environmental regulations are driving the comeback of the electric engine, and building a case for a future in which the shipping industry responsible for more than 80 per cent of all goods transported and 2.5 per cent of carbon emissions globally is powered by electricity. But it’s not going to be smooth sailing. Electric vessels are costly, the technology is nascent and such a switch will require an overhaul in infrastructure and mindsets in the island’s storied marine sector, which accounts for 7 per cent ofGDP and 170,000 jobs. Speakers on this panel take a hard look and ask if Singapore is ready for electrification, and how it can start to do so in order to decarbonise the industry for a more sustainable future.

• Singapore has the fifth largest ship registry in the world, and to electrify them all would be a massive undertaking, to say the least. Where should a country likeSingapore begin in order to start shifting ships, ferries, ports towards electrification?What are the obstacles?

• What are lessons for Singapore from successful cases of marine electrification around the world, and how can those cases be adapted for the Singapore example?

• Researchers, governments and shipping companies are also looking at alternative fuels such as methane, hydrogen, LNG. Could we ever find ourselves in a position where we simply replace bunker fuel with these lower carbon fuels, and simply carryon with the status quo?

• Regulation—as seen in the recent earth-shaking decisions made by the IMO—is clearly a key driver of change in what is otherwise a very traditional industry. What else can governments and multilateral agencies do to facilitate the transition to a clear, low-carbon shipping sector? Does the Sea Transport Industry TransformationMap go far enough to encourage this, in your view?

• Lack of standardised regulations internationally has also been a bone of contention, when it comes to port frequency charges, for instance. What can be done?

Venue: Food for Thought