Technical Report, Draft #1

1 Introduction

With the rising concern of increasing energy consumption,  the Energy Market Authority is tackling by reviewing new ideas and solutions. Currently, enormous electrical energy is consumed by streetlights which are controlled by the means of the time of the day. One of the challenges face is due to the inadequate lighting control and poor power efficiency by streetlights which involves a great amount of energy wastage and plays a part in electricity costs.

With the development of urbanisation, the usage of street lamps increases rapidly in due to high traffic and human population density. On the other hand, these streetlights must be adequately illuminated to provide sufficient visibility for the safety of pedestrians and vehicles. However, these street lamps are illuminated constantly for 12 hours from a timing of 7pm to 7am. This results in a need of huge amount of electrical power to light them up. According to the article,” Singapore Energy Statistics,” (2015) there is an increment of electricity consumption which grew up by 2.4% to 48 TWh in 2015. This shows how much the spending cost of electricity is high.

We know that in some time of the night for some roads, vehicles motion happens at a very small rate in a specific period of time. We can also find streetlights in some roads with either no pedestrian movement or vehicles are still illuminated and consuming electrical power. This is a problem that means that some part of the roads is free and be occupied again.

That raises a question: is it be possible to automatically reduce the electricity usage for certain part of the roads that do not have any pedestrians and vehicles and be illuminated once there is movement on these parts of the road?

By implementing such a system, it can help to save a large amount of electrical power.

However, it is difficult to track the presence of vehicles in any part of the road. In addition, it has to be known when some vehicles are going to pass by in order to decide on increasing in the intensity of the streetlights. Technologies like using cameras to count the number of vehicles and pedestrians are not feasible because they require external hardware such as computers to monitor the vehicle and pedestrians count. Therefore, there is a need for a system that reacts automatically and controls the intensity of the light based on the presence of people and vehicles.

2 Problem Statement

The streetlights in SIT should aim to provide sufficient lighting for both road users as well as pedestrians. These lights should also be energy efficient.

Currently, streetlights in SIT use conventional street lights that constantly illuminate its surrounding, leading to a high electrical usage.The inefficiency of the streetlights contributes to a significant amount of the total electricity expenditure in SIT. Moreover, electricity consumption of streetlights is likely to increase over the years as a prediction shows an inclining trend for demand and price for electricity.

Considering the problems of conventional lighting methods, it has turned out to be essential to install a new lighting system that is both efficient and cost-effective.

3 Purpose Statement

The purpose of the report is to propose an alternative solution for the financial state of SIT to save electricity. By implementing an intelligent lighting system that uses motion sensors to detect the number of people around the area, the lights will emit the necessary lighting levels to save energy. Additionally, the report aims to present an overview of a greener solution to street lighting.

Reader Response Draft 3

In the article, “Duo turn plastic waste into concrete idea”, Goy (2016) claims that company BlueRen found an eco-friendly way to incorporate plastic waste into cement by converting them into carbon nanotubes as an additive. Unlike conventional methods, this technology uses an eco-friendlier catalyst to harness stronger material attributes. This results in a reduction of cement consumption thus promoting recycling of plastic.  According to the web release, "Waste statistics and overall recycling," (2016) 822,670 tonnes of waste in Singapore is generated from plastic. The staggering amount of plastic waste should raise a concern in its wastage thus individuals, industries, and the government should work cohesively to achieve a greater success by seeking advanced technologies such as BlueRen.

Individuals play an important role to tackle the amount of plastic wastage being generated. Individuals should explore the idea of plastic collection by contributing material source back to the recycling industries such as companies like BlueRen. According to the article, "A Whooping 91% of plastic Isn't Recycled," Parker (2017) 79 percent of plastic waste is accumulated in landfills or found as litter. This means that a huge percent of plastic wastage are contributed by individuals. Moreover with a growing population, this will create a problem as it increases the chances of misuse of garbage of disposal. Hence, individuals should be educated on the importance of plastic recycling and possessive of a conscious mind when disposing of their waste into recycling bins.

With the help of the government, new ideas and technologies are considered in Singapore to test and see if they are beneficial. As outlined in the article by “Govt urged to take concrete action over plastic waste,” Toh (2016, June 03) mentioned that the government can set an achievable goal for its people with regards to the improvement on plastic wastage reduction. These goals will direct companies into adopting better regulations and switching to greener alternatives. Quoted by Toh (2016), another approach by the government is to work with clients by implementing a “structured scheme”, by rewarding consumers to bring their own reusables. These implementations can raise awareness to individuals by cutting down on the number of disposables which will help to conserve resources.  However, according to the news article "People recycling less despite government measures to encourage it,"(2016, April 30) despite the numerous measures to encourage individuals to go green, there is still a declining trend of recycling. As a result, the government is considering a stricter and more comprehensive system to promote the idea of plastic recycling to the public.  The government should look towards coming up with more innovative ideas to encourage the public in the participation in plastic recycling.

