ECO Living Programme @ Lor Lew Lian Overall Report

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Our Youth. Our Future.

Society Reg. No: ROS326/2002Charity Reg. No: 1739

environmental challenge organisation (singapore)known as ECO Singapore

*SCAPE, 2 Orchard Link, #04-01 GRID New Media Studios, Singapore 237978http://www.eco-singapore.org I Tel: (65) 6333 5543 I Fax: (65) 6333 5537

Registered Address: 10 Anson Road, International Plaza, #15-14 Singapore 079903

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ECO Living Prog ram me @Lorong Lew Lian

Overall Program me Report

Venue : Bloc ks 1 8, Lorong Lew Lian

Dates: 2nd & 9th Ap r 2011 (initia l buzz),

23rd Apr, 21st May, 18th Jun, 16th Jul, 20th Aug, 17th Sep 2011

(Audit)

Time: 9am 12.30pm

Overview

ECO Living Prog ramme is a c om munity g rassroo ts p rog ramme tha t a ims

to relief the burden of low/ middle-income families while doing our bit

for the Earth. We will do this by performing energy, water and waste

audits in HDB households in order to identify and advise on areas for

improvement.

From Ap ril to Sep 2011, ECO Singapore orga nised an ECO Living

Programme for blocks 1 to 8 at Lorong Lew Lian in conjuction with

Braddell Heights Zone B Residents Committee (RC) with volunteers

from Sta rbuc ks as well as gene ra l pub lic .

Objectives

Educa te households abo ut prac tic al wa ys they ca n ad op t to

reduce their domestic energy and water consumption, as well as

the 3Rs (Red uc ing, Reusing, Rec yc ling) o f waste managem ent

Ac t a s an ac c ountab ility pa rtner to m onitor consumption p atte rns

and c ont inuously suggest wa ys for improve me nt

Overview o f Typ ical Aud it

Rep resenta tives from ECO Singapore w ill arrive a t 8 am to p rep are the

nec essary log istics a t the Comm unity Hall nea r bloc k 5.

Volunteers are told to meet at 9am at the community hall. By 9.15am,

the volunteers will do a short self-introduction and collect their logistics.

Eac h group o f volunteers wo uld g et a c lipbo ard c onta ining the resident

Co nta c t Person : Tan Yi Han

Exec utive , ECO Living Programme

Co nta c t No. : (65) 91700320

Ema il : yiha n.tan@ec o-singa pore.org


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info sheets, audit checklists, volunteer infosheet and star

stickers. Som et imes, they w ill a lso get b roc hures or g ifts for

the residents.

A briefing will be conducted to run through with the volunteers the

proc ed ure to fo llow w hen v isiting the residents.

At 9.45am, the volunteers will then fan out to the various blocks.. On

rea c hing the designa ted househo ld , they will note dow n on the resident

infosheet on whether the resident is present or not. If the resident is in,

they will ask for the utilities bill and record down the past electricity and

wa ter usage. Then, the vo lunteers will c ond uc t the a ud it and fina lly,

g ive reminde rs and sta r stickers. Usua lly, the resident w ill be encourag edto make pledges on specific tips eg. increasing air-con temperature to

25oC. These p led ge s will be noted dow n on the infosheet and c hec ked

on sub sequent visits.

By 12 noon, all the volunteers would have completed their allocated

units and returned to the Comm unity Ha ll.

The p rog ramm e will usua lly end by 12.30pm.

Results

We ma nag ed to g et c om plete da ta for 20 househo lds. The elec tric ity

and wa ter usage in the m onths of July and August were c ompa red to

the averag e usage from O c tober 2010 to Ma rc h 2011. These a re the

results:

>1035%

0 to 10

30%

10 to 0

25%

< 10

10%

Percentagechangeinelectricityusage


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Feedback

From residents

During our final audit on 17th Sep , 30 residents were p olled for the ir

feed ba c k on the p rog ram me. A c op y of the feedb ac k form is shown in

append ix A. The results a re c om piled in append ix B.

From volunteers

We ob ta ined feed bac k from volunteers a fter eve ry aud it and a lso viaan online feed ba c k form.

From Residential Committee

From Sta rbuc ks

Sta rbuc ks c oo rd inato rs sha red tha t the vo lunteers found the e xperienc e

meaningful and loo ked forwa rd to renewing the p artnership in 2012.

Ana lysis of results and feedba ck

The results of the trac king of utilities b ill show ed tha t the impac t o f theprog ramme on elec tric ity usage is minima l, with only 35% of the

residents expe rienc ing a d rop in c onsumption. On the o ther hand , 65%

of residents ma nage d to reduc e the ir wa ter usage .

The rea son fo r the rise in elec tricity usage m ay be d ue to higher

tem perature d uring the midd le of the year, lea d ing to highe r a ir-con

usage. Althoug h ma ny residents sta rted to switch off the pow er at the

ma in switch, the a mo unt saved ma y not be signific ant as ma ny mod ern

app lianc es use little standby p ow er.

>10

15%

010

20%

10 to 0

35%

< 10

30%

Percentagechangeinwaterusage


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Most residents we re a lso resista nt to ma king the type of

c hang es tha t c an invoke la rge savings but require

sac rific ing c om fort eg . red uc ing a ir-con and wa ter hea ter usage .

