GREEN.....First
green building in Sabah helps fight global warming
By : NURHAFIZAH YUSOF
SABAH’S first green building
is helping to stop the world from getting warmer. The 16m-ringgit ($5m) Sabah
Art Gallery Conservation Centre can save the government as much as 400,000
ringgit a year in electricity, 297 ringgit in water and cut carbon dioxide
emission down by 780 tonnes that will help keep average global warming below 2oC
to prevent an environmental disaster.
“This building can save up
to one megawatt of electricity per year,” said Masidi Manjun, minister of
tourism, culture and environment, as he received the Green Building Index
certificate from Boon Che Wee, chairman of the GBI accreditation panel on June
29.
The four-storey building at
Jalan Penampang is designed to reduce power consumption by using natural light
and solar panels for lighting and air-conditioning. Energy saving lights switch
off by themself when there are no visitors at the art gallery. And the main
power supply is triggered on days when natural light is lacking or solar panels
are unable to power lights and air-conditioners.
Thus electricity consumption
will be greatly reduced to 900 kilowatt-hours a day, according to Jennifer
Linggi, the curator of the gallery. Power cost will thus be a relatively low
107,000 ringgit a year against about 480,000 ringgit if the building were to
run on supply solely from Sabah Electricity Sendirian Berhad, the state’s power
company.
The art gallery will also
save about 330,000 litres of water a year by harvesting rainwater to flush
toilets, clean the building and water the garden. This represents a saving of
32% of the water need of the building. That is enough water for about 1,500
people. But 330,000 litres cost only 297 ringgit because water at 90 sen per
1,000 litres is comparatively cheap.
But making the building
environmentally friendly will reduce carbon dioxide emission, blamed for global
warming, by 780 tonnes a year. That is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by
390 people every year.
The figure may not seem
significant considering that it takes 1.8 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide to
raise atmospheric temperature by one degree Celsius. But then there are thousands
of buildings, many of them many times bigger than the art gallery in Sabah. And
taking all the millions of buildings in the world, carbon reduction of the
Sabah art gallery is indeed a significant step in the fight against global
warming.
Buildings use up 40% of
energy, 12% of water and send 40% of waste to landfill. And they thus are
responsible for much of global warming and pollution. – Insight Sabah
kita perlu gunakan tenaga yang lebih murah dan bersih serta mesra alam.
ReplyDeleteSemoga lebih banyak 'green building' akan dibina di Sabah. Tahniah kepada kerajaan negeri.
ReplyDeleteJika boleh pandai-pandailah menjimatkan penggunaan elektrik sebaiknya.
ReplyDeletePenggunaan elektrik memang perlu dijimatkan.
Deletemungkin green building ini akan menelan kos yang banyak, tapi dalam jangka masa panjang, ianya mampu mengurangkan kos penggunaan tenaga elektrik..
DeleteBagus. Capai objektif hijau untuk bumi kita.
ReplyDeletehopefully there will be more building with green concept in this state.. we really need to follow global trend where every country in this world already put their concern on saving environment..
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