At the start of this course, I had always aimed to improve my writing. Switching between a work-focused and study-focused mindset consistently was not the most conducive environment for progress. Despite the struggles, I am proud to say that I have gotten better at writing and I continue to improve even after.

The coursework and materials they provided allowed to me to find direction and knowledge to better my writing. Even with the little time I had in class, Ms. Gan has been extremely helpful by focusing the main points during her lessons and coursework. The materials provided was full of content and the links allowed me to learn more outside of lessons. They are like a rabbit hole that kept going deeper and deeper, catching your curiosity and rewarding it with knowledge. I feel I have improved in areas such as researching, tenses, subject-verb agreement, layouts, content writing and presentation.

I have been using what I learnt to actively improve the reports I write for work. There is no doubt in my mind it has helped me a lot to make my report more professional. If there was something I wish I could do better in the course, it would be the ability to commit more time into it. Not only was it engaging, it was fun. I would definitely refer back to this course, if ever the need.

Insightful and thought-provoking, words that I would describe the experience whilst listening to the speakers. The conference was simple, 4 guests were on stage, all entrepreneurs that made a push to sustainability in different fields. Mr. Shamir Rahim from Versafleet Pte. Ltd. was about transport, Mr. Zach Wilson from Alfatech was in architectural, Ms. Nancy Ling from EcoU Pte. Ltd. was in eco-cutlery and Mr. Eugene Wong from Sirius Venture Capital Pte. Ltd. was in venture capitalism. Their talks were insightful showing me angles which I would never have thought of had I not gone. Some keys notes are innovating through efficiency, early engagement and optimization, change of normalcy and financial opportunity.

Their talk has really shown that there are many benefits to sustainability. It pushes use to improve on what we have been doing, thinking that it’s the best way to do it. It pushes us out of comfort zone to achieve even better result. The benefits does not stop financially but it also helps our well-being and the environment. They came to talk about the hardships they faced but brought it across lightly, maybe to not demoralize keen individuals. However it made me realize that having an extremely goal-driven-never-say-die attitude is needed to succeed as an entrepreneur.

With all these gains comes a cost. The cost of many who have failed. Moving towards sustainability is not an easy task, like climbing a very step slope, failure has almost no safety to cushion your fall. I fully support the push for sustainability but the fact remains that it is not easy and failing is extremely detrimental. I strongly believe we should not sugar coat this fact but instead prepare and aid those who are willing to take step for progress.

Christopher Tan, (2019) Delays hit North-South MRT line. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/delays-hit-north-south-mrt-line

The article is written by Christopher Tan who is the Senior Transport Correspondent for the Straits Times. He keeps tracks of the developments, progress, and issues that may arise in Singapore’s transport system. The article talks about the cause and effects of the delays due to the North-South and East-West lines. In the article, commuters described that delays are causing large inconveniences in their lives that they have to adapt their schedule to the train failures. The author also describes that the train delay was largely due to track faults as announced by SMRT. This article is useful in helping pinpoint the effects of the train delays as well as the ability to narrow down the main cause based on real accounts of the consumer and SMRT themselves.

In the article, “Green buildings, Singapore’s natural ally for a greener future”, Mackenzie (2017) reported that promoting eco-friendly buildings will be the solution for a cleaner and sustainable future for Singapore. The author reported that the high resource consumption of its dense infrastructure is rapidly increasing. This massively increases the number of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions that are affecting the environment.
Known as the “Garden City” for its stance on preserving the environment, it plans to maintain this image further into the future. As a keen supporter of environmental protection, Singapore’s Building Construction Authority (BCA) aims to spread awareness to developers and designers on the benefits of Singapore’s Green Mark certification. The report also mentioned that the implementation of green initiatives has had huge successes in cutting costs and consumption in the long term. The author proved through Asia Square that design is the key factor, thus giving designers and stakeholders the power to lead to a greener future. The author concluded that Singapore needs a proactive approach to protect the environment and fight climate change.

I agree with the author that building sustainability is the key to fight climate change. By identifying the factors that can affect building sustainability, we can make proactive and effective soution.

Firstly, It has been proven that the increase in carbon emissions are directly linked to the increase in demand from buildings and their maintenance. In the article, “Analysing CO₂ emissions from Singapore’s electricity generation sector: Strategies for 2020 and beyond” (ScienceDirect, 2017), it highlights that the largest contributors to carbon emissions were the production of electricity and buildings coming in second. It is also projected that it will continue to rise, placing a bigger emphasis on this issue. By optimizing a building’s consumption, we can effectively reduce carbon emissions.

Secondly, Singapore’s Green Mark certification provides a guideline that promotes efficient buildings. In the article,” GREEN MARK FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS NRB: 2015″ (BCA, 2015), it lists out how points are distributed out based on the efficiency of the different aspects of a building. It pushes a large incentive towards efficient energy consumption and building sustainability by rewarding a substantial amount of points in those areas. By receiving the highest grade of platinum, a high score shows that the building is an efficient and sustainable building design.

