Green Towns Programme

The Green Towns Programme is a 10-year plan to make HDB towns more sustainable and liveable. There are 5 focus areas in the programme: Reducing Energy Consumption, Recycling Rainwater, Reducing Waste, Promoting Green Commute, and Cooling HDB Towns. The programme aims to reduce energy consumption in HDB towns by 15% from 2020’s levels by 2030.

Reducing Energy Consumption

SOLAR PANELS

Solar panels will be installed on more HDB blocks to power common services with clean energy. Solar energy that is harnessed is first used to power common services (e.g. lifts, lights and water pumps) in HDB estates in the day, with excess energy channelled to the electrical grid. On average, HDB blocks are able to achieve net-zero energy consumption at common areas.

With the installation of more solar panels, HDB aims to stretch our solar target to achieve solar power generation of 540 MWp by 2030. This target is equivalent to the energy needed to power 135,000 4-room HDB flats in a year. 

 

SMART LED LIGHTING

Smart LED lighting will be installed at all common areas of HDB estates, such as corridors and stairways, to further reduce energy consumption.

The system is equipped with sensors and smart analytics to gradually light up the path the user will be taking in advance and dim down after that. It will also alert the maintenance team when a fault is detected. Compared with conventional LED lighting, smart LED lighting can further reduce energy used for lighting by up to 60%.

HDB will be working with Town Councils to roll out Smart LED lighting.

 

LIGHT EMITTING SURFACES (LES) BLOCK SIGNAGES

The LES technology utilises a lighting element that is printed onto the block signages, and only the alphanumeric characters are illuminated.  With this efficient design, it helps to reduce approximately 80% of energy consumption compared to block signages using fluorescent lightings, and approximately 50% of energy consumption for block signages using LED lightings.

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Cooling HDB Towns

COOL COATING

Cool coatings contain pigments that reflect the heat of the sun. Surfaces treated with cool coatings absorb less heat during the day. As a result, they emit less heat at night, leading to a cooling effect on the environment, which can help mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect and improve thermal comfort for residents.

Cool coatings will be applied to 130 blocks in Tampines as a pilot.  Upon successful completion of the pilot, the application of cool coatings can be extended to more estates.

 

GREENERY INTENSIFICATION

HDB will introduce more greenery in the form of urban farms, extensive greenery, or community/ allotment gardens to the top decks of selected Multi-Storey Car Parks (MSCPs) in HDB estates.

Extensive greenery on the top decks of MSCPs soften the urban environment as visual relief and mitigate heat gain by helping to reduce surface and ambient temperatures. This will be implemented using the Prefabricated Extensive Green (PEG) Roof Tray System, a lightweight and modular system developed by HDB as an extensive greenery solution for building rooftops. The PEG roof trays can also be used for community/ allotment gardening, which can bring together residents with similar interests to co-create spaces and beautify the estates.

HDB has been working with Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to pilot urban farming to selected MSCPs, and is in line with Singapore’s ‘30 by 30’ target to build up the capability and capacity of local agri-food industry by year 2030.  

Extensive greenery

Community/ allotment garden

Urban farms.  Photo courtesy of Citiponics.

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Recycling Rainwater

URBANWATER HARVESTING SYSTEM

The UWHS collects rainwater and stores it in an underground tank. The harvested rainwater is treated before being recycled for washing of common areas and watering of plants, which reduces the use of potable water for these activities by more than 50%. At the same time, it also detains the stormwater before releasing to the public drains at a lower discharge rate. This helps to mitigate the risk of flooding and obviating the need for expensive drainage upgrading works.

The UWHS will be piloted at 89 blocks across Yishun and Jurong.

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Promoting Green Commute

ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) CHARGERS

HDB is supporting Land Transport Authority (LTA) in the nationwide deployment of EV chargers in HDB car parks. EV chargers will be progressively deployed in nearly 2,000 HDB car parks by 2025 to encourage the adoption of EVs, which help reduce carbon footprint in Singapore.

 

DUAL BICYCLE RACKS

Designed by HDB, the dual bicycle racks optimise space by holding 2 bicycles within the same area required by a typical rack, thus creating neater and safer corridors. It also comes with a patented locking bar that secures multiple points of the bicycle to minimise theft.

Dual bicycle racks will be installed island-wide to encourage higher ownership of bicycles and to support cycling as a form of “first mile and last mile” commute in our town.

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Reducing Waste

E-WASTE RECYCLING BINS

HDB will pilot the deployment of e-waste recycling bins in residential blocks to make it more convenient for residents to recycle e-waste. Proper disposal of e-waste helps to reduce environmental pollution and protect human health.

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