“RE-THINK 3Rs”, the inaugural ITE Eco-Conference, was held on Friday 8 July 2011 at the ITE College West Repertory.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, the 3Rs of waste management, in the present day context, is no longer adequate to fully address the global challenge of reducing carbon footprints. This realization has prompted incorporation of a fourth “R”: “Re-think” which suggests that fresh perspectives at viewing waste be adopted to arrive at better and more effective systems to manage escalating waste management issues in the face of rapid urbanization and population growth.
The conference served as a platform for ITE staff and students to discover & learn best green practices from other organizations and also allowed them, as an educational institution, to visualize how they can create a holistic commitment to meet this global challenge.
Speakers from the industry and academia presented their views on rethinking Green Practices and Green Technologies. Their topics included: Innovations in Conservation; Creating a Sustainable Future; Singapore’s First Net Zero Energy Building; Biodiversity in Singapore: Hidden treasures and the influence of the urban citizen; and Sustainability Challenge in Singapore’s Competitive Electricity Market.
Elmich was amongst the exhibitors from the industry to be invited to showcase state-of-the-art technologies and projects on environmental sustainability.
Eco-solutions exhibited by Elmich, including green roofs and walls systems, provided valuable insights to enable ITE staff and students to visualize that they can help to adopt and introduce green technologies and eco-solutions to mitigate the negative impact of rapid urbanization.
Visitors to the booth learn that green roofs and green walls are able to return as much of the green space on a building site as had been originally there and therefore provide the restorative ecology needed to minimise environmental damage, and also mitigate Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE) and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Visitors also learn that apart from offering obvious visual and aesthetic benefits, green roofs and walls (re-introduced green space) are also recognised as being beneficial to health, reducing stress levels and provide escape from the stresses of urban living. They discover also that on a wider perspective, these eco-solutions benefit both the occupants of the buildings and the wider community.