Sime Darby to equip new townships with energy efficient materials

SIME Darby Bhd will install energy-efficient (EE) building materials such as solar water heating and energy-saving (ES) light bulbs at 13,200 houses currently under construction at its new townships in Selangor and Negri Sembilan.

Group chief sustainability officer Puvan J. Selvanathan said each home will be installed with an average of 25 ES bulbs.

Compared to an ordinary incandescent bulb, an ES light bulb uses up to 80 per cent less energy and lasts almost 10 times longer.

Lighting cost takes up 8 to 15 per cent of the total utility bill per household. By installing the ES bulbs, there will be savings of up to 80 per cent for the lighting cost, Puvan told Business Times in Kuala Lumpur recently.

"There will be different EE packages offered to buyers, depending on the type of properties they buy," Puvan said.

Puvan added that the policy of Sime Darby was to equip each home with EE features, for branding and product differentiation.

"We are looking at EE and environment responsibility. We don't look at it as a cost to Sime Darby but as part of our good business practice. It's an after-sales service," Puvan said.

Sime Darby is the first company in Malaysia to embark on EE and sustainable townships.

For houses already built and currently occupied, Puvan said home owners can install ES bulbs under its "Switch!" campaign, which will be rolled in a few phases.

In the first phase, it is offering 100,000 ES bulbs to 12,500 households at its townships in Subang Jaya, UEP Subang Jaya/USJ Heights, Bandar Bukit Raja, Ara Damansara, Denai Alam, Bukit Jelutong and Putra Heights.

Home owners can buy a box of eight (8) ES light bulbs at RM50, discounted from the usual retail price of RM160.

There are 65,000 houses within the townships and the remaining households will be offered different packages, Puvan said.

"We will engage all the 65,000 houses in different ways over the course of this year," Puvan said.

By Business Times (by Sharen Kaur)