IFT goes greener with new energy project

The Office for the Development of the Energy Sector (GDSE) is developing a MOP1.56 million energy saving project together with the Housing Bureau at the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), using a heat collector at the central air conditioning system and solar energy-powered electricity generators. The goal is to take the current pilot project and apply it to other Government buildings and perhaps even promote it within the hotel sector. The project has been under observation for about one year.
The project was disclosed yesterday. According to Johnson Cheong Chan Leong, a GDSE engineer, the system of collecting heat from the air conditioning can already provide all the hot water for the IFT’s daily kitchen operations, depending on the hot water consumption of the tourism training school.
“For the time being, we are just finishing the project. We need to follow four seasons, which means one year, to see if there is a need to do some adjustments,” Johnson Cheong said. “Afterwards, we will try to promote the project not only in Government departments but also in hotels,” he continued.
Experts estimate the system of collecting heat can boil water until 55 degrees Celsius and the payback of the investment should be eight years. However, the electricity generator using solar energy is less efficient.
Photovoltaic solar panels with a total area of 44.6 square meters will be installed in the IFT and the Housing Bureau buildings. It is estimated the panels will produce 6136kWh of energy annually.
Andy Lei Chu San, engineer from GDSE in charge of the solar project, said that this application will be use for lighting in the IFT car park. “If they need the light for another purposes the energy can flow for other buildings of IFT,” he said.
It was added that, unlike the heat collecting system, there is no storage of solar energy, so it will be consumed as it is generated. Andy Lei stressed that the use of solar panels for generating electricity is not as efficient as the other system.
At the moment, the photovoltaic panels are under construction and may start working in the IFT building in June, and in the Housing Bureau in April. As for the heat collecting system, the construction works have been underway since January.