The industry should come up with sustainable engineering solutions for the government's consideration to assign engineers to carry out their task that are effective and comprehensive to promote recycling strategies for consumers. With the latest technology by BlueRen, the challenges of plastic waste management can be resolved through the conversion of plastic waste into carbon nanotubes. BlueRen’s technology is more desirable as the process is cheaper because the use of its raw materials stands out as compared to other methods of conversion. With this effective approach to produce large quantities of carbon nanotubes at low cost, this will contribute to decreasing significant market price to foster the large industrial production of goods such as structural composite materials, thereby reducing the need for its import and making Singapore more self-reliant. As a result, BlueRen has offered a long-term solution to aid in Singapore’s effort towards recycling plastic waste.

In general, the wastage of plastic has been the focal point worldwide. There is a promising future by Blueren in producing high-value carbon nanotubes from plastic. This significantly increases the economic feasibility of the process. Hence, a community’s commitment to a greener environment is often considered to reflect its commitment towards plastic recycling. 

References:

A Whopping 91% of Plastic Isn't Recycled. (2017, July 19). Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced-recycling-waste-ocean-trash-debris-environment/

People recycling less despite government measures to encourage it. (2016, May 06). Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/people-recycling-less-despite-government-measures-to-encourage-it

Toh, E. M. (2016, June 03). Govt urged to take concrete action over plastic waste. Retrieved from http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/govt-urged-take-concrete-action-over-plastic-waste

Waste Statistics and Overall Recycling . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nea.gov.sg/energy-waste/waste-management/waste-statistics-and-overall-recycling

Reader Response Draft 2

In the article, “Duo turn plastic waste into concrete idea”, Goy (2016) claims that company BlueRen found an eco-friendly way to have the capability to incorporate plastic waste into cement by converting plastic waste into carbon nanotubes. This technology provides stronger material attributes. Hence, more plastic waste can be recycled which minimize the use of cement to make concrete. BlueRen's technology involves the process of converting plastics into hydrocarbon gases and producing carbon nanotubes. However, studies have shown the conversion of plastic waste into carbon nanotubes often emit harmful gases and result in a higher cost. With the rising concern of plastic wastage, BlueRen technology will make a feasible choice to meet the demands of the global industries.

The article indicates a great point of interest in telling the readers regarding the advantages of carbon nanotubes and the research study by BlueRen. Plastics have been an indispensable ingredient in consumer lifestyles and constitute the greatest amount of discarded material with a low rate of biodegradation. According to the statistics “Waste Statistics and Overall Recycling,”(2016), a recycling rate of 7% of plastic wastage was recycled. Plastic wastage has caught the attention of many and Singapore is desperately seeking new solutions of recycling plastic.  Among recycling techniques that have been developed to reduce plastic waste, there were few which forge to develop a new technology. Based on a clean energy research article, “Clean electricity from waste plastics through carbon nanotubes,” provides great evidence that it will create a huge demand in the industries due to its unique mechanical and electrical properties. Moreover, carbon nanotubes can be added to concrete to extend its lifespan and they are an appealing substitute for copper and gold used in manufacturing electronics. Carbon nanotubes are fabricated utilizing hydrocarbon-based gases, for example, ethylene. According to the article “Turning plastic bags into high-tech materials,” University of Adelaide(2013, September 25) addresses that the technique involves complex processes which are high in cost and less ecologically benevolent.

Therefore, sustainable engineering solutions are taken into consideration and engineers will see tremendous opportunities. A clean technology by company BlueRen is addressing challenges of waste management to convert plastic waste into high-performance carbon nanotubes. BlueRen’s technology is beneficial as the process is cheaper because of the use of raw materials which stands out compared to other methods of conversion. With this effective approach to produce large quantities of carbon nanotubes at low cost, this could contribute to decreasing significant market price to foster the large industrial production of goods such as structural composite materials, thereby reducing the need for its import and making Singapore more self-reliant.

Individuals play an important role to tackle the amount of plastic wastage being generated. Hence, new ideas and technologies are considered in Singapore to test and see if they are beneficial. As outlined in the article by “Govt urged to take concrete action over plastic waste,” TOH (2016, June 03) claims that the government could set a quota on plastic disposables used over a period by tackling this problem. The objectives are to allow companies to adapt to new regulations and switch to greener alternatives. One of the approaches by the government is to work with clients to implement a “structured scheme”, by rewarding consumers to bring their own reusables. These implementations could raise awareness to cut down on the number of disposables used to conserve resources. Moreover, engineers are vital to expertise and expand their concept to search for engineering solutions. However, engineers alone cannot be able to tackle plastic waste’s problem without everyone’s cooperation.

In general, the wastage of plastic has been the focal point worldwide. BlueRen addresses a promising technology for producing high-value carbon nanotubes; thus significantly increasing the economic feasibility of the process. Nevertheless, individuals, industries, and the government should work cohesively to achieve a greater level of success.

References:

TOH EE MING, 03 June 2016. “Govt urged to take concrete action over plastic waste.” From http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/govt-urged-take-concrete-action-over-plastic-waste

“Clean electricity from waste plastics through carbon nanotubes.” From https://www.chem.uniroma1.it/gozzi/img/w-e-project.pdf

“Recycling Plastics: New Recycling Technology and Biodegradable Polymer Development.” From http://illumin.usc.edu/7/recycling-plastics-new-recycling-technology-and-biodegradable-polymer-development/

University of Adelaide. "Turning plastic bags into high-tech materials." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 September 2013. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130925102651.htm>.