THE STUDY OF GREEN MARK SCHEME ON COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Presented by current environmental and climate changes, the earth has been experiencing damages and fatalities in recent years. The great amount of energy consumption and carbon emission are the main issues leading to global warming. Environmental consciousness has begun to spring up worldwide. Given that buildings are responsible for 30% of energy use in Singapore, the Green Mark Scheme (GMS) has been established in 2005 by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in Singapore to promote green construction in the industry. By 2030, BCA aims that 80% of existing buildings in Singapore are able to be certified by Green Mark Scheme. However, traditional building owners are only interested in the least capital cost and high returns. As a result, the effect of utilizing the GMS remains low despite the efforts made by the BCA. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the GMS on commercial buildings, followed by the recommendations of green technologies and practices for non-commercial buildings to improve the utilization of the GMS. Literature reviews will be conducted to review the current version of the GMS (non-residential building), and also discuss the challenges that BCA is facing with. Thereafter, case studies and analysis will be carried out to examine and evaluate how GMS has been implemented in the industry. A survey then will be conducted to investigate the general public awareness of GMS and related environmental issues. Lastly, conclusions were drawn based on the findings and recommendations will be made accordingly to increase the take-up rate of the BCA Green Mark Scheme. Due to time constraints and insufficient data collected, the conclusion drawn might be general and limited in terms of applicability and accuracy. The small sample size of the survey may also affect the significance of the study.