Report on R&D Activities on Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy in Singapore

Background

In Nov 2001, the NCCC R&D Workgroup compiled a list of energy-related projects carried out by the local research institutions with the following objectives:

· To identify areas of strong competencies, and
· To identify potential technological gaps.

2 The scope of the initiative is below:

· Review current R&D efforts in energy efficiency and clean energy from 1997-2001, and
· Determine total spending and manpower allocation.

3 The information obtained was based on updates from the Workgroup's members and does not represent the overall R&D efforts in Singapore. The Workgroup's members are representatives from the following government agencies and research institutions:

a. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
b. Centre for Total Building Performance (CTBP) at NUS
c. Singapore Polytechnic (SP)
d. Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP)
e. Nanyang Technological University (NYP)
f. National University of Singapore (NUS)
g. Temasek Polytechnic (TP)
h. Economic Development Board (EDB)

Key Findings

4 Since 1997, A*STAR had spent $6.5 mil in funding projects related to energy efficiency and environment technologies. The latter accounted for 76% of the total spent. As shown in Figure 1, 81% of the efforts in energy efficiency technologies R&D was materials related, while the reminding 19% was on research and development into new or promising energy technology/device. The spending was mostly for larger grants of more than $500K and excludes funding for marine environmental studies and the Environmental Technology Institute (ETI).

Figure 1. Funding for energy efficiency projects at A*STAR.

5 Since 1997, about $10 mil was spent on energy efficiency and clean energy R&D at the local research institutions. As shown in Figure 2, energy efficiency projects accounted for 60% of the total spent, while clean energy projects accounted for the remaining 40%.

Figure 2. Distribution of R&D spending on energy efficiency and clean energy projects. Total spending since 1997 amounted to $10 mil. In 2001, the total spending for ongoing projects totalled $7.3 mil.

6 As shown in Figure 3, the research institutions spent a total of about $7 mil on energy efficiency projects. Majority of the spending was on energy efficient cooling technologies R&D.

Figure 3. Distribution of spending on energy efficiency projects. Total spending since 1997 amounted to $7 mil. In 2001, funding for ongoing projects totalled $5 mil.

7 In Figure 4, spending on clean energy projects totalled almost $3 mil. Among the clean energy efforts, solar energy R&D dominated research on fuel cell technologies and microturbines.

Figure 4. Distribution of spending on clean energy projects. Total spending since 1997 amounted to almost $3 mil. In 2001, funding for ongoing projects totalled $2.3 mil.

8 Figure 5 shows the total manpower allocated to energy efficiency and clean energy projects between 1997-2001.

Figure 5. Manpower allocated to energy efficiency and clean energy projects from 1997-2001 totalled 127. In 2001, the total manpower allocated to ongoing projects is 67.