When you live with 5 million other people on a relatively small island, finding ways to live more sustainably isn’t so much a luxury as a necessity.

That’s why Singapore—which has the third greatest population density of any sovereign state in the world—has become something of a pioneer in finding ways to live in a more sustainable manner. (more…)

A panel formed to study solutions to increased flooding in Singapore has urged the government to require green roofs on new and retrofitted buildings.

The 12-member panel, which was created after torrential rains caused flash flooding across eastern and central Singapore last year, said improved (more…)

Toymaker Mattel Inc. says it will stop using packaging from a Singapore-based company accused of clear-cutting swaths of Indonesian rainforest.

Mattel’s action follows a campaign by Greenpeace that targeted, among other products, the packaging used in Mattel’s popular Barbie doll. (more…)

Due to its relatively small size, the limited number of resources it has, as well as its increasingly urbanized atmosphere, Singapore has had little choice in moving toward renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. Because of its intense desire to go green, it has become an international destination for clean technology, especially in production and (more…)

Singapore has emerged as Asia’s greenest city thanks to a host of ambitious environmental programs and green initiatives, according to a new report.

The Asia Green City Index — conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and funded by Siemens — evaluated the environmental performance of 22 Asian (more…)

Ascent Solar Technologies, the Colorado makers of WaveSol thin-film solar modules, has recently moved forward with two profit-rich international distribution deals.

The first deal is with SW Solarwatt Ltd. based in Cyprus, and the second with Polymer Sun, which will distribute solar products to Singapore and Malaysia.

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Chris Tobias recently wrote about waste to energy in Singapore, illustrating the city’s exemplary response to fly ash left over from the incineration process. I just read an interesting French book on water, and one of the most interesting parts of the book was about Singapore.

Written by Erik Orsenna, a member of the prestigious Académie française, L’Avenir de l’eau (Water’s future) enables us to travel all around the world (albeit reading) and gathers facts and figures on how water issues differ from country to country.

Perfectly located between East and West Asia, Singapore is an important local hub for 4,000 international companies. The city’s geostrategic importance led to an important population boom, with the number of inhabitants climbing from 1.5 million at the time of independence in 1965 to more than 4.5 million today.

Despite receiving a lot of rainwater (there are 2,415 mm of precipitations per year, compared to roughly 500 mm for San Francisco and 1,200 mm for New York City), the city lacks water.

The precious liquid comes from four main sources: rain, water treatment, desalination and imports from Malaysia. (more…)

Singapore is a bustling city state at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia.  Independent from Malaysia since 1965, it has a dense population of 4.7 million people crammed into 269 sq. miles (697 sq. km)—  that’s roughly 3.5x the size of Washington D.C.

In spite of its lacking land mass, the tiny country is a major economic hub in Southeast Asia and boasts one of the best standards of living of any Asian city, and even rivals many metropolis overseas.

It’s a city that is well planned, tightly regulated, visually attractive, and thankfully lacking the woeful pollution that afflict other centers like Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Waste and the City

All the economic activity and large population of course is not without its downside: waste.  In 2008 the total volume of solid waste had reached 5.97 million tons.  Luckily, according to government figures, roughly 2.24 million tons (approx. 56%) of this was recycled.  That still left a lot left to deal with.

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One year after opening, and about two years after construction began, the Poh Ern Shih Temple (or Temple of Thanksgiving in English) is looking great.  I’m dropping by to visit the temple and check out progress on this green Buddhist sanctuary.

The place is bustling with activity, and thankfully the first phase of construction has now been completed.  On the day of my visit, several different religious study groups are in session upstairs, catering to the younger members of the Buddhist congregation.  I locate Boon, the temple president, just before lunch and we sit down for a chat.

“The building performance has been great,” he tells me.  “We’ve generated 15 megawatts of power from our first phase PV systems so far in the first year, and we’re going to install another set in our second phase of construction.”

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