Lastly, stakeholders and designers are the keys to success. By alleviating the “high cost to build” misconception and raising awareness of the benefits of green buildings, would provide leverage towards greener designs. In the article, “Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits” (BCA, 2015), it highlights that green buildings are expensive is a misconception. The article presents findings that the long term cost saving far outweighs the initial building costs. This provides incentives for both parties to lean toward green buildings.

The current motive and direction promote further advancement into a greener and more sustainable future. Through collective effort and pro-active approach towards green buildings, we may eventually become, in the author’s words, “Garden City 2.0”.

References

ScienceDirect. (2017). Volume 124, Analysing CO₂ emissions from Singapore’s electricity generation sector: Strategies for 2020 and beyond
Retrieved, January 31, 2019, from 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217301196#sec3

Building & Construction Authority. (2015). GREEN MARK FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS NRB: 2015
Retrieved, January 31, 2019, from 
https://www.bca.gov.sg/GreenMark/others/Green_Mark_NRB_2015_Criteria.pdf

Gregory H. Kats. (2003). Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits
Retrieved, January 31, 2019, from
http://staging.community-wealth.org/sites/clone.community-wealth.org/files/downloads/paper-kats.pdf

In the article, “Green buildings, Singapore’s natural ally for a greener future”, Mackenzie (2017) reported that promoting eco-friendly buildings will be the solution for a cleaner and sustainable future for Singapore. The author reported that the high resource consumption of its dense infrastructure is rapidly increasing. This massively increases the number of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions that are affecting the environment.
Known as the “Garden City” for its stance on preserving the environment, it plans to maintain this image further into the future. As a keen supporter of environmental protection, Singapore’s Building Construction Authority (BCA) aims to spread awareness to developers and designers on the benefits of Singapore’s Green Mark certification. The report also mentioned that the implementation of green initiatives has had huge successes in cutting costs and consumption in the long term. The author proved through Asia Square that design is the key factor, thus giving designers and stakeholders the power to lead to a greener future. The author concluded that Singapore needs a proactive approach to protect the environment and fight climate change.

I support the author that building sustainability is the key to fight climate change. It highlights that actions taken are not only environmentally but financially beneficial. The current direction pushes green building even further by utilizing incentives that benefit both the designer and stakeholders.

Firstly, Singapore has been trying to control building consumption. It has been proven that the increase in carbon emissions are directly linked to the increase in demand from buildings and their maintenance. In the article, “Analysing CO₂ emissions from Singapore’s electricity generation sector: Strategies for 2020 and beyond” (ScienceDirect, 2017), it highlights that the largest contributors to carbon emissions were the production of electricity and buildings coming in second. It is also projected that it will continue to rise, placing a bigger emphasis on this issue. By optimizing a building’s consumption, like utilizing Singapore’s Green Mark certification system, we can effectively reduce carbon emissions.

Secondly, Singapore’s Green Mark certification provides a guideline that promotes efficient buildings. In the article,” GREEN MARK FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS NRB: 2015″ (BCA, 2015), it lists out how points are distributed out based on the efficiency of the different aspects of a building. It pushes a large incentive towards efficient energy consumption and building sustainability by rewarding a substantial amount of points in those areas. To receive the highest grade of platinum, a high score is needed that can be easily achieved through efficient and sustainable building design.

Lastly, stakeholders and designers are the keys to success. By alleviating the “high cost to build” misconception and raising awareness of the benefits of green buildings, would provide leverage towards greener designs. In the article, “Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits” (BCA, 2015), it highlights that green buildings are expensive is a misconception. The article presents findings that the long term cost saving far outweighs the initial building costs. This provides incentives for both parties to lean toward green buildings.

The current motive and direction promote further advancement into a greener and more sustainable future. Through collective effort and pro-active approach towards green buildings, we may eventually become, in the author’s words, “Garden City 2.0”.

References

ScienceDirect. (2017). Volume 124, Analysing CO₂ emissions from Singapore’s electricity generation sector: Strategies for 2020 and beyond
Retrieved, January 31, 2019, from 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217301196#sec3

Building & Construction Authority. (2015). GREEN MARK FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS NRB: 2015
Retrieved, January 31, 2019, from 
https://www.bca.gov.sg/GreenMark/others/Green_Mark_NRB_2015_Criteria.pdf

Gregory H. Kats. (2003). Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits
Retrieved, January 31, 2019, from
http://staging.community-wealth.org/sites/clone.community-wealth.org/files/downloads/paper-kats.pdf

In the article, “Green buildings, Singapore’s natural ally for a greener future”, Mackenzie (2017) reported that promoting eco-friendly building will be the solution for a cleaner and sustainable future for Singapore. The report emphasizes the importance of sustainability in which has to control for the future’s outcome. Despite being known as the “Garden City”, the author reported that the high resource consumption of its dense infrastructure is rapidly increasing. This massively affects the number of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions that affect the natural environment.
As a keen supporter of environmental protection, Building Construction Authority (BCA) aims to spread awareness to developers and designers on the benefits of green mark certification. The report also mentioned that the implementation of green initiatives has had huge successes in cutting cost in the long term. The author proved through Asia Square that design is the key factor, thus giving designers and stakeholders the power to lead to a greener future. The author concluded that Singapore understands the importance of a proactive approach to protect the environment and fight climate change.

