Project Proposal Report

Executive Summary:

In recent years, there are cases of slip and fall incidents happening at lift lobbies and sheltered pathway at Housing Development Board (HDB) estates. As 80% of the population in Singapore live in HDB flats, safety of the residents should be the main priority. The team will be looking into addressing the issue by ensuring flooring quality standards to meet the minimum requirements. In this proposal, background on HDB flats in Singapore, and the purpose of identifying the problem in the facilities will be provided. Additional research, in terms of primary and secondary, will be included in reference to the issue of flooring quality. Through the research, current implementations will be analysed to present the pros and cons. The final proposed solution has been determined and will be discussed by taking into consideration its costs incurred, feasibility, and durability.

Personal Statement:

Buildings and facilities have always been an interesting topic for me as they can be related to our daily lives. All of us live in a building and utilise its facilities every day. It is natural to say that we rely on these amenities heavily. As a student in SIT’s Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Building Services), I understand the importance of a building’s operational functions and how much it will affect the infrastructure together with its people in an event of unforeseen circumstances. With the knowledge I have gained, I hope to show that there are still areas which can be improved for living in Singapore’s HDB residential estates through this proposal.

Letter of Transmittal:

The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback (Critical Reflection)

Unlike the previous communication modules I have took in polytechnic, SIE2016 Effective Communication could be said as one of the most enriching module that I have gained a lot from it. The previous modules that I have studied before taught me things like, writing emails; solving problem situations on a simpler scale; written and spoken information; and preparing for job interviews. I thought this module would probably be a repetition of what I had learnt previously. However, it was different from my perspective. I was able to learn the correct format for writing a group technical report. Simple things like headings, citations and appendix were never taught in-depth before. Ways to avoid plagiarism were taught as well.

Blogging was introduced to encourage consistent updates of the e-portfolio which marks as part of the module requirement. From the various drafts and reflections posted on our respective blogs, we had to leave comments on our classmates' posts as part of peer feedback. I thought that this was effective in terms of conveying the message to our classmates. Most of us might find it hard to give comments to someone verbally. Thus, leaving shared comments online was a good alternative for a learning process. To me, having peer and tutor feedback were essential after 12 weeks, be it for this particular module or other modules. As the audience can see better than how you do, constructive feedback would be given. The valuable feedback received allows an individual to take note on things he/she can improve for the next round of editing and performance.

An example would be during the group consultation for the project proposal report. My tutor was very helpful and assisted as much as he could to make our team's report better. The detailed feedback given had helped me and my team to complete the report efficiently and accurately. Not only were the feedback skills learnt, getting to know what points could have been missed out by reading the other students' blog posts makes one reflects too. I understand that Effective Communication focuses on writing and presentation skills. With the objectives in mind, I believe that I have equipped skills that allows me to apply it in the future modules I will be taking for the other trimesters in SIT.

(379 words)

Reader Response (Final Draft)

In the article "Why the Climate Fight Needs Engineers?”, Shah (2015) states that engineers will be highly needed in the future for sustainable development in Asia. In order to accomplish this, the "Engineers Progression Pathway programme" has been introduced in Singapore to make provision for potential engineers. Sights of Asian cities facing drastic weather conditions leading to "floods, extreme high temperatures and droughts, water shortages, and rising sea levels" have proven the vulnerability of the cities from the results of fast-changing cities developments and population growth. These salient points are highlighted to the Singapore government for "the urgency of a low carbon economy". Four key areas including "clean environment and water resources; sustainable development and infrastructure; sustainable energy; and resilience and adaptation against climate change" are identified in the article to deal with climate changes. The author has also mentioned the importance of engineering since Singapore gained independence in 1965. An example is the desalination and water reclamation technology whereby Singapore became developed to ensure its water sufficiency. Another point mentioned by the author is that there is a need for sustainable engineering. "Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (SSB)" has been initiated to develop Singapore as a “zero-waste nation”. It can be done through systems and technology, such as “eco-smart” housings in the future. The integration of a “green economy” brings Singapore a step closer towards the nation’s objective, “the world’s first Smart Nation”. While I agree that engineers play a huge part in contributing towards the future developments, I feel that more innovative approaches which can be further explained in ensuring our city to be well positioned for sustainable growth are points that the author has failed to consider.

Singapore is a small low-lying, densely populated island in the tropics, and will be at risk in facing severe consequences in the event of a climate change. (Urban Redevelopment Authority, 2012). It has been observed that there is an incline in sea levels and surrounding temperature. The sea level has increased at a rate of change of 3.22 mm per year, from 41.72 mm in January 2010 to 65.91 mm in June 2015. (NASA, 2015). According to Xue (2013), the reason that contributes to the rising sea levels is from carbon footprints as the emissions have been increasing these years. In order to reduce the emissions, approaches such as “zero-emission” buildings have been built. As a result of the unstable climate change, weather events like frequent rain occurrences or persistent drought will affect the biodiversity of Singapore's flora and fauna. (National Climate Change Secretariat, 2012). These species find it hard to adapt towards new conditions and may not be suitable for the habitat changes. Thus, it negatively impacts their life cycle. ("Effect of climate change on plant biodiversity", n.d.).

