What is really meant by building plant-factories with ultra-modern outlook and practices, a glimpse of that can be seen from Delta’s demonstration in Singapore. As we all are aware of the present-day challenges; such as: depletion of natural resources, ecological collapse and loss of bio-diversity, uncontrolled growth of human population, global warming (human induced), rising food crises at different parts of the world, proliferation of nuclear weapons and so on; that are going to cripple our lives, definitely we have to change our paradigm and start looking for new ways to live and work in most eco-friendly pattern maintaining economy and respecting ecological factors.
Singapore’s first enterprise district, Punggol Digital District (PDD) is bringing together the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)’s campus and JTC’s Business Park spaces within Punggol North to create Singapore’s first truly smart district. As per the urban transformation plan of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore, PDD will not just house the key growth industries of the digital economy like cyber security and digital technology, but will also be an inclusive and green lifestyle destination for the surrounding community.
Indian people, planners and law enforcement agencies have a lot to pick up from the concepts being adopted by the URA of Singapore. At the apex of everything, there is consideration for better human comfort, better surrounding for human inhabitation and better planning for creating factories where human beings will happily, healthily and safely work in a healthy environment. Just to cite a few examples: there will be walkways to enjoy a seamless walking experience amidst lush greenery; there will be a tranquil recreational locale with thematic zones to engage both young and old. Any industrial belt or any factory area – needs to be built for the people to work there within hygienic environment maintaining environment-friendliness, and of course the industry has to be (as far as possible) a pollution absorber contrary to the traditional practice of becoming a pollution creator.
Delta’s entry in PDD
As one of four initial corporations joining the Punggol Digital District, Delta has integrated a broad range of energy-efficient industrial automation, thermal management and LED lighting systems to enable a 12-metre containerised smart plant-factory capable of regularly producing vast amounts of pesticide-free vegetables with only a fraction of carbon and space footprint as well as less than 5% the water consumption of traditional farmland. Delta’s solutions further mankind’s resilience against environmental challenges, such as carbon emissions and water scarcity.
Commenting on Delta’s approach plan as far as the setting up of their business in PDD is concerned, Alvin Tan, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Industry Cluster Group, JTC, said, “Delta’s activities in Punggol Digital District truly embody the district’s vision of test-bedding and nurturing next-generation talent in smart living innovations. We look forward to welcoming more collaborative partnerships in our district.”
Focusing on Delta’s mission, Cecilia Ku, General Manager of Delta Electronics Int’l (Singapore), said, “Delta is committed to enabling a sustainable future through conservation of precious resources such as energy and water, in line with our corporate mission, ‘To provide innovative, clean and energy-efficient solutions for a better tomorrow’. As the world suffers from the scarcity of natural resources, Delta constantly innovates with smart green solutions that can foster sustainability in essential industries, such as manufacturing, buildings and agriculture. We are very excited to be partnering with JTC as well as international players, academia and trade associations to accelerate innovation in Singapore.”
A noteworthily innovative plan
Delta, a global provider of power and thermal management solutions, has introduced a containerised smart plant factory and its building automation solutions at PDD.
The containerised smart plant factory integrates Delta’s industrial automation, DC brushless fans, and LED lighting systems to create optimal environmental conditions for the cultivation of high-quality, eco-friendly vegetables. For example, up to 144kg of Caipira lettuce can be produced per month in one 12-meter container unit. Unlike most hydroponics vertical farms, Delta’s smart farm solution adopts a modular system, giving flexibility for the expansion of production scales. The solution can also be customised to produce up to 46 different types of vegetables and herbs and at the same time, ensuring stable and constant supply of quality yield.
On an average, a container unit may produce up to 10 times vegetable output while consuming less than 5% the water needed in a traditional farmland of equivalent size. The solution allows for monitoring and data analytics of the environmental and machine metrics, enabling farmers to make more informed decisions about their production process.
Also, Delta has retrofitted the PDD site gallery with its Building Automation Solutions to nurture companies and educate next generation talents on smart living solutions. Building systems, such as air conditioning, lighting, energy management, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) monitoring and surveillance are all managed on a single platform by adopting LOYTEC’s IoT-based building management platform and building control systems.
Exemplary building automation
Delta’s building automation solutions installed in the PDD gallery also offer benefits such as: human-centric lighting control with circadian rhythm, indoor air quality monitoring and control, smart energy metering, crowd detection and people-counting.
All these functions are seamlessly integrated into PDD’s Open Digital Platform, which allows remote monitoring and machine learning of usage patterns to obtain the building operation performance and achieve Delta’s goal of a smart, healthy, safe, and efficient life. Delta’s building automation solutions can help a building project to obtain up to 50 out of 110 points of the total LEED green building rating system as well as up to 39 points of the 110 points of the WELL building certification.
In a nutshell
Most of the India industrial estates and other factory areas are found to be the great sources of pollution, they not only spoil their own surroundings but become responsible to damage the eco-system of a larger area out of their boundaries. In today’s world, it is no longer tolerable. Delta’s containerised plant-factory is just an example that can address the food crises at different parts of the world.
However, the same concept can be extended to build factories of other kinds too that produce non-living goods to arrest pollution. Also, in Indian urban areas, where people depend on transported vegetables and fruits, constructing such plant-factories on terraces, balconies etc., will definitely lead to reduction of carbon footprint, reduction of floating particles in the air and so on.
