SINGAPORE: A whole-of-society approach is needed to encourage the adoption of urban energy solutions for sustainable development, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said on Friday (Mar 17).
Mr Teo was speaking at the launch of Shell’s Make the Future Singapore festival, which aims to showcase ideas and solutions to address global energy challenges.
“We are incentivising investments in energy efficiency and clean energy, including introducing a carbon tax,” Mr Teo said. “Our universities, research institutes and civil society can work closely together to drive the adoption of urban solutions.”
Mr Teo, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change, outlined three strategies for working towards a low-carbon future. These include collaboration between academia and industry, working on making industries more energy-efficient, and raising awareness on climate change.
“Our universities and research institutes can work with companies to translate research outcomes to new products and services for the green economy,” Mr Teo said.
“Under the Research Innovation and Enterprise 2020 Plan, urban solutions and sustainability is one of four priority areas that have strong national need and where we already have a scientific and research community doing cutting edge work,” he added.
Organised by Shell, the four-day public festival features energy ideas from entrepreneurs and businesses from across the region, from renewable energy and natural gas and low-carbon technology sectors.
The Pavegan tile uses movement to generate energy. (Photo: Wendy Wong)
The Shell Concept Car. (Photo: Wendy Wong)
The festival features innovations for a low-carbon future, such as the Shell Concept Car, which Shell claims to use a third less energy over its lifetime compared to a petrol-fuelled car. Visitors to the festival can also take part in hands-on activities, such as using a Pavegan tile or a Zorb ball to generate energy.
A student competition for designing and building energy-efficient vehicles was also flagged off on Friday.
The 123 student teams from 20 countries around the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East will compete with each other with the aim of designing, building and driving the most energy-efficient vehicle for the track.
They include nine teams from local tertiary institutions including Nanyang Technological University, Singapore University of Technology and Design and Republic Polytechnic.
The festival is open to the public and runs till Mar 19.
