USE OF ENERGY-SAVING LIGHTS IN HDB FLATS AND COMMON AREAS

USE OF ENERGY-SAVING LIGHTS IN HDB FLATS AND COMMON AREAS: 11.

Mr Edwin Khew Teck Fook asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources whether the Ministry will look into working with the Ministry of National Development and Town Councils in providing funds for and mandating the use of energy-saving lights in all HDB flats and common areas to save energy consumption.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan) (for the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the hon. Member, NMP Mr Edwin Khew, for raising this important issue of energy-efficient lighting in HDB estates, as the majority of our population live in HDB estates.

Lighting consumes about 40% of the energy use of an average HDB housing block. The National Environment Agency (NEA) has thus been working with the HDB and the Town Councils to improve the efficiency of lighting in the common areas of HDB estates for some time.

The common corridors of HDB apartment blocks already use fluorescent lighting, which is energy-efficient. However, there is still potential for improvement, for example, by switching to even more efficient types of fluorescent lighting and by using electronic rather than magnetic ballasts. Over the years, HDB has replaced lighting in the common corridors with more energy-efficient lighting, in tandem with technology advancement. The conventional ballasts have also been replaced

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with low-loss ballasts. NEA will continue to work closely with HDB and the Town Councils, as well as principal lighting manufacturers, to explore ways to further reduce energy usage in HDB estates.

NEA is also working with the Town Councils to improve the energy efficiency of the common areas of existing HDB estates. In 2004, NEA provided co-funding of about $60,000 for an energy audit of common area services in 40 blocks under the Aljunied Town Council. The audit identified potential savings of about 14%-19% of electricity consumption through various measures, such as using more efficient types of fluorescent lights. NEA has shared the audit findings with other Town Councils and also placed the findings on the National Climate Change Committee website to enable others to benefit from the study. Since then, some Town Councils - and I understand about nine Town Councils - such as Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council, have implemented recommendations from the audit, for example, installing more energy-efficient lighting as well as energy-saving devices, etc.

For households, as my Minister had noted in his recent reply to Dr Lim Wee Kiak in Parliament, the lifetime cost savings of using an energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamp can be around $110, far exceeding its higher upfront costs. NEA will thus focus on public education to encourage households to use more energy-efficient lighting, as well as to make other simple lifestyle changes to reduce electricity wastage. Changes such as raising the temperatures of air-conditioners or turning appliances off at the switch rather than putting them on standby mode would help households save money and curb rising electricity consumption.

Mr Edwin Khew Teck Fook:

Sir, I just like to ask the Senior Parliamentary

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Secretary whether it is possible right now, when we see that there are so many proven situations, even with regard to Bukit Panjang Town Council, that there are positive savings, why can the Government not take the next step at this point in time to mandate the use of these lights at least in the common areas? I understand that there is a higher amount that we have to pay basically to incorporate this and we know that the long-term savings are that these lights actually last much longer. Most energy is consumed in all HDB common areas. I think we have gone past the stage of pilot testing. Through SPS' own Town Council and also Bukit Panjang Town Council, it is reported that there are all these positive savings. What is stopping the Government from taking the next step?

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: We share the concerns of the Member and we are also very mindful of the benefits of using energy-efficient devices, and therefore to encourage as well as get more people to come on board. In fact, for the HDB estates, and as the Member rightly pointed out, common area lightings, for instance, actually consume about 40%, which is the largest energy consumption usage for common areas. HDB, together with NEA, has been working on implementing and installing energy-efficient lightings in all the common corridors. So all HDB common corridor lightings are actually fluorescent lamps which are energy-efficient. But, as I noted earlier, there is still room for improvement because as technology advances, even the energy-efficient fluorescent lamps can be improved and therefore there are even more energy-efficient ones. HDB has a policy where for new housing estates, it will use the best available energy-efficient lightings for the common areas as it builds them. So, this is taken care of.

In terms of existing HDB estates, we are working very closely with the Town

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Councils as well as with the lighting manufacturers. Many of the Town Councils are already on board to change the fluorescent lamps which they have in the common corridors to even more energy-efficient ones, which are the T5 lamps. In fact, they also actually implement various other energy-saving measures, such as using dual switches and circuits and so on, as well as energy-saving devices in the switch rooms and using, say, electronic ballast rather than magnetic ballast. These would be gradually implemented by the Town Councils because the fluorescent lamps will have to be replaced due to cyclical maintenance, rather than actually replacing them when they are still viable. So, they will be taken into account.

As far as the households are concerned, like the Minister mentioned earlier, we prefer to take a cautious approach. We feel that the critical first step really is to raise public awareness about the benefits of using energy-efficient lightings in the households and to work with the lighting manufacturers to give more consistent and accurate labelling of such energy-efficient lamps, so that the households can make informed choices. In fact, we feel that through this effort, the adoption of energy-efficient lamps

by choice, rather than by force, will probably have a more lasting and effective impact. Nonetheless, we will be monitoring the results carefully and we may consider implementing a minimum energy performance standard. If we do that, inefficient models will actually be phased out.

Mdm Cynthia Phua: Mr Speaker, Sir, although MEWR is working with the lamp manufacturers, I think for the household itself, it is really the fittings because a lot of the light fixtures are not able to handle the energy-saving bulbs. She may want to work with the suppliers of light fixtures

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to look into that as well, in terms of delivering and bringing in such fixtures that allow for energy-saving bulbs. The other point is that I would like to thank MEWR for co-funding the energy audit in the Aljunied Town Council.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: I want to thank the Member for highlighting that. It is true that for some fixtures, there may be an issue. But as more and more of these are manufactured, there would be energy-efficient lamps which are able to fit into most of these light fittings.

Mr Speaker: **** Order. End of Question time.

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