Tuesday, 30 October 2018

Tech Report (Draft #1)

Despite being a clean and green country, the carbon emissions in Singapore is relatively high in proportion to its size. This proposal is a response to the poor air quality that we breathe in due to the high carbon emissions.

Singapore is one of the most well-established countries in the world. We have many vehicles roaming our streets along with industrial building constantly releasing harmful particles into the air on a daily basis. In fact, a research by the National Climate Change Secretariat of Singapore stated that “Singapore contributes to 0.11% of the global emissions”. The percentage may seem small, but considering the size of our country, it is a rather large contribution. The article further shows that Singapore ranks 123rd place in terms of CO2 per dollar GDP, ahead of countries like the United Kingdom and France which are many times larger than our country. This shows that Singapore does have an issue with air pollution. 

Air is essential to every human being, however, the air that we are breathing in could be affecting our health in the long run. Such harmful particles are known as ‘particulate matter 2.5’, PM2.5. It refers to tiny particles that are 2.5 micrometers (µm) or less in diameter, often called fine PM. PM2.5 causes by men are more severe than natural sources, the particles are directly emitted into the air from motor vehicles, forest burnings, and industrial gases. As they are so small and light, they stay longer in the air causing the air to be polluted and increases the chances of people inhaling it. Due to their tiny size, the particles are able to enter our lungs and circulatory system. This could cause health hazards both in the short and long run. An article published on the US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health (NCBI, 2002) stated that “Long-term exposure to combustion-related fine particulate air pollution is an important environmental risk factor for cardiopulmonary and lung cancer mortality.”Based on a guideline by WHO, the PM2.5 levels should be at 10µgc annual mean and 25µgc for 24 hours mean. According to the psi index by NEA, the psi levels in Singapore currently falls within the range of 50 to 60µgc which are beyond the the levels listed in the WHO guidelines

The factors which have contributed to PM 2.5 in Singapore are mainly from vehicles and industrial factories. These PM 2.5 can also be the product formed by chemical reactions in the atmosphere. An article by The Straits Times stated that “due to the concentration of particle vapour and local emissions - from cars and factories”. These small-sized particles are not entirely from the neighbouring country that carries out deforestation which in the later part of the article stated “experts point to culprits closer to home: factories and cars”.  

During the haze period, one of the strategies that Singaporean use to counter haze problem is to stay indoors and use air-conditioners, as is it advisable to limit outdoor activities when the PSI level is high. While all doors and windows are closed, it can limit the particles in the haze from entering the houses. However, conventional air-conditioners are unable to filter the tiny particles like PM2.5, so there are still chances of breathing them in. 

When indoors, the air conditional will always be on. A building grade air conditioning uses Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning system, known as HVAC. The main purpose of a HVAC system is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. The most common HVAC system used in buildings are called packaged rooftop units. As the name goes, it is located on the rooftops.

An ideal innovative campus should adopt an advanced approach which can circulate clean indoor air and provide a conducive environment to study without being affected by the air quality. Due to the location of the SIT@Dover, the air quality is affected by the carbon emission of cars along the highway and the industrial buildings near the coast. This results in a build-up of air pollution around the school which would be harmful to students. Inserting electrostatic precipitators to the air cons, it will filter out PM2.5 particles from the indoor air and circulate back clean air around the room. The purpose of this report is to propose to the facility manager of SIT@Dover to install electrostatic precipitators into the current campus and, to emphasise to the facility manager that this advance approach can provide a conducive learning space for the students.

Thursday, 11 October 2018

Reader Response (Final Draft)

In the article “4 Ways to Demolish a Building”, Rodriguez (2018) states that there are many considerations to take before resolving the way to demolish a building, and the method used must be safe for the demolition crew and surroundings. He mentions 4 ways to demolish buildings. The author mentions the first technique, implosion, uses explosives to demolish large structures in urban area and it requires comprehensive planning by the blaster crews before carrying out. The second one is the high reach arm method ,which is used to tear down tall buildings from the top by operating machine arm. The third one is wrecking ball method, which demolishes buildings by swinging a heavy ball into the structure. The building size is limited by using this method. Moreover, it requires professional crane operator and will cause pollutions. Lastly, selective demolition is an environmentally friendly and cost saving method as it allows the demolition crew to recycle materials. However, it requires manpower and it is not efficient for light-framed buildings.

