Green Technology for Business Growth

G rowing businesses in a competitive market will continue

to create job and increase export to the world. Nothing can creates a sustainable high-pay job and boost the standard of living better than business confidence and growth. Thus, it is no doubt that the Government has focused on the initiatives of sustaining business growth to build a more competitive and productive economy.

Businesses could respond accordingly by improving their internal process and operating costs through innovation. One of the initiatives to reduce operation and production costs is by adopting effective energy management system and infrastructure which is also known as Green Technology.

Green Technology is a diverse range of products, services, and processes that harness renewable materials and energy sources, dramatically reduce the use of natural resources, and cut or eliminate emissions and wastes. In other words, it can improve production efficiency through the reduction of input costs, energy costs, operating and maintenance costs and in turn improve a business competitive position. This is another solution on how businesses choose to respond to and integrate sustainability with core business strategy that will underpin their success in achieving a long-term competitive advantage.

Green Technology is a diverse range of products, services, and processes that harness renewable materials and energy

sources, dramatically reduce the use of natural resources, and cut or eliminate emissions and wastes.

Benefits of Adopting Green Technology

Ability to meet stringent product specifications in foreign market : Meet stricter environmental requirements and specifications to export their products to industrialised countries. The adoption of green technologies can help exporting companies to gain advantage and market share over the competitors;

Reduction of input costs : Green technologies can improve production efficiency through the reduction of the input costs, energy costs and operating and maintenance costs, which can improve a company’s competitive position;

Environmental image : Adopting green technology can improve a company’ environmental reputation, which is crucial if other competitors and consumers are becoming more environmental conscious; and

Ability to meet stricter environmental regulations in the future : Companies invested in green technology are more likely to be better equipped and ready for stricter environmental regulations as well as products specifications that are expected to be imposed on them in the future.

Source : http://recent-science.com/index.php/rrst/article/viewFile/18773/9459

A Study Visit on Effective Energy Management System and Infrastructure for Future Business Sustainability

A total of 34 participants from 16 organisations have visited Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech) on 5 November 2014. This programme was the third best practices visit in 2014 under the phase 2 of benchmarking project. The main objective of this visit is to learn and share thoughts and experiences with GreenTech pertaining to effective energy management system and infrastructure that can be considered to be implemented by participants in their organisation.

The visit started with a presentation by Pn. Roslina Muhammad that highlighted on the green technology facilities available in the GreenTech Geo building. She

also stressed on the importance of deploying green technology for the industries to embark on as it will reduce operational costs such as electricity and water consumption. At the same time, industries are able to contribute by reducing carbon emission to the air which will preserve our environment from totally being exposed to pollution.

Learning from the best-in-class organisation through this study visit is a platform that MPC has actively organised to expedite the process of exposing our local companies which have been proven as an excellent organisation locally as well as internationally.

Malaysian Green Technology Corporation Profile Malaysian Green Technology Corporation is a non-profit organisation under the purview of the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water Malaysia (KeTTHA) and was formerly known as Pusat Tenaga Malaysia (PTM). Previously, PTM had focused on energy efficiency such as Malaysian Energy Efficiency Programme (MIEEIP), Biomass Power Generation and Cogeneration in Palm Oil Industry (BIOGEN), Malaysian Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Technology Application Project (MBIPV) and many more. In April 2010, PTM was restructured and rebranded as Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia) with more dynamic roles that in line with the National Green Technology Policy. The final targets of this organisation is to position Malaysia as a hub for green technology by 2020 and subsequently transform Malaysia into a green community by 2030 through its high impact programmes and initiatives.

GREENTECH MALAYSIA’S ROLES

Green Energy Office (GEO) of GreenTech Malaysia The GEO is located in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor and it is a building specifically designed to be an icon of energy efficiency and renewable energy applications. The building was completely developed in 2007 and it has received more than 10,000 visitors per year locally as well as internationally that keen to learn on the green technology applications available at the GEO. This is one of the national projects that is able to demonstrate to the industries on the importance and benefits of green technology implementation.

Interesting Facts about GEO

Building energy index (BEI) of 30 kWh/m2/year, compared to 250 to 300 kWh/m2/year for a typical office buildings in Malaysia: electricity bill ~ RM6,000/mth;

Savings of almost 500,000 kWh per year (at least RM200,000 per annum) approximately RM16,600 per month; and

A total of 302 tonnes of carbon emissions avoided

Building

GEO Feature 1 : Energy Efficiency A. Daylight

The building uses diffused daylight for 100% natural day lighting.

