Wednesday 16 November 2016

Reader response Final draft

According to the "Sustainability Efforts" (n.d.) web page taken from Gardens by the Bay (GBTB) website, much effort was made to plan and design for sustainability for water and energy throughout the Gardens. Firstly, GBTB uses their lake system to filter water naturally with aquatic plants. This system aims to promote the importance of clean water and how plants can play a significant role in the ecosystem. The web page further explains the existence of glass biomes known as the Conservatories. Which consume lesser energy due to the specially chosen glass, along with the incorporation of thermal stratification and "Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine".  The “Supertrees” is a large structure that is made up of reinforced concrete core. It is as tall as a 16-storey building. While some "Supertrees" in GBTB act as the exhaust air storage, the others have solar cells to collect solar energy.  Since GBTB is a sustainable infrastructure, it should not only function as a tourist attraction but also a serve as a research institute and help to educate the public about the importance of sustainability.

In my opinion, GBTB did a great job to conserve energy and reduce pollution. Besides being used to provide habitats for insects and fishes, the Dragonfly Lake and Kingfisher
Lake is also designed to clean the water run-off within the Gardens before releasing it to the reservoir. Instead of using other complicated technologies, GBTB chooses to use a more natural method for water cleaning by having reed bed and aquatic plants. By using Reed bed in the lake is environmentally friendly as it required minimal energy input(Reed-Beds, ”n.d”.) and it can absorb nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. It is important as, without nitrogen, the alga is not able to bloom.   

GBTB had also reduced the energy consumption by using specially selected glass as a material of the conservatories to reduce the heat and use horticultural waste to generate power for the on-site cooling system. The glass effectively reduces the dependence of natural resources such as fossil fuel and oil. The CHP requires less fuel to produce energy, which also means it will contribute fewer greenhouse gases to air pollution (EPA,2016). One of the main reason for global warming and the change in climate is because of greenhouse gases. All these is pointing to the fact that GBTB is putting the effort in environment sustainability.   

Additionally, the photovoltaic cells on “Supertrees” is absorbing the radiation from the sun and convert the energy into electricity. Natural resources in the world are reducing every year, while solar power will always be available if the Sun exist. Solar power makes it a good alternative to generate electricity beside using fossil fuel. By using solar energy to create electricity, it will not release any greenhouse gases to pollute the air or contribute to global warming. The “Supertrees” further support that GBTB upholds the environment sustainability concept.




References

Gardens by the Bay and its sustainability. (2013 October) Retrieved from   https://sites.psu.edu/designthinkingksk/2013/10/30/gardens-by-the-bay-and-its-sustainability/comment-page-1/#comments

Mason, M.(n.d) What is Sustainability and Why Is It Important? Retrieved September 28, 2016from,http://www.environmentalscience.org/sustainability 



Supertree Grove. (n.d) Retrieved from "http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/supertree-grove/facts-and-figures.html" http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/supertree-grove/facts-and-figures.html 

Sustainability Efforts (n.d.). Retrieved "http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/aboutus/sustainability.html"http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-us/sustainability.html

What are the advantages of using a reed-bed system? (n.d). Retrieved from
http://www.reedbeds.co.uk/page/what-are-the-advantages-of-using-a-reed-bed-system.php

Welsh, M., Orantes, C., Brown, A., & Moe, M. (2012). 4. Sustainable Infrastructure. Retrieved September 28, 2016, from https://sustainable-infra.wikispaces.com/4. Sustainable Infrastructure infra.wikispaces.com/4.+Sustainable+Infrastructure







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