GREEN HOMES IN A GREEN CITY - A LESSON FROM SINGAPORE

Abstract

Fifty Five percent of the world’s electricity is consumed by buildings, and household electricity consumption is responsible for the majority share of 57% overall electricity consumption. Green homes offer innovative solutions to enhance energy efficiency usage. This retrospective study compares the gross price premium and monthly energy consumptions of 181 Green Mark Gold (GMG) and GMG Plus HDB homes awarded between the year 2013 to 2016 to 662 traditional HDB homes. Using the resale data of HDBs from 2000-2007, the gross prices of GMG certified homes of less than 20 years old are 5.6% higher than homes without the GMG certification (p<0.01). However, across all room types, smaller 2-3 room GMG certified HDB flats are not more energy efficient compared to traditional 2-3 room homes(p<0.01) while larger 4-5 room GMG certified HDB flats are less energy efficient compared to traditional 4-5 room homes(p<0.01). The study also reveals that there is significant improvement in energy consumption among GMG homes as they age compared to non-GMG homes (p<0.01), and the energy savings were maintained after 3 years (p<0.01). Interestingly, despite the higher certification standard of GMG Plus homes relative to other GMG homes, they are not more energy efficient than GMG homes (p<0.01). Results from the report shows that green homes experience a gross price premium and larger GMG certified homes are more energy efficient. Future prospective studies are needed to determine the value of GMG Plus certification vs GMG certification as they are not as efficient.