TECHNOLOGY
City college powered by leftovers
Leftover food from hotels, apartments, and choultries is helping to power the 16-acre campus of the Agriculture, Crafts, Trades and Studie
s (ACTS) Group Institution on the outskirts of the city.
ACTS generates around 15 KW/hr (kilo watts per hour) by processing 400 kgs of leftovers everyday at its campus at Rayasandra, off Hosur road. The energy generated is stored in a battery using a smart charger. One KW load (for lighting) can be used from stored energy for at least 12 hours to light up the campus at nights.
Custom made LED light units of between 1 to 54 watts are used in a unique electro-luminary combination in the grounds. The institute depends on a company, Flexitron to produce the eco-friendly energy and do its bit for energy conservation.
The hotels, choultries and homes around Sarjapur are quite happy to give their waste to the institute rather than dumping it for the corporation to collect, says Chief Executive Officer, Flexitron S.R. Hiremath, explaining that all one needs is around 500 sq feet of land and a generator to carry out the process.
An investment of between Rs 10 to 12 lakh has gone into the project.
The institute has found since turning to biogas its consumption of conventional energy has fallen by at least 50 per cent. Its financial director, Arul Dass says it is also saving heavily on its electricity bill which was as high as Rs 50,000 in the past.
"Efforts are being made at the government level to promote the project across the state," Mr Hiremath adds.
Don Robertson, technical advisor to ACTS Institute, says the procedure will be replicated in a school in Australia.
s (ACTS) Group Institution on the outskirts of the city.ACTS generates around 15 KW/hr (kilo watts per hour) by processing 400 kgs of leftovers everyday at its campus at Rayasandra, off Hosur road. The energy generated is stored in a battery using a smart charger. One KW load (for lighting) can be used from stored energy for at least 12 hours to light up the campus at nights.
Custom made LED light units of between 1 to 54 watts are used in a unique electro-luminary combination in the grounds. The institute depends on a company, Flexitron to produce the eco-friendly energy and do its bit for energy conservation.
The hotels, choultries and homes around Sarjapur are quite happy to give their waste to the institute rather than dumping it for the corporation to collect, says Chief Executive Officer, Flexitron S.R. Hiremath, explaining that all one needs is around 500 sq feet of land and a generator to carry out the process.
An investment of between Rs 10 to 12 lakh has gone into the project.
The institute has found since turning to biogas its consumption of conventional energy has fallen by at least 50 per cent. Its financial director, Arul Dass says it is also saving heavily on its electricity bill which was as high as Rs 50,000 in the past.
"Efforts are being made at the government level to promote the project across the state," Mr Hiremath adds.
Don Robertson, technical advisor to ACTS Institute, says the procedure will be replicated in a school in Australia.
Sensors to help keep an eye on lone seniors
Alarm will sound in cases of emergency
such as illness or death
:-GRACE CHUA
MADAM Lee Ah Tho, who lives alone in a one-room flat in North Bridge Road, used to worry about what would happen if she fell ill at home.
The 75-year-old, who has heart problems, is hospitalised several times a year. Once,
she said, she was in such pain that she was sweating and unable to even call for an ambulance.
But the senior citizen says she will feel more secure when a wireless sensor alert system is installed in her flat next year.
The sensor system, part of a Nanyang Polytechnic project, is tailored to those who are elderly or prone to illness.
A similar pilot project by Ngee Ann Polytechnic has been conducted at two seniors’ flats in Queenstown and Bukit Merah.
Both schools say their work is driven by concerns and media reports about the increasing number of elderly Singaporeans living on their own.
This number rose from 15,000 to 22,000 between 2000 and 2005. And in 2007, at least 45 elderly people died alone in their homes, according to previous press reports.
This month, the case of Mr Tan Cheng Soon, 69, was brought up in a coroner’s court. His body had been decomposing for six months before it was found in January after a neighbour complained of the stench.
Currently, specialised flats for the elderly have pull-cord alarm systems, as do many nursing homes and old folk’s homes. But pull cords-which are usually installed in the hall and toilet-have several drawbacks, for instance, if some falls down and is unable to move or reach the pull cord.
Pull cords also frequently trigger false alarms, as people mistake them for light switches for toilet flush handles.
Voluntary welfare organisation Peace Connect Neighbourhood Link looks after five blocks of one-room flats with pull cords, including Madam Lee’s.
The centre’s manager, Mrs Lucy Tan, said its Jalan Besar office gets more than 60 such false alarms each month.
"About 98, 99 per cent are false alarms. The difficult part is having to make the decision whether or not to break down the door," she said.
Mrs Tan said she welcomes the wireless sensor technology, which will be tested in three flats in the neighbourhood for about six months next year.
Such networks use wireless communication, such as Wi-Fi or radio frequencies, to send signals to remote monitoring sites, such as the one at the senior citizens’ activity centre in Queenstown.
