The Beginning of Blue Green Dream Collaboration with Singapore

Urban Water Challenges and Opportunities in Singapore

A lecture was given on Monday 25th February 2013 by Prof. Vladan Babovic from the National University of Singapore given at Imperial College London on the “Urban Water Challenges and Opportunities in Singapore”.  This lecture marked the beginning of a series preparatory activities aimed at setting up a Blue Green Dream (BGD) Regional Centre in Singapore.  The lecture looked at the problems facing Singapore in the face of anticipated climate change in relation to water and energy.  Prof. Babovic argued that these are closely inter-related, as we use energy for water and we use water for energy. For example, we use energy to heat, treat and move water. In addition to using energy for water, we also use water for energy. We use water as a coolant for thermoelectric power plants, and as a critical input for production of biofuels.  Unfortunately, the energy-water relationship introduces vulnerabilities whereby a constraint on one resource introduces constraints in the other. 

While the energy-water relationship is already under strain today, particularly in cities, trends imply that the strain will be exacerbated unless appropriate action is taken.  This problem is further compounded by the urban heat island effects upon environmental sustainability and human comfort levels, ranging from the aggravation of health problems such as heat stress, increasing the intensity of urban air pollution, and contributing to extreme weather events – in addition to the ever-increasing use of air-conditioners, with impacts for energy supply, brownouts and greenhouse gas emissions. These issues are also closely related to the problems facing urban areas relating to water and green space management that are being tackled by the Blue Green Dream (BGD) project lead by Professor Cedo Maksimovic, a Climate-KIC project aiming at transferring innovation from the lab into the marketplace.  This lecture follows a successful visit by Prof. Cedo Maksimovic to Singapore in January 2013 to speak with local officials about the BGD project; the possibility of setting up a regional centre in Singapore; and also monitoring/assessing the impacts of BGD solutions used at the incredibly successful Gardens by the Bay project.