BCA SkyLab clinches award on first-year anniversary

The BCA SkyLab has won the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES) Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards 2017 at the World Engineers Summit 2017 Conference on 20 July, adding a feather to its cap as it celebrates its first anniversary.

Located on the rooftop of a seven-storey building with a 360-degree rotatable platform, the BCA SkyLab is a state-of-the-art test bed for energy-efficient technologies in façades, air-conditioning, lightings and controls. It conducts tests under ‘real-world’ conditions in various building orientations.

Since its launch on 20 July 2016, the BCA SkyLab has embarked on research and testing projects on four types of Green technologies, namely automated reflective blinds, chilled beam, smart lighting and thermochromic/electrochromic glass. Funded by the National Research Foundation, these projects are carried out by BCA’s Built Environment Research and Innovation Institute (BERII) and Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N), in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

One such example was a recent study—conducted together with researchers from the Nanyang Technological University—on an integrated lighting system that uses automated reflective blinds with LED dimming control. The angle of the blinds is automatically adjusted according to weather conditions to allow for maximum daylight penetration and reduce glare. It was found that such technology is able to attain lighting energy savings of up to 74 per cent, compared to conventional T5 lights with manual blinds down and no dimming control.

Over 20 organisations, which include research institutions and industry players such as developer CapitaLand, have expressed interest in testing emerging building technologies—such as cool construction materials to decrease ambient temperature—at the laboratory over the next two years.

Going forward, the continued partnership in R&D and knowledge sharing between BCA SkyLab and LBNL’s FLEXLAB would benefit the industry and research communities of both countries in their push towards driving higher energy efficiency in buildings.