Saturday 5 December 2015

Letter of Transmittal from the Project Proposal

3 December 2015

Mr. Brad Blackstone
Senior Lecturer
Singapore Institute of Technology
SIT @ Dover
10 Dover Drive
Singapore 138683

Dear Mr. Blackstone
Proposal for Implementation of Rainwater Harvesting System
In response to your letter of authorisation dated September 30 2015, we have the honour of presenting to you the proposal for the implementation of a rainwater harvesting system in the new main campus of Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) in Punggol.
Water is a scarce resource in Singapore. As a result, water infrastructure would need to be planned continuously to ensure an adequate water supply for the future generations. In addition, the average annual rainfall is approximately 2338.5 millimetres and has increased at an average rate of 157 millimetres per decade. Since studies have shown an increase in rainfall over the years, the implementation of a rainwater harvesting system will benefit Singapore in conserving water significantly.
According to the 3rd Green Building Masterplan by Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the BCA aims to achieve greening of at least 80 per cent of the buildings in Singapore by 2030. As announced in the 2015 National Day Rally by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the new SIT campus will be built in 2020. In line with the initiatives set by BCA, our group proposes to further innovate the new SIT campus with the implementation of a rainwater harvesting system.
It has been a privilege to undertake this work. We would like to thank you for taking the time to read through the proposal, and hope that you will take our suggestions into consideration to make SIT more environmental friendly.

Yours sincerely

Goh Kangyu
On behalf of “K.E.Y Water”

Personal statement from the project proposal


As a student majoring in Green Building, I have learnt the importance of sustainability and the different designs and methods that do not rely on technologies to create a sustainable environment. One of the methods includes rainwater harvesting, which mainly uses natural resources such as rain to conserve water. As I am aware of the rise in water demand over the years due to the increase in population, being able to embark on this project to propose the implementation of a rainwater harvesting system in the new SIT campus allows me to apply what I have learnt and play my part to conserve water.

Executive summary from the project proposal


As Singapore does not have any natural resources such as water, it is vital for the country to focus on water conservation to ensure adequate water supply for future generations. In line with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s speech during the 2015 National Day Rally, the new Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) campus aims to be “smart and green” in order to achieve the goal of being a sustainable nation. Thus, the implementation of a rainwater harvesting system would seem to be a necessary requirement for the new campus. However, it has not been finalized by the Estates Division of SIT. As a result, the team is interested in looking into a rainwater harvesting system to conserve water as such implementation would allow SIT to be a role model for other institutions to appreciate the importance of water conservation. With most of the rainwater harvesting systems currently implemented in Singapore having water storage tanks on the roof, the idea of an additional underground storage tank is proposed. This will maximize the potential of water conservation through a rainwater harvesting system. The implementation of a rainwater harvesting system will certainly benefit the campus in reducing utilities expenses, preparing for shortage of water during dry seasons and saving potable water for greater purposes. As a result, this proposal aims to convince the Estates Division of SIT to finalize the implementation of a rainwater harvesting system in the new campus in Punggol.

Someone that inspires me

Everyone bound to have someone that inspires you at any point of your life and I have one too. For me, the person that inspires me and leave an impact on my life is my best friend, Serkhee.

As you may not know, I am a born as premature baby. However, due to some incidents there is a delay before my mum reached the hospital. This results in not having enough oxygen for the baby. Thus, I have mild cerebral palsy from birth.

I never understood what cerebral palsy is when I was young, all I know was that I am slightly different in terms of physical fitness from the rest. I also never understood why I was treated differently from the rest of the students by my teacher, Ms Goh in kindergarden too. My books were used as a teacher’s reference book to write model answers for kids to follow and I remembered despite raising hands up for permission to go toilet first, I was usually ignored or was always the last one being allowed to go for my toilet break. Computer lessons wasn’t fun too, because all I did was staring at the blank screen of spoiled computer where others get to play games (there’s other workable computer tables too, but I got swapped to this one). It may seemed like a no big deal. Or some may say: “It’s ok, kids don’t feel.” However, to be honest, the treatment I got has affected me a lot. And as a kid, I do not dare to speak up or let my parents know about it. This experience I had during my school days in kindergarden left a negative impact on my impression towards schooling and towards people. I thought that everyone else will be like Ms Goh and school is not a place for someone like me to learn.