I do agree with the author on the importance of sustainability for the environment. It highlights that the power for sustainability is made by stakeholders and designers, to promote sustainability through the cost benefit over the environmental benefits.

Firstly, rising carbon emissions are directly linked to the increasing demand for buildings and their maintenance. In the article, “Analysing CO₂ emissions from Singapore’s electricity generation sector: Strategies for 2020 and beyond” (2017), it highlights that carbon emissions are projected to rise with the largest contributor to be the production of electricity and building’s second. By optimizing the process of these areas, we can effectively reduce carbon emissions.

(Electric/water use of buildings on carbon emission)

Secondly, the green mark initiative promotes and awards buildings based on its efficiency. In the article,” GREEN MARK FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS NRB: (BCA, 2015)”, it lists out how points are distributed out based on the efficiency of the different aspects of the building. It pushes a large incentive towards efficient energy consumption and sustainability by rewarding a substantial amount of points in those areas. To receive the highest grade of platinum, a high score is needed that can be easily achieved through the efficient use of electricity and building sustainability.

( Effect of Green mark and the reduction on energy use)

Lastly, convincing the developers is

(Monetary-linked Incentives for developers) need research

The push for green buildings is a boon for both environmental and financial

References
Analysing CO₂ emissions from Singapore’s electricity generation sector: Strategies for 2020 and beyond (2017)
ScienceDirect. Retrieved, Volume 124, January 21, 2019, from 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217301196#sec3

GREEN MARK FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS NRB: (BCA, 2015)
BCA, Retrieved, January 21, 2019, from 
https://www.bca.gov.sg/GreenMark/others/Green_Mark_NRB_2015_Criteria.pdf

In the commentary, “Green buildings, Singapore’s natural ally for a greener future”, Mackenzie (2017) reported that promoting eco-friendly building will be the solution for a cleaner and sustainable future for Singapore. The report emphasizes the importance of sustainability in which has to control for the future’s outcome. Despite being known as the “Garden City”, the author reported that the high resource consumption of its dense infrastructure is rapidly increasing. This massively affects the number of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions that affect the natural environment.
As a keen supporter of environmental protection, Building Construction Authority (BCA) aims to spread awareness to developers and designers on the benefits of green mark certification. The report also mentioned that the implementation of green initiatives has had huge successes in cutting cost in the long term. The author proved through Asia Square that design is the key factor, thus giving designers and stakeholders the power to lead to a greener future. The author concluded that Singapore understands the importance of a proactive approach to protect the environment and fight climate change.

I do agree with the author on the importance of sustainability for the environment. It highlights that the power for sustainability is made by stakeholders and designers, to promote sustainability through the cost benefit over the environmental benefits.

In the commentary, “Green buildings, Singapore’s natural ally for a greener future”, Mackenzie (2017) reported that promoting eco-friendly building will be the solution for a cleaner and sustainable future for Singapore. The report emphasizes the importance of sustainability in which has to control for the future’s outcome. Singapore is a developed country, with a high population and dense infrastructures, which contributes a massive amount of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions that are drastically affecting the natural environment. As a keen supporter of environmental protection, Building Construction Authority (BCA) aims to spread awareness to developers/designer on the benefits of Green Mark certification. The report also mentioned that the implementation of green buildings was a huge success and it can benefit the developers to save cost in the long term. Green buildings such as the mentioned “Asia Square” proved that design is an important factor, thus giving designers and stakeholders the power to achieve sustainability. Singapore understands the importance of protecting the environment and is taking further action to contribute globally. To attain a greener future for Singapore, everyone must be pro-active and work together to overcome the problem of climate change.

From,

Jerr Cedrick Climacosa Ricafort
Effective Communication Group 2
SIT Dover

15 January 2019

To,

Ms. Gan Sujia
Effective Communication Tutor
SIT Dover

Subject: Introduction Letter

Dear Ms. Gan Sujia,

My name is Jerr Cedrick Climacosa Ricafort, my peers often refer to me as Jerr. I am a student currently under your Effective Communication Class, Group 2 under the SIT Work-Study programme. I decided to pursue a degree after working for 2 years for my current company, SG-Glass Pte. Ltd, as a glass specialist. My job scope encompasses quality control and sales, the ability to communicate both in words and messages is very crucial.

By placing myself in situations where I can improve as go about my daily life, I was able to cultivate and practice my communication skills. I improved my rapport and story telling, to put it nicely, through my part-time job as a sales executive. Where I once was shy to speak publicly, my current job has gave the opportunity capture my flaws and improve on it. The vocal communications are easier to capture as your audience is able to signal whether you are doing it well.

There are some skills that cant be improved alone. Such skills that I would like to improve on are written reports and letters to better provide a convincing and coherent submission. Format, research and presentation, all things that are key in written reports,which I know could be better and I want to be better.

Thank you for taking the time to read about me and I do hope I can learn much from you too.

Yours sincerely,

Jerr Cedrick

Effective Communication Group 2

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton