CUT AND KEEP
INSIGHTS
FIABCI Malaysia is
again conducting
its Smart Investment
in Property Seminar
on Saturday, Sept 7,
2013, 9am to 4pm at the Berjaya Times
Square Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
Six esteemed speakers will explore the
Malaysian Property Market pursuing the
core theme “Post GE 13
–
Where ?”
Registration Fee (inclusive of lunch, tea/
coffee breaks, seminar material and
certificate):
• FIABCI Members RM288 per pax
• Non-Members RM338 per pax
The registration form can be
downloaded from
By rubini Kamalakaran
In
the property industry, the ‘green’
concept is often linked to terms like
environmentally-sustainable,
environmentally-friendly, integrated
design, sustainable, energy efficient or
high performance. By definition, a ‘green’
property implies that every phase of the
building process including design,
construction and operationmust take into
account environmental considerations. The
intention being, to consume less energy,
water and natural resources while producing
less waste. Considering themany shades of
‘green’, most residences inMalaysia are still
‘light green’ is a candid observation of an
industry insider.
Meanwhile ‘green’ is
transitioning to ‘zero’,
as in zero impact
buildings – zero
energy, zerowater
and zerowaste. “As
themain cause of
carbon is released in
running buildings not
building them, to
achieve zero carbon,
a building will have to
produce a surplus energy, which is fed onto
the national grid (e.g. grid connected PV or
wind turbines) that covers 100%of the
building operation as well as off-setting the
energy spent for construction and
demolition,” says John Bulcock, architect
and founder of DesignUnit. In both cases
‘green’ and zero, it’s palpable that design
and environmentally-friendly features or
technology is vital in reducing its overall
impact on the environment. Here we take
a look at the design, features and
technology of the green and zero kind,
that impact residences.
Passive Design
The termpassive design is a key element of a
sustainable home. Essentially a passive
design home considers the sitting,
positioning and orientation of the building.
It minimises the area of exposed heat and
heat absorbing hard surfaces, by including
roof overhangs and shading. It also
maximises the use of soft diffused natural
light and ventilation and incorporates
rainwater harvesting, well insulated roofs
(in some cases, walls) as well as landscape,
as an integral design element for shading
and cooling and so on. Amodel of a passive
design home is the Sunway
Rymba Hills. Some of its design
features include large balconies
that offer solar shading and
anti-glare byway of their
generous overhangs. Passive
thermal design strategies
facilitate natural and cross
ventilation. Its use of insulation
in roof space, and placement at
specific locations, increase
thermal comfort andmore.
“Passive design alone can save 40%
of the buildings running costs and create a
more comfortable environment,” says John
Bulcockwho practices sustainable
architecture. A study by an independent
energy consultant of two of his projects
show it’s possible to create comfortable
residential spaces in the tropics without the
need for air-conditioning. Insulating the
roof (as 70%of heat gain enters through the
roof) and inducing cross natural ventilation
to spaces can, together with ceiling fans,
create comfortable living spaces. To view
more examples of sustainable architecture,
log on to
Green Features & Technology
A typical list of green features that can be
found in a sustainable home includes roof
insulation, efficient lighting and air-
conditioning, solar hot water heater, solar
PV and rainwater harvesting system. More
advanced sustainable homes are fittedwith
energy efficient appliances, light pipes,
home automation systems and electric car
charging stations. Rafflesia
@
The Peak, a
residential project by IENConsultants for
property developerMK Land is a perfect
case of a highly sustainable home. Equipped
with energy efficient air-conditioning
systemwithmotion sensor control and
energy star-rated home appliances, the
building envelope is optimised for energy
savings through roof insulation, over hangs
and efficient glazing units. Solar collectors
and solar panels make the bungalows 100%
self sufficient with energy and hence carbon
neutral. Other sustainable features include
recycling, rainwater harvesting, water
recycling, good public transport and a
charging station for electric cars.
For more information on the ongoing
144 zero energy bungalows development,
visit
.
html
.“Another recent and exciting
technology, which is actually produced in
Malaysia, is themost energy efficient ceiling
fan in the world called the Haiku fan. At
lowest speed, it only consumes 4Watts of
electricity versus a normal ceiling fan that
consumes 25Watts and an air-conditioner
that consumes approx. 700Watts, even
though the two technologies cannot be
directly compared. Moreover, this ceiling
fan looks very stylish,” shares Gregers
Reimann of IENConsultants.
