DBS Lightyear @ Newton

First Bank in Singapore to achieve Zero Energy

DBS Lightyear @ Newton

Location: Singapore

The Newton branch of the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) is a 30-year-old building retrofitted to achieve energy savings of over 70%. The building was slated for demolition before the proposal for a bold retrofit. In a push to achieve decarbonisation, DBS Bank is now part of the United Nations’ Net Zero Banking Alliance, an industry-led alliance committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. As a pivotal strategic partner, we introduced System Integrator for technologies in their existing four-story office building at Newton, as part of the BCA’s Green Building Innovation Cluster (GBIC) fund.

Overcoming the constraints posed by an existing building, this project features 13 new innovative technologies that addresses different building aspects, systems and disciplines. The key green features include:

Living Façade Shading

The slatted building façade made of bamboo shades the building while encouraging natural ventilation. As it is a natural material, bamboo has lower embodied carbon than steel or concrete.

The facade is then covered in drought tolerant plants to reduce irrigation needs. Additionally, natural leaves are expected to lower the mean radiant temperature through the transpiration effect of the plant leaves. Additionally, the planted wall is expected to enhance Indoor Air Quality through the effect of “Phytoremediation”.

Renewable Energy (Bifacial Solar Panels)

Over 1,000 square metres of solar panels were deployed on the rooftop of the building in an innovative way to maximise renewable energy. Additionally, the building design incorporates an extended canopy to expand the amount of space on the rooftop available for solar panels.

The use of bi-facial modules enable sunlight redirecting from the roof surface to be harvested as well. The solar panels also include AI-enabled optimisers, which enhance the operating efficiency and performance of the solar panel array.

Energy consumption is further decreased by self-powered solar air conditioning units, exhaust fans, and lampposts.

Smart Plug Load Management

The Smart Plug Load System comes with an AI platform that learns from behaviour and usage pattern of office equipment and reduces the operating hours of those equipment accordingly, reducing energy consumption

 

Our Involvement

GreenA Consultants was engaged to serve as the Green Building Innovation Cluster (GBIC), Green-Mark Platinum and Net Zero Energy Consultant. With our services, the project achieved the Super Low Energy status on top of the Green-Mark Platinum and helped obtain S$3 million in funding under the GBIC Programme.

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