Grundfos has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) to co-develop energy and water efficient smart solutions that will contribute to a more resilient and sustainable built environment across South-east Asia, through collaboration, talent development and sustainability education.
To support sustainable urbanisation in South-east Asia, Grundfos and NP will jointly explore and develop smart sustainable solutions for the region’s built environment, as well as drive initiatives focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as SDG 6 for Clean Water and Sanitation and SDG 13 for Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns for climate action.
The partnership will see both parties contributing complementary expertise, knowledge and talent that will advance sustainability efforts for the commercial building industry. NP will facilitate the various touchpoints between academia and industry while Grundfos will tap into its extensive network and industry knowledge to provide staff and students with the necessary resources and industry opportunities to co-develop innovative sustainable solutions. These solutions will be subsequently implemented across the NP campus as well as Grundfos’ facilities.
Lim Kok Kiang, principal and CEO of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, commented: “We believe the built environment presents important opportunities for students to use design-thinking approach and smart technologies to better create and manage living and working spaces in a sustainable way. Working with Grundfos will empower both students and staff with the necessary resources and opportunities to innovate in the area of urban sustainability.”
To achieve this, the three-year partnership will focus on sustainability education and talent development. Grundfos and NP will look to roll out a range of solution packages, projects, events, courses and trainings to proactively promote smart sustainability to the industry, which includes webinar sharing sessions, seminars and conferences.
To build talent pipelines and foster talent development, Grundfos will also be working with NP across various programmes such as mentorship programmes, book prizes, student projects and internships. One such initiative includes Grundfos’ sponsorship of the annual book prizes for NP’s School of Design & Environment.
Kenth Hvid Nielsen, regional managing director, Asia-Pacific, commercial buildings, Grundfos, continued: “The built environment and construction is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector of the economy. As South-east Asia’s population grows and becomes increasingly urbanised, it is important to identify a sustainable way forward.
“With sustainability being a key part of Grundfos’ DNA, today’s partnership demonstrates our commitment to introducing cleaner, more energy efficient technologies that can help the built environment sector reduce its energy consumption and overall carbon footprint. We look forward to working with NP to achieve that, by spurring innovative thinking among our younger generations that can help advance the entire region’s sustainability trajectory.”
As part of NP’s green campus initiatives, Grundfos has worked closely with NP’s Environmental & Water Technology Centre of Innovation to revisit the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system design for one of the campus buildings and subsequently retrofitted the system with its Distributed Pumping solution. The new solution provided sustainable cooling for the building, pushing the existing Green Mark Platinum building to achieve greater energy efficiencies while still maintaining a cool, comfortable environment throughout the building. The project also saw a 54% pump system kWh energy savings.