Things has started to change for the better when I entered primary school and this is also where I first met Serkhee in primary two. Serkhee is a bubbly girl. She is someone who is very lively, chatty and is always wearing a smile on her face and skipping around happily and actively in school. While I am a total opposite as compared to her and always roams around alone during lunch breaks.

Despite me having a poker face all the time and my flaws, Serkhee did not turn away and will always make effort to talk to me, saying hi and cracking lame jokes etc. She will always make the effort to ask me to join them in lunch and checks on how I am doing occasionally.

Overtime, Serkhee and I had become best of friends. On one fine day, I decided to tell her about the incident that I had been through in my kindergarden days and told her that I am always very curious why didn’t she avoided me like how Ms Goh and everyone else did. And the answer bought me to tears. She replied “You look fine and I don’t see any differences between you and the others. Why do I have to avoid you or treat you differently? You have a good heart and you are my friend, that’s all it matters.”

I have never forget what Serkhee told me and what she did. Serkhee not only has been the one that is always encouraging me, giving me assurance that I can do better, lending me listening ear, and taking in my lame jokes, she is also the one that shows me light and get me out of the shadows I had due to the incident that happened. I have become a happier and a more cheerful person and opens up more unlike the old me. Thank you Serkhee for always being there, thank you for all your encouragements, thank you for impacting my life, thank you for caring, and most importantly, thank you for being my friend and my family. I am lucky to have you here with me. People say friends are like stars; they come and go, but the ones that stays are the ones that glow. You glow. :)


“Best friend” isn’t just a name. A best friend is someone who’s there for you, no matter what. You can trust them, with anything and everything. Best friends share tears and laughs, almost like their emotions are intertwined. Most importantly, you can always count on a best friend. - Unknown

The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback

In this module of effective communication for the past 12 weeks, I have learnt how to give feedback to my peers. In order to give constructive feedback to my peers, I had to read through their blog post first. Furthermore, I need to ensure that the feedback I gave were correct if I were to correct their grammars or sentence structures. Thus, I felt that giving feedback to my peers also indirectly allows me to do a check on my own English too.

Not only did I gave feedback, I had also received feedback too. Feedback received on my writing skills were from my blog posts such as reflection on English learning journey, summary and reader response. These feedback received not only encouraged me to do better, it also helped to highlight my mistakes that I failed to notice. I felt that receiving feedback from peers and teacher was beneficial as it is hard for individual to notice their own mistakes sometimes. Thus, with more people evaluating my essays and giving feedback, it has helped me to improve my essays and writing skills. One example of the feedback received that benefited me was on the proper use of APA referencing style for my reader response. It helped me in my report submission for my future report submissions for this module as well as for the other modules. This feedback helped me to learn the correct way of referencing for my current and future report.

In addition, I also received feedback on my presentation. Some of the feedback were that I should engaged audience more by having eye contacts with audience in the whole room instead of only at the right side of the room. Furthermore, my voice projection can be improved too. These feedback received were constructive and encouraging at the same time. It allows me to learn from mistakes and apply what I have learnt to other module’s presentation too.


I felt that giving and receiving feedback allowed to improve my quality of work and it helped me to realise and learn from the mistakes made. 

Reader Response : Draft 4

In the article "Why the Climate Fight Needs Engineers", Shah (2015) stresses on the important role engineers play in climate fight. As climate change is due to urbanization and rapid population growth, the Singapore Sustainable Blueprint (SSB) aims to turn residential area into “eco-smart” towns and transform Singapore into a "zero-waste nation". To achieve these goals, a greater proficiency of energy related technology and the development of efficient engineering systems are required. In Shah’s article, Khew, deputy president of Institute of Engineers, highlights that expertise and innovation from various fields have the “frontline role to fight climate changes”. Furthermore, the author also   indicates that Kuttan, director and country manager of the Clean Technology Centre, believes engineers who understand energy in sustainability apart from their own field are essential to reduce emission for climate changes. As a result, “Engineers Progression Pathway programme” has been launched to help engineers to further develop their skills. While I agree with Shah's article that engineers play an important role in the climate fight, I feel that the article could be more specific in explaining the reason why and how engineers should contribute, particularly in the energy sector.