“In the last fewyears, we have seen an
exciting development inMalaysia in the
push for energy efficient appliances
(fridges, freezers, washingmachines),
which have a significant impact on your
monthly electricity bill at home. In fact, the
incentive scheme by theMalaysian
government saw themarket share of energy
efficient refrigerators shoot up fromabout
5% tomore than 40%. The benefit of such a
scheme is that the energy efficient product
becomes mass produced, instead of being a
niche product, and therefore prices also
come down and these energy efficient
products can start to be competitive
without relying on incentive schemes from
the government.”
Another government initiative in
support of green technology is the
implementation of feed-in tariffs for solar
photovoltaic systems. AhmadHadri Haris,
CEOof MalaysianGreen Technology
Corporation acknowledges, “That is one
area that has taken off well, nationally. Under
this programme, Malaysia has seen 40.18
mega-watts (MW) of operational
photovoltaic capacity participating in the
national feed-in tariff mechanismover the
past two years.” That’s enough to power
about 4000 homes (assuming themonthly
electricity bill of a home is about RM250).
In The Horizon
There are new green technologies in the
horizon including smart grids and electric
car charging stations that allow the house to
drawpower from the electric car during
peak periods. “Electricity produced from
solar panels has a huge potential inMalaysia
and I can foresee that almost every roof will
have solar panels installed once the price of
this technology drops further and electricity
subsidies are phased out,” says Reimann. It
doesn’t discount the fact that the highest
environmental impact of most houses is
getting to and from the house i.e.
transportation. “An integral part of
sustainable living is good public
transportation options.” Ultimately, the
determining factor that canmake or break
the overall objective of a green or zero
impact building is the end users. This is
where the Green Purchasing Guide for
MalaysianHome Owners comes in handy.
With valuable information on
environmentally-friendly appliances, it
illustrates ways tominimise your daily
carbon footprint. It’s free for download at
/
environmental-friendly-appliances-
purchase-guide/
.
>What is a sustainable
home?We take a look at
thedesign, features and
technologybehind it
Property Developers
Active in Green Field
X
X
Putra Perdana
X
X
SP Setia
X
X
Sun Rise Group
X
X
IJM
X
X
Sunway Group
X
X
MK Land
Did You Know?
The link between sustainability and
environmentalism is actually fairly
recent. Before 1980, sustainability was
an uncommon variant of sustainable, as
in “capable of being upheld”. But in
1980, when the International Union for
the Conservation of Nature published
the World Conservation Strategy,
including an entire section called
“Towards Sustainable Development”,
the popularity of the word skyrocketed.
Source: Dictionary.com
home
Inside a
sustainable
X
X
Please email your queries to us:
X
X
Read the article online at
put that out!
HEY!
Oi!
ADVERTORIAL
Here’s to the launch of ‘Klang
Valley’s Best Hidden Secret.’
This gemof a residential
development is surrounded by
greens. Each home unit boasts
four rooms and four baths, built
across a spacious double-storey
layout of 1,943 sq. ft. The
property is freehold and
strategically located along Jalan Semenyih,
with easy access to the SILK and LEKAS
highways. Units in the first three phases were
all snapped up soon after its launch, so be
quick to own or invest in a unit or two at the
grand launch, happening this weekend.
Don’t miss this golden opportunity to own a
spacious home of your own at a price that’s
quite unbelievable. Take advantage of the
buyer-get-buyer incentive and savings of up to
RM10,000 for a limited time only. Drop by the
launch this weekend to view the showhouse
and get a feel of the surrounding area. For
additional information, call Amalan Setar sales
gallery at 03-8766 6060 or its head office at
03-7722 2233.
Date:
Sept 7 & 8, 2013 (Sat & Sun)
Time:
10.00am to 6.00pm
Venue:
Semenyih Parklands Sales Gallery
(Light refreshments will be served)
SemenyihParklands
property launch
This ought to be
unacceptable!
We don't want
to die from
exhaust fumes!
Air-pollution in cities kills
1.3 million
people every year
Courtesy of Gregers Reimann/ Illustration by Rachel Chen Ruiqi
ON
friday
SEPT 6, 2013