Meeting rooms, management rooms and workstations are positioned close to the windows to ensure maximum use of this diffused day-lighting.

Using solar photovoltaic and sky roof for natural daylight that allow zero electricity for lighting.

Mirrors light shelf is used to enable diffused daylight to go deeper into the building.

Daylight from Atrium (Solar Photovoltaic)

Daylight (Sky Roof) Reflecting mirrors help daylight to penetrate directly

inside

Workstations are positioned closer to the windows

B. Energy Efficient Lighting

Using the most advance energy efficient lights that consume minimum fuels at night and in raining day.

Lights and movement sensor installation

Suspended T5 fluorescent tubes (2 units) with DALI

(electronic) Ballast

Daylight sensor Led Task Light (6.2W)

Present Sensor (movement

detector)

Present Sensor (thermal movement detector)

Benefit :

Consume very little fuels with building energy index (BEI) of 65 kWh/m2year. Compared to the BEI of conventional office buildings of 250 – 300 kWh/m2year, the GEO has proven its design strategies to be extremely energy efficient.

C. Cooling System

All windows are using double-pane glass, with spectrally selective coating & low-E coating which reflects ultraviolet and infrared radiation from the building’s exterior surface. It keeps the hot temperature from entering and maintains the cool temperature inside the building.

The GEO uses 50% air convection and 50% radiant cooling for its cooling requirement. This enables two energy efficient chillers to execute and ultimately chilled water at a temperature higher than required for a building which utilises 100% air convection system.

Double-glazing windows to keep the hot temperature from

entering the building

Floor Stab where cold water Polyethylene Crosslink (PEX) piping

are embedded into the floor

Chilled water flowing in PEX pipes during daytime

GEO Feature 2 : Renewable Energy Four types of solar photovoltaic namely Poly-Silicon, Amorphus Silicon, See-through PV and Mono-Silicon are

architecturally and aesthetically integrated into the building.

The solar system generates electricity for the building’s usage and able to export extra generated electricity to Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

Only one Air Handling Unit (AHU) is used for circulation cool fresh air within the building and also for dehumidification purposes.

Benefit :

Get paid for the electricity produced and for any excess will export back to TNB;

Reduce electricity bill to RM6,238.44 per month for this building;

Reduce carbon footprint, as solar is clean, green, renewable energy and does not release any harmful carbon dioxide or other pollutants; and

Store electricity for a cloudy day.

GEO Feature 3 : Rain Water Harvesting System Rain water is harvested to help

conserve water in the building and to reduce the use of treated water from the utility.

Rain water is then applied to the cooling system condenser as well as being used to water the landscape and for general cleaning purposes.

The use of pipe water is only 1/3 of the total amount of water utilisation

Benefit :

Water bill is only RM70.38 per month for this building with build-up area of 4,200 m2

Employees Attitudes towards Green at GreenTech Malaysia

Car pool concept has been implemented by most of the employees to come to GreenTech Malaysia everyday.

All employees are not allowed to bring plastic bottle in their workplaces.

GreenTech Malaysia only provides paper cup and juice to the visitors during tea-break.

Employees are not allowed to use lift in the building.

During lunch, employees are not allow to bring plastic and polystyrene food wrapper in the building.

Going Green for Future Generations

It is no longer to assume that social challenges such as pollution, dwindling natural resources and climate change can always be ignored for future generations. In fact, this issue has emerged as one of the crucial problems that is currently being incorporated into the national policy around the world including Malaysia. The Government is continuously educating the people on the importance of green technology for socio-economy growth through high-impact programmes and initiatives. This indicates that the rapid urban-development to become developed country in 2020 has been followed and taken into account by green-initiatives in minimising the negative impact of human activities to the environment.

In pursue of promoting green technology, Malaysian Green Technology Corporation was established in 2010 with the aim to catalyse green technology deployment as Malaysia’s strategic engine for socio-economy growth. One of the initiatives in introducing the concept of green technology is through GEO building which was successfully completed its development in 2007. The building is designed in such a way that it incorporates advanced green technology features of Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Rain Water Harvesting System. It is proven that these systems are possible to be embedded in the workplace as it will help to reduce electricity and water expenditures.

Thus, industries should start embarking on green technology as the prospects for success which has been increased tremendous. With the emerging of creativity and innovation in this area, it will assist the industries to easily implement this concept in the workplace which can contribute to a healthier environment for our next generations as well as the prospect of penetrating the businesses into international markets.