The signals can alert caregivers as to whether the flat’s occupant has gone out, or if the person does not move for a specific period of time, say two to four hours. That could mean an illness, a fall or worse, death.
They can also be used to track people’s movement patterns and sound the alarm if there is anything out of the ordinary, said Mrs Lek-Lin Geok Choo, who is deputy director of Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s engineering school.
Wireless sensor networks are not new, and are already used in factories where machines have to communicate with one another.
At the moment, however, the cost of such systems is prohibitive at $ 900 to $ 1,000 per flat. In comparison, pull cords are installed by the Housing Board, and senior citizens do not pay extra for them.
Both Nanyang Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic are seeking more funding to install and run the systems in the flats.
And Nanyang Polytechnic’s technology, which the school developed, could save on power costs. By keeping the sensors on sleep mode till they are needed, they use one-tenth the energy of other wireless sensor networks. The school has licensed the technology to tech company GreenLAB to bring to the market.
Mr Baey Yam Keng, MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, felt the technology is another measure to help cope with an ageing society, particularly as senior citizens increasingly prefer to live on their own.
For instance, adult children could install it in their parent’s rooms or homes for peace of mind.
But Mr Baey said: "It needs to go hand in hand with other support systems such as residents’ committees and neighbours keeping a lookout for one another".
His Tanjong Pagar constituency includes relatively elderely neighbourhoods such as Queenstown and Bukit Merah.
:...T.S.T
The 75-year-old, who has heart problems, is hospitalised several times a year. Once,
she said, she was in such pain that she was sweating and unable to even call for an ambulance.But the senior citizen says she will feel more secure when a wireless sensor alert system is installed in her flat next year.
The sensor system, part of a Nanyang Polytechnic project, is tailored to those who are elderly or prone to illness.
A similar pilot project by Ngee Ann Polytechnic has been conducted at two seniors’ flats in Queenstown and Bukit Merah.
Both schools say their work is driven by concerns and media reports about the increasing number of elderly Singaporeans living on their own.
This number rose from 15,000 to 22,000 between 2000 and 2005. And in 2007, at least 45 elderly people died alone in their homes, according to previous press reports.
This month, the case of Mr Tan Cheng Soon, 69, was brought up in a coroner’s court. His body had been decomposing for six months before it was found in January after a neighbour complained of the stench.
Currently, specialised flats for the elderly have pull-cord alarm systems, as do many nursing homes and old folk’s homes. But pull cords-which are usually installed in the hall and toilet-have several drawbacks, for instance, if some falls down and is unable to move or reach the pull cord.
Pull cords also frequently trigger false alarms, as people mistake them for light switches for toilet flush handles.
Voluntary welfare organisation Peace Connect Neighbourhood Link looks after five blocks of one-room flats with pull cords, including Madam Lee’s.
The centre’s manager, Mrs Lucy Tan, said its Jalan Besar office gets more than 60 such false alarms each month.
"About 98, 99 per cent are false alarms. The difficult part is having to make the decision whether or not to break down the door," she said.
Mrs Tan said she welcomes the wireless sensor technology, which will be tested in three flats in the neighbourhood for about six months next year.
Such networks use wireless communication, such as Wi-Fi or radio frequencies, to send signals to remote monitoring sites, such as the one at the senior citizens’ activity centre in Queenstown.
The signals can alert caregivers as to whether the flat’s occupant has gone out, or if the person does not move for a specific period of time, say two to four hours. That could mean an illness, a fall or worse, death.
They can also be used to track people’s movement patterns and sound the alarm if there is anything out of the ordinary, said Mrs Lek-Lin Geok Choo, who is deputy director of Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s engineering school.
Wireless sensor networks are not new, and are already used in factories where machines have to communicate with one another.
At the moment, however, the cost of such systems is prohibitive at $ 900 to $ 1,000 per flat. In comparison, pull cords are installed by the Housing Board, and senior citizens do not pay extra for them.
Both Nanyang Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic are seeking more funding to install and run the systems in the flats.
And Nanyang Polytechnic’s technology, which the school developed, could save on power costs. By keeping the sensors on sleep mode till they are needed, they use one-tenth the energy of other wireless sensor networks. The school has licensed the technology to tech company GreenLAB to bring to the market.
Mr Baey Yam Keng, MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, felt the technology is another measure to help cope with an ageing society, particularly as senior citizens increasingly prefer to live on their own.
For instance, adult children could install it in their parent’s rooms or homes for peace of mind.
But Mr Baey said: "It needs to go hand in hand with other support systems such as residents’ committees and neighbours keeping a lookout for one another".
His Tanjong Pagar constituency includes relatively elderely neighbourhoods such as Queenstown and Bukit Merah.
:...T.S.T
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