The trade industry will also encounter problems if trading partners are faced with extreme weather events. Thus, Singapore has always been following closely with the global issues and finding a way to a comprehensive approach by working closely together with other countries to undertake this challenge. (National Climate Change Secretariat, 2012). One of the approaches to be taken is to reduce the growth of carbon emissions. According to Chia (2015), Singapore has pledged to "stabilise and limit its yearly greenhouse gas emissions to about 65 million tonnes by 2030", showing the country's contributions to the "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat". Over the years, changes such as controlling vehicle ownership and using natural gas have been made to get cleaner power generation instead of fuel oil.

New ideas and technologies are applied in Singapore to test and see if they are beneficial. If successful, the chosen idea or technology may be used as a solution in other countries. As said previously regarding the desalination and water reclamation technology in ensuring water sufficiency, PUB, the national water agency, brought in "Variable Salinity Water Desalination (VSD)" to seek for new water sources by harvesting water in different catchment areas. (Environmental Expert, 2010). This is done so as to be able to secure a stable supply of water for the increasing population in a small city-state. The implementation of VSD has lessened the "unit energy consumption", which makes up most of the operational expenditure, to a lower level compared to using a common "seawater desalination plant". This has resulted in cost-effective production that is also proven as a cheaper and feasible alternative for water efficiency. The water reclamation technology can be said as a good long term sustainability investment plan.

In general, Shah has introduced new perspective points for me and has provided supporting references on what can be done to mitigate the aftermath of climate change. This could be a better article if missing information, such as the other approaches that will aid the challenges, were mentioned. Nevertheless, this article has been a great read in inspiring one's mind on the other means that can be taken into consideration. The creation of a sustainable future will be ready for the new generation to take up the responsibility.

(834 words)

References

Chia, A. (2015, July 3). Singapore pledges to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Channel Newsasia. Retrieved September 26, 2015, from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-pledges-to/1958688.html

Effect of climate change on plant biodiversity. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 17, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_climate_change_on_plant_biodiversity#Direct_impacts_of_climate_change

Environmental Expert. (2010). Variable salinity desalination for Singapore. Eco-Business. Retrieved September 26, 2015, from http://www.eco-business.com/news/variable-salinity-desalination-singapore/

NASA. (2015). Vital Signs: Sea Level. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/sea-level/

National Climate Change Secretariat. (2012). Climate Change & Singapore: Challenges. Opportunities. Partnerships. Retrieved September 24, 2015, from https://www.nccs.gov.sg/sites/nccs/files/NCCS-2012.pdf

Shah, V. (2015, June 8). Why the climate fight needs engineers. Eco-Business. Retrieved from http://www.eco-business.com/news/why-the-climate-fight-needs-engineers/

Urban Redevelopment Authority. (2012). Designing Our City: Planning for a sustainable Singapore. Retrieved September 24, 2015, from http://www.ura.gov.sg/skyline/skyline12/skyline12-03/special/URA_Designing%20our%20City%20Supplement_July12.pdf

Xue, J. Y. (2013, August 21). Singapore will be able to cope with rising global sea levels: Experts. Today Online. Retrieved October 14, 2015, from http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-will-be-able-cope-rising-global-sea-levels-experts

The person who has inspired and influenced my Life

I did not had any person in mind when receiving this task to complete the blog post. There have been many people I met throughout my 20 years of living. Some stayed, and some left. Thinking back, this person may not be someone who changed my life a lot, but someone who had taught me things in life and impacts the people around her with positive influence. She was my primary school form teacher and also my maths teacher, Miss Phua.

At that age when all of us first entered primary school, we were all innocent individuals. Miss Phua taught me maths for the first two years. She was a very caring and thoughtful teacher to our class. Her outgoing personality made positive impression to most of the students and gave an image to be someone approachable. I remembered that we only had three subjects back then, which were English, Mathematics, and Chinese. Maths was something I used to dread most. It felt like an ordeal having to deal with calculations, not to even mention that analyzing patterns which was even worse.

Miss Phua noticed that I did not have any interest in maths as the subject was new to me. She gave me advice on how to look at the subject from another perspective and understand how the sums work. From then on, I practiced on my sums and maths became my favourite subject till now. Learning maths throughout these years have helped and guided me a lot in terms of thinking and analytical skills. The reason of having the passion to learn maths had gave me a path in choosing the engineering sector to continue my studies in polytechnic, and even now in SIT.

Despite it was a short time spent with Miss Phua as she had to leave the school for personal reasons, I felt that she was someone who inspired me in a way and giving the best she could for her students. Till now, when I look back at our class photos, it brings back a lot of good memories to me.

(347 words)