THE drive towards standardisation gained more ground yesterday, with new environmental standards on energy efficiency and indoor air quality that will help us breathe easier.
Completion of the two standards - the Singapore Standard on Mechanical Ventilation and Air-Conditioning in Buildings (SS 553) and the Singapore Standard on the Code of Practice for Indoor Air Quality (SS 554) - was announced yesterday at the Spring Singapore Quality and Standards 2009 Conference.
SS 553 will put in place minimum recommended standards for air-conditioning engineering and ventilation in a bid to increase indoor-cooling energy efficiency.
SS 554 will specify the acceptable indoor air quality for building occupants, which will include specifications on levels of particulate matter in the air.
While not mandatory, the two standards will be used by the Building and Construction Authority in its Green Mark Scheme that targets 80 per cent coverage of existing buildings by 2030.
According to the National Energy Policy Report published by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, buildings account for 16 per cent of Singapore's total energy consumption, and air-conditioning accounts for about half of that.
'Together, these two standards will set the industry bar in Singapore for energy efficiency and acceptable indoor air quality in air-conditioned buildings,' Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, said at the opening of the conference yesterday.
The new standards are part of a larger standardisation drive spearheaded by Spring Singapore. This year, Spring has launched 15 new and revised standards in total.
To get firms on board, standardisation has been touted as an enabler for the development of energy efficiency and sustainability, a catchphrase that has become a lucrative one over the past few years.
These standards are being marketed to firms as a way for them to get their foot in the door with multinational corporations, reduce production wastage and cut costs.
In Singapore, there are currently 300 companies in the environmental sector, employing about 17,000 people and producing a manufacturing output of $3.6 billion, according to 2007 figures.
The web of revenue extends beyond these companies, with about 3,000 engineering and process companies supporting the sector.
At present, international standardisation has a complex structure plagued by redundancies.
Apart from the global standards boards such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), there are multiple organisations in Europe and the US, as well as regional bodies in other places.