Sunday, November 17, 2024

How Singapore is trying to build a climate-proof city.



Singapore is a tiny island-city nation with a high population density, imbuing it all the constraints that encourage development that propels the world towards a carbon-neutral future. 

3:11 Singapore installed a massive 45-hectare solar farm on its water reservoir, generating 60 MW of power. (For comparison, the large wind turbines you see are 2MW.) The advantage is two-fold: the underlying water keeps the solar panels cool, optimizing their efficiency, and their presence diminishes evaporation from the reservoir. 8:44 They also claim it improves the water quality of the reservoir. 

8:05 The solar panels are tilted at 5 degrees, as a compromise between rain runoff that keeps the panels clean when they're tilted, vs maximizing sun exposure at 0 degrees (Singapore is near the equator.) 

10:25 they even have drones to scope out bird poop on the panels. 

11:12 Singapore is partnering with Equatic, a US company that is cleverly combining carbon capture with hydrogen fuel generation (CO2 + H2O = NaHCO3 + H2) 

Interestingly, 13:35 almost 80% of Singapore's population live in government housing. The latest development 14:05 will have minimal vehicles, autonomous trash collection, and a centralized multi-building solar cooling system. 

The city has long been seen as a concrete jungle 20:51, so new developments are designed (and computer-modeled 16:48) to optimize greenery, shade, and wind-flow between buildings in what they call 19:12 "biophilic" design. 


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