The first reason that Shah's article is not specific is that despite pointing out that the energy sector is important, the article does not specifically mention the reason why the energy sector should be focused on. Research shows that the energy sector contributes to more than half of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of 64.5% while the waste sector contributes to only 3.2%
(World Resource Institute, 2005). With more than half of the GHG contributed from the energy sector, engineers should contribute by coming up with strategies or technologies to help reduce GHG emission in the sector. These explanations would give the reader more knowledge and convince them on why energy sector should be largely focused on for this climate fight.

Furthermore, Shah’s article vaguely mentions that renewable energy is one of the areas to look into. However, it does not explain what kind of renewable energy to focus on for Singapore’s context. Due to limited land space, renewable energy sources like wind power are not practical in Singapore. Currently, Singapore still relies on burning fossil fuels for energy (Mokhtar, 2015). Research on feasibility of solar PV energy have been done by students of KTH school of Industrial Engineering and Management. Based on a calculation of the return of investment duration and electric power that the solar photovoltaic cell generates, further potentials of solar photovoltaic power such as “copper-based thin film cells” should be looked into to help maximise energy efficiency (King & Wettergen, 2011).
Thus, Engineers should contribute to the energy sector by exploring on the future potentials of solar PV.

In conclusion, Shah should be more detailed in explaining why and how engineers should contribute in the energy sector. The majority of the greenhouse gases are produced from the energy sector. Therefore, it is an area where attention needs to be directed to. Research shows that engineers could focus on contributing to energy sector specifically the solar energy sector as it is renewable and it will give out lesser GHG.


REFERENCES
King, S., & Wettergren, P. (2011). Feasibility Study of Renewable Energy in Singapore. Retrieved from 
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:444754/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Mokatar, F. (2015,July 08). Challenging for Singapore to find alternate energy sources: Shanmugam. Channel News Asia. Retrieved July 8, 2015, from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/challenging-for-singapore/1969810.html

Shah, V. (2015). Why the climate fight needs engineers. Eco-Business. Retrieved June 8, 2008, from http://www.eco-business.com/news/why-the-climate-fight-needs-engineers/
World Resources Institute. (2005). C2ES. Global Anthropogenic GHG Emissions by Sector. Retrieved from 
http://www.c2es.org/facts-figures/international-emissions/sector

Sunday 15 November 2015

Oral Presentation Reflection

On 5th November, last Thursday, my group mates and I had our final presentation on proposal of conserving water through rainwater harvesting system in the new SIT campus. On Monday, we were quite shock when we received the news of being the first two groups to do the presentation. As this means that we only have less than 3days to finalize our presentation speech and do our presentation slides apart from doing other module’s school work.

To speed up our progress in this short duration, we decided to split task and prepare our own script as well as presentation slides individually. What helped in my preparation of PowerPoint slides was also because of one of the effective communication class I had previously. It was where I was tasked to summarize the key points for preparing an effective presentation slides. Following back the website for guidance, it helped me to prepare my PowerPoint slides quicker too.

On the day of presentation, my group met up early before the class to practice our group presentation. As I was always not comfortable in speaking in front of a big group of people, I was really nervous. To make things worse, I also had trouble memorizing huge paragraphs of words usually and this made me more anxious as script was not allowed during the final presentation.

When the class started and it was my turn to present, I felt really nervous as the scene was different from when I was practicing because there were a large group of audience. Furthermore, mispronouncing words, disrupted my thoughts too. But I managed to finish my presentation.


Although I was really glad about the good feedback given to my group on our presentation slides, I felt that in the future presentation, I could improve more on my part in presenting. Such that I could be more fluent in my presentation to prevent mispronouncing of words by practicing my script more, learning to stay calm even after mistakes and be more enthusiastic in presenting so that I could match my group’s enthusiasm level as a whole.