While Rodriguez mentions that large structures are commonly demolished by using implosion technique in the urban areas, bringing down a building by explosives is not applicable when the buildings are close together. Moreover, it will cause danger to the surroundings and demolition becomes even harder. Under these circumstances, implosion is not suitable to be implemented in urban areas.

First of all, the use of implosion technique is not always effective and safe in urban areas. In the news article, Mahmud (2017) reported that it is not a good idea to implement implosion method in Singapore. As Singapore is a city with buildings closely built with one another, the explosion will affect the neighboring structures. The worst scenario can be the demolition crews do not plan the explosives precisely enough, the explosion might not be able to bring down the building completely at once. Then, it will become very dangerous for the demolition workers to deal with afterwards, because the structure of the building is already damaged and may collapses on itself in any second. In addition, based on the article Dave (2017) mentions: “The detonations went off as planned, but nothing fell and the implosion was a failure.” Based on these points, implosion method is not recommended to be use in the urban area, as this method might create danger for the demolition crew.

Secondly, the outcome of using implosion method to ground a building cannot really be predicted. Ramaswamy (2015) states: “The building does what it wants to do in the end.” The demolition of Red Road flats in Glasgow has failed, not because the demolition crew make the mistakes. The reason is that, even though everything is prepared very well, the result cannot always be predicted. As the final stage of implosion cannot be one hundred percent guaranteed. "You can't really test explosives," She elaborated. Although everything goes smoothly, the explosives cannot be really tested before the second they are detonated. Thus, there is a chance of malfunctioning of the explosives. Due to these uncertainties, implosion should not be practiced in urban areas.

Lastly, implosion creates a risk of collision of the structure to the surrounding buildings. This can be supported by the news article “22-Floor Residential Tower in China Demolished, Partially” (2010), where the demolition of a 22-floor building in LiZhou almost cause a disaster. Instead of going all the way down to the ground, the building broke into two parts with one side smash sideways while the other remain standing unstably. This report proved that it is not sure what will actually be happened after detonation. In this case, implementing implosion method to demolish a building in urban area is not wise as it may result in catastrophe such as endanger the surrounding buildings and even the residents.



References

Aqil Haziq Mahmud. (2017). No explosives or swinging balls: How high-rise demolitions go down in Singapore. Channelnewsasia. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com

Dave Bartkowiak Jr. (2017). Pontiac Silverdome implosion fail: What went wrong and what happens now. Clickondetroit. Retrieved from https://www.clickondetroit.com

IndiaTVnews. (2010). 22-Floor Residential Tower In China Demolished, Partially. Retrieved from https://www.indiatvnews.com

Ramaswamy.C. (2015). You can’t really test explosives – why demolitions go wrong. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com

Thursday, 4 October 2018

Reader Response (Draft #2)

In the article “4 Ways to Demolish a Building”, Rodriguez (2018) states that there are many considerations to take before resolving the way to demolish a building, and the method used must be safe for the demolition crew and surroundings. He mentions 4 ways to demolish buildings. The author mentions the first technique implosion uses explosives to demolish large structures in urban area and it requires comprehensive planning by the blaster crews before carrying out. The second one is the high reach arm method which is used to tear down tall buildings from the top by operating machine arm. The third one is wrecking ball method which demolishes buildings by swinging a heavy ball into the structure. The building size is limited by using this method. Moreover, it requires professional crane operator and will cause pollutions. Lastly, selective demolition is an environmentally friendly and cost saving method as it allows the demolition crew to recycle materials. However, it requires manpower and it is not efficient for light-framed buildings.

Rodriguez mentions that large structures are commonly demolished by using implosion technique in the urban areas. However, bringing down a building by explosives is not applicable when the buildings are close together. Moreover, it will cause danger to the surroundings and demolition becomes even harder. Under these circumstances, implosion is not suitable to be implemented in urban area.

