En-bloc fever

This came up in a chat the other day with a friend, when I brought up the topic of building design and how much wastage (in terms of renovation, repair, etc) emerges because of poor building design and construction.

The conversation broaded to construction in general, and to en-bloc developments. For those international readers (note to self, international readers are a big ask given hardly anyone reads this blog) who might not be familiar with the term, "en-bloc" development refers to a process (common in recent years) in land-scarce Singapore where developers purchase a site (usually condominium) from owners in a collective sale requiring consent from a minimum 80% of unit owners. The development is then torn down, and rebuilt typically in a much denser fashion that maximises "plot ratio" (the maximum permittable ratio of built up area to land area). Singapore is a young country and often the development being torn down and rebuilt is relatively young, less than 20 years old.

A huge waste of concrete, the production of which is resource intensive and far from environmentally friendly.

Standardised mobile phone chargers in the EU

This article appeared in the Straits Times yesterday - a very big step forward and something that should be adopted outside of the EU / Europe. In a nutshell, the EU has managed to line up 14 phone manufacturers (representing ~90% of mobile phones sold) who have agreed to use microUSB mobile phone chargers as an industry standard. Think of all the crap that is going to save - no need to bin old phone chargers, no need to bundle phone chargers with new phones, and so on.

Aye

Dubai - Ghost town in the making?

Dubai represents the modern UAE. It is the most liberal and "progressive" of the Arab Emirates; semi-secular comes to mind.

With a visibly fininte (less than 10 years if I'm not wrong) supply of oil, Dubai's rulers decided to fashion a modern city in the desert in order to reduce dependence on oil. A transition to entertainment, finance (ambitions were to become a financial centre straddling Europe and Asia) and services. Ample, easy money saw an influx of foreign "talent" (0% tax was also a draw), and a massive number of entertainment, housing, and commercial developments. The scale of construction was staggering - at the height of the boom, it was estimated that almost 25% of the world's construction cranes were operating out of Dubai.

Fast forward to post-crisis Dubai. The problem with Dubai is that it does not have a real economy to support all the development that is going on. The "build it and they will come" philosophy does not always work. Following the crisis, many foreigners have left (indigneous population is something like 200,000 - hardly enough to sustain everything that has been built). There is a major glut of housing, to be worsened as more supply comes onstream in the coming year. Many completed developments have sub-par finishing and build quality, while a lot of projects under construction are likely to be halted as developers struggle to remain solvent. If completed, they are likely to remain empty.

Thats a lot of energy, resources, cement, etc etc pumped into what may potentially be a ghost town in the making. I am definitely going back in 10 years to see what has become of the city.

Origo - www.olivegreen.com.sg

Saw a van today with an Origo decal and the link www.olivegreen.com.sg. The company manufactures tableware / bags / packaging from corn and yam "bioplastic" (not sure if it is related to that company Winrigo I posted about some time back). Composition for most products seems to be 70/30 corn and yam starch / PP, except for their CornBag, which is 40/60. The website has some pretty interesting info on green packing alternatives and also how / why the product is made the way it is (e.g. why PP is required).

A couple of points:
1. I'm not sure I agree with their discussion of "Food Shortage" under the "Environmental / Health Info" tab...
2. Under the "Process" tab, it says "All PP in CornBag™ is biodegradable" though I don't really understand how the PP can be any more biodegradeable than that used in other plastic bags.

Chairs for the future

So I finally got myself these chairs! I've loved them from the first time I laid eyes on them - form, function, and everything the company stands for (their website is pretty spiffy too). 80% recycled aluminium, guaranteed for 150 years (fine gimmicky and it'll probably cost me as much as the chair if something ever goes wrong and I need to send it back to them in the US), perfect for humid Singapore, no "consumable" chair parts (e.g. fabric that may need to be cleaned / re-upholstered, leather that needs special care products). My kids are gonna inherit these.

Paperless statements

Paperless statements make a lot of sense. Let me count the ways...:

1. You can only print your statement if you want / need to.

2. You can print it scaled down - I print mine 2 pages per side, double sided, i.e. 4 pages fit onto one sheet of paper.

3. No envelope is used in the process.

4. The billing company can't spam you with marketing material (well fine maybe they still can, in a separate mail, but at least you aren't making it easy for them). I used to get thick thick glossy promotional flyers all the time with my statements. Nasty.

5. One less item in the postal logistics train translates to some fuel savings. Yup sounds negligible for one measly letter, but if you multiply it...