GREEN MANAGEMENT OF GOLF COURSES IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

In an age where climatic change threatens the survival of future generations, the impetus for the development of sustainable management practices is at an all-time high. With the mounting global concern on climatic changes, many industries are seen taking the first step in steering towards greener management practices. In Singapore, environmental awareness has been growing steadily over the last decade, and the government has responded by investing vast amounts of money into the research of green energy in a bid to become a global clean energy hub. Given that golf courses occupy approximately 88% of the land allocated for sports and recreation, it often faces criticism on how the construction and maintenance can be deleterious to the environment. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore and establish the possibility of implementing green energy to power the irrigation system in golf courses in Singapore. Since the majority of past literature works acknowledged the benefits of green energy, this research seeks to investigate and identify the most probable green energy for usage in Singapore. The top three selected sources of green energy are wind, solar and geothermal energy, and are further analysed in terms of cost, availability and integration of the green energy on golf courses. A comparison between the three identified green energy sources was made and solar energy proved to be the most viable option. However, in view of the high initial investments of green energy, interviews and a feasibility study were conducted to validate the identified roadblock in the adoption of green energy, and further analysis was done to increase the ease of implementing green energy in golf courses in Singapore.