ENVIRONMENT
Energy Efficiency
EN6EN19We have begun to enjoy savings from energy efficiency projects implemented across our operations over the past years.
• Chiller Overhaul and Replacement Programme
Chillers are often a building’s single biggest use of electricity. It is therefore important for us to ensure that our chillers operate in the most efficient manner. We do this through our chiller overhaul and replacement programme.
In FY2015, we overhauled six chillers in our Singapore operations and plan to do so for another six units in the coming year. We have also continued the cyclical replacement of ageing chillers, targeting those that have been in operation for 15 years or more. We replaced one unit of a 300RT chiller in Pickering Operations Complex with a higher efficiency unit and are currently in the process of replacing eight chillers located at our telephone exchanges and commercial buildings.
This programme alone has generated energy savings of 837 GJ (equivalent to 105 tCO2e) since implementation in August 2014.
• Energy Saving Lighting System
Our first trial of the Performance Enhancement Lighting Management System (PELMS) was at the Telok Blangah Telephone Exchange in Singapore in 2012, allowing lighting levels to be automatically managed based on motion detection. The average energy savings achieved was about 45% of the lighting budget for the building.
The PELMS project has since been rolled out to seven telephone exchanges and two satellite earth stations in FY2015 with estimated energy savings of 859GJ (equivalent to 107 tCO2e per year).
Supporting a Mobile Application on Energy Efficiency
An Australian start-up Wattcost beat over 500 developers across India and Asia to take out the first ever Singtel Group-Samsung Regional Mobile App Challenge. Wattcost is a free mobile app which, along with an affordable wireless beacon, analyses energy use and sends real-time alerts to help customers optimise their energy consumption and save electricity costs. Wattcost will work with us and Samsung to take its app to over half a billion mobile customers across Asia and Africa.
The challenge is part of a larger Group-level collaboration to identify innovative start-ups and help them accelerate their development, while improving the smartphone experience for our customers.
Building Resilience
We understand the importance of our role as a leading provider of ICT services to our customers and community. This is why we are working to ‘future-proof’ our network against the impact of climate change.
In Australia, over the last 12 months, we have experienced devastation in Queensland with Cyclone Ita in April 2014 and Cyclones Lam and Marcia in February 2015. On both occasions our network team worked closely with local emergency services to restore affected mobile sites as quick as possible. With scientists predicting more extreme weather events in the future, it is critical that our networks and services are resilient to keep our customers, businesses and communities connected.
This work will continue to be a strong focus for us over the coming years in order to future-proof our infrastructure. We know we cannot do it alone to address this systemic issue. We are a founding partner and active member of the Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience & Safer Communities, as well as a member of the Australian Green Cross Business Adaptation Network. In both partnerships, we work with other major Australian companies to tackle this important issue and help Australian communities respond better to natural disasters.G4-16