First of all, the use of implosion technique is not always effective and safe in urban areas. In the news article “No explosives or swinging balls: How high-rise demolitions go down in Singapore” (2017) reported by Aqil Haziq, a local award-winning demolition contractor, Mr Lim states that it is not a good idea to implement implosion method in Singapore. As Singapore is a city with buildings closely built with one another, thus the explosion will affect the neighboring structures. What can be the worst scenario? It can be when the demolition crews did not plan the explosives precise enough, the explosion might not be strong enough to bring down the building completely at once. Then, it will become very troublesome and dangerous for the demolition workers to deal with afterwards, because the structure of the building is already damaged and may collapses itself in any second. In addition, based on the article “Pontiac Silverdome implosion fail: What went wrong and what happens now” (2017), Dave Bartkowiak stated: “The detonations went off as planned, but nothing fell and the implosion was a failure.” Based on these points, implosion method is not recommended to be use in the urban area, as this method might create danger for the demolition crew.

Secondly, the outcome of using implosion method to ground a building cannot really be predicted. Based on the news article “‘You can’t really test explosives’ – why demolitions go wrong.” (2015), Thompson, a safety officer at DSR Demolition in South Yorkshire, stated: “The building does what it wants to do in the end.” The demolition of Red Road flats in Glasgow has failed, not because the demolition crew make the mistakes. The reason is, even though everything is prepared very well, the result cannot always be according to what has been planned. As the final stage of implosion cannot be one hundred percent guaranteed. "You can't really test explosives" Thompson elaborated. Although everything goes smoothly, the explosives cannot be really tested before the second they are detonated. Thus, there is a chance of malfunctioning of the explosives. Due to these uncertainties, implosion should not be practiced in urban area.

Lastly, implosion creates a risk of collision of the structure to the surrounding buildings. This can be supported by the news article “22-Floor Residential Tower in China Demolished, Partially” (2010), where the demolition of a 22-floor building in LiZhou has almost cause a disaster. Instead of going all the way down to the ground, the building broke into two parts with one side smash sideways while the other remain standing unstably. Through this report, it’s proved that it is not sure what will actually be happened after detonation. In this case, implementing implosion method to demolish a building in urban area is not wise as it may result in catastrophe such as endanger the surrounding buildings and even the residents.



References

Aqil Haziq Mahmud. (2017). No explosives or swinging balls: How high-rise demolitions go down in Singapore. Channelnewsasia. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/no-explosives-or-swinging-balls-how-high-rise-demolitions-go-9425362

Dave Bartkowiak Jr. (2017). Pontiac Silverdome implosion fail: What went wrong and what happens now. Clickondetroit. Retrieved from https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/pontiac-silverdome-implosion-fail-what-went-wrong-and-what-happens-now-

IndiaTVnews. (2010). 22-Floor Residential Tower In China Demolished, Partially. Retrieved, September 30, 2018, from https://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/masala/22-floor-residential-tower-in-china-demolished-partially-210.html


Ramaswamy.C . (2015). ‘You can’t really test explosives’ – why demolitions go wrong. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/shortcuts/2015/oct/12/explosives-demolitions-go-wrong-red-road-flats-glasgow-controlled

Monday, 1 October 2018

Reader Response (Draft #1)

In the article “4 Ways to Demolish a Building”, Rodriguez (2018) states that there are many considerations to take before resolving the way to demolish a building, and the method used must be safe for the demolition crew and surroundings. He mentions 4 ways to demolish buildings. The author mentions the first technique implosion uses explosives to demolish large structures in urban area and it requires comprehensive planning by the blaster crews before carrying out. The second one is the high reach arm method which is used to tear down tall buildings from the top by operating machine arm. The third one is wrecking ball method which demolishes buildings by swinging a heavy ball into the structure. The building size is limited by using this method. Moreover, it requires professional crane operator and will cause pollutions. Lastly, selective demolition is an environmentally friendly and cost saving method as it allows to recycle materials. However, it requires manpower and not efficient for light-framed buildings.

Rodriguez mentions that large structures are commonly demolished by using implosion technique in the urban areas. However, bringing down a building by explosives is not applicable when the buildings are close together. Moreover, it will cause danger to the surroundings and make it even harder to be demolished. Under these circumstances, high reach arm method is more suitable to be implemented in urban area.