On the other hand , wa ter usag e ma y have d rop pe d b ec ause of the

physica l, visible nature of water. During the wa ter aud it in Ma y, we

ma nage d to shoc k many of the residents by show ing just how ma ny

1.5L bot tles worth of water they were using ea c h day. Since wa ter has a

physica l, visib le na ture, it is possible tha t p eo p le were m ore c onsc ious of

red ucing usage of wate r. Based on the feed ba c k gathe red , 3 of the

househo lds sa id they saved more w ater and 2 rec ycled wa ter.

Based on fee dback from residents and volunteers, the p rog ramm e ha snot b een very effect ive in cha nging ha bits. Althoug h the residents ma y

listen to the tips we give, they ma y not b e m otivated enough to p ut

them into a c tion. Som etimes, too muc h informa tion may be given, suc h

tha t the resident doesn t rea lly absorb the informa tion we ll.

A significant p ercentage o f residents (23%) d isagree tha t they are

aware of environmenta l issues. This shows tha t the motiva tion fo r saving

elec tric ity and water in o rder to save the Ea rth is still poor.

Anothe r p rob lem enc ountered wa s tha t only half the residents wo uld

be a t home during ea c h a udit. In the first few audits, many residents

a lso d ec ided to d rop out of the p rog ramm e. Fortunate ly, from the 3rd

audit onwards, the number of participa ting residents bec ame stab le.

The m a in positives to take aw ay from this p rog ramm e a re the imp ac t on

volunteers as well as the favourable response of residents towards the

volunteers. Many of the volunteers enjoyed the interac tion with the

residents and shared tha t they lea rnt a lot about the resident s

bac kgrounds and p rob lem s through this inte rac tion. In the p roc ess of

lea rning the aud it, they them selves lea rnt many tips on ho w to save

energy and w ate r, some of which they imp lemented at home.

The residents a lso g ene ra lly apprec iated the effo rts of the vo lunteers

and wo uld som et imes g ive d rinks and snac ks to us. Som e o f them m ay

have been hap py to have a listening ea r to the ir p rob lem s.

Moving forward

For future a ud its to be suc c essful, we nee d to put in plac e strong

motivationa l tec hniques. These a re som e suggestions:

Attrac tive rewards for pa rtic ipa tion/ go od pe rforma nce

announc ed right from the sta rt


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Positive reinforc em ent o f spec ific ha bits

Imm ed ia te feedbac k in terms of elec tric ity and

wa ter consumption Understanding a nd ta rge ting residents needs and c onc erns

Invoking c om pet itive sp irit

Ow nership o f residents and their families in their energy/ wa ter

saving c am pa ign

Arranging spe c ific ap po intment d ate s & times

Utilising technolog y eg . energy m onitors

Voluntee rs to visit same residents ea c h time in order to c rea te a

bond

More educa tion on the environmenta l ra tiona le for saving

energy/ wa ter Tying up with elec tric a l app liance c ompanies to p rovide energy-

effic ient ap plianc es

Mo re training for volunteers

Partnering Orga nisations:

ECO Living Prog ramme would not be possible without the continuous support

from our partner organisations through the opportunity and resources they

provided.

The partner organisations for this event are:

Braddell Heights Zone B

Residents Committee

Starbuc ks Singa pore

Pte Ltd

www.emonitor.com.sg


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App endix A: Feed ba ck form (residents)

Feed ba ck form

Plea se ra te from 1 (strong ly d isagree ) to 5 (strong ly a gree )

This p rog ramm e has been e ffec tive in c hanging

my hab its

1 2 3 4 5

I am sa tisfied with this p rogramme 1 2 3 4 5

I am sa tisfied with the vo luntee rs 1 2 3 4 5

I am aware of environmenta l issues 1 2 3 4 5

I think my utilities ha s d ropped by a t least 10% 1 2 3 4 5

Desc ribe the hab its that ha ve b een c hanged :

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

________________________________

Is the d a te/ time / dura tion ok? Y/ N

If not, why?

______________________________________________________________

How do you think we can improve?_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

________________________________


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Appendix B: Results of feedback (residents)

Question 1

1a ) This p rog ramm e ha s been effec tive in cha nging m y hab its

1b) I am sa tisfied with this p rog ramme

1b) I am sa tisfied with the vo lunteers

Strongly

Agree

30%

Agree

37%

Neutral20%

Disagree

10%Strongly

Disagree

3%

Strongly

Agree

30%

Agree

47%

Neutral

23%

Strongly

Agree

40%

Agree

43%

Neutral

17%


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1c) I am a ware o f environm enta l issues

1e) I think my utilities has d ropped by at least 10%

Question 2

Desc ribe the hab its that ha ve b een c hanged :

Hab it Number of respond ents

Turn off a t ma in switch a fte r use 6

Use less wate r 3

Rec ycle wa ter 2

Don t use wa ter hea ter for so long 1Less use of fa ns 1

Op en doo r instead of using lights 1

Use water saver (ostensibly timb le) 1

Ad just a ir-co n to 26oC 1

Use fans ra the r tha n a ir-con 1

Close fridg e doo r p rop erly 1

Question 3

Is the d ate / time/ duration ok?

Strongly

Agree

23%

Agree

40%

Neutral

14%

Disagree

23%

Strongly

Agree

13%

Agree

33%Neutral

27%

Disagree

27%


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Yes No

24 5

If not, why?

Earlier in the morning

10+ am

Too short

Prefer la te r (just woke up )

Working sometimes during visit

Question 4

How do you think we can improve?

Ca n listen, but still don t und ersta nd Help ma ke sure government not c hea ting on rea d ings

Throug h more a wareness

Constantly remind peop le to save energy

Documents

ECO Living Programme @ Lor Lew Lian Overall Report