First of all, the use of implosion technique is not always as effective and safe in urban areas. In the news article “No explosives or swinging balls: How high-rise demolitions go down in Singapore” (2017) reported by Aqil Haziq, a local award-winning demolition contractor, Mr Lim states that implosion method is not a good idea to be implemented in Singapore. As Singapore is a city with buildings closely built with one another, thus the explosion will affect the neighboring structures. What can be the worst scenario? It can be when the demolition crews did not plan the explosives precise enough, the explosion might not be strong enough to bring down the building completely at once. It will become very troublesome and dangerous for the demolition workers to deal with afterwards, because the structure of the building is already damaged and may collapses on itself anytime. In addition, based on the article “Pontiac Silverdome implosion fail: What went wrong and what happens now” (2017), Dave Bartkowiak stated: “The detonations went off as planned, but nothing fell and the implosion was a failure.” Based on these points, implosion method is not recommended to be use in the urban area, as this method might endanger the surrounding buildings.

Secondly, the outcome of using implosion method to ground a building cannot really be predicted. Based on the news article “‘You can’t really test explosives’ – why demolitions go wrong.” (2015), Thompson, a safety officer at DSR Demolition in South Yorkshire, stated: “The building does what it wants to do in the end.” The demolition of Red Road flats in Glasgow has failed, not because the demolition crew make the mistakes. The reason is, even though everything is prepared very well, the result cannot always be according to what has been planned. As the final stage of implosion cannot be one hundred percent guaranteed, this creates a risk of collision of the structure to the surrounding buildings. This can be further supported by the news article “22-Floor Residential Tower in China Demolished, Partially”, where the demolition of a 22-floor building in LiZhou has almost cause a disaster. Instead of going all the way down to the ground, the building broke into two parts with one side smash sideways and the other remain standing. Through the points elaborated, it’s proved that it is not certain what will actually be happened after detonation. In this case, implementing implosion method to demolish a building in urban area is not wise as it may result in serious disasters.

Lastly, due to the uncertainty of using implosion technique and the danger it might bring about, high reach arm demolition method is safer and better to be carry out in urban area. There are many advantages by using high reach excavator. Based on the article “High-Reach Excavators Increase Demolition Accuracy”, the author states a few benefits. He mentioned that high reach arm improves accuracy and efficiency. Due to the different building structures that the demolition crews have to deal with, high reach excavator makes it convenient as the head of the arm is changeable. This allows the operator to pick the most suitable machine head to do the job. In this way, the quick swapping of demolition techniques also saves time. Moreover, he also mentioned it enhances the safety of demolition crews, because they can dismantle the building by operating the high reach excavator from a distance, such that the falling fragments will not post danger to workers. Furthermore, the author stated: “More flexible in tight spot”. As I mentioned earlier, high reach arm can overcome the weakness faced by implosion, as it can be operated accurately even in narrow locations. With the above benefits, high reach arm method allows the workers to decide which area to be demolish first rather than using explosive with uncertainty.





References

Aqil Haziq Mahmud. (2017). No explosives or swinging balls: How high-rise demolitions go down in Singapore. Channelnewsasia. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/no-explosives-or-swinging-balls-how-high-rise-demolitions-go-9425362

Dave Bartkowiak Jr. (2017). Pontiac Silverdome implosion fail: What went wrong and what happens now. Clickondetroit. Retrieved from https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/pontiac-silverdome-implosion-fail-what-went-wrong-and-what-happens-now-

IndiaTVnews. (2010). 22-Floor Residential Tower In China Demolished, Partially. Retrieved, September 30, 2018, from https://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/masala/22-floor-residential-tower-in-china-demolished-partially-210.html

Ramaswamy.C . (2015). ‘You can’t really test explosives’ – why demolitions go wrong. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/shortcuts/2015/oct/12/explosives-demolitions-go-wrong-red-road-flats-glasgow-controlled


High-Reach Excavators Increase Demolition Accuracy. (2012). Elder Demolition. Retrieved, September 27, 2018 from https://www.elderdemolition.com/commercial-industrial-demolition-high-reach-excavators-benefits-09-2012/