J.O.E 环保联盟主席小川舒先生《联合早报》专访

污染大户成环保人,把无用垃圾做成实用家具

2023年12月10日 05:00 AM

J.O.E.环保联盟创办人小川舒每月一次为早报周刊《绿生活》撰写专栏,他把写作视为“心灵环保”,透过文字推广环保教育。(龙国雄摄)
J.O.E.环保联盟创办人小川舒每月一次为早报周刊《绿生活》撰写专栏,他把写作视为“心灵环保”,透过文字推广环保教育。
(龙国雄摄)

从日本神户移居新加坡的小川舒自称“污染大户”,因为其服装和家具生意在生产过程中不免破坏环境。为了负起社会责任,他专注用再生材料生产家具,也回收旧家具循环再造,物尽其用。小川舒积极推广环保教育,强调环保必须发自内心。

这应该是记者见过最环保的“笔记本”。

不是用再生纸制成(制作再生纸也会耗费能源),而是一叠只打印了一面的A4纸,剪半后用长尾夹整齐夹好,未用的那一面就用来写字。J.O.E环保联盟(J.O.E. Eco Alliance)创办人兼主席小川舒(Ogawa Joe)把收集起来的这些纸和铅笔放在随身携带的帆布包,随时掏出来做笔记。

小川舒原籍日本神户,2009年以投资移民身份与妻子移居新加坡。小川舒夫妇热心公益,除了加入慈济和九龙会,也积极倡导环保生活理念,在2017年创办J.O.E环保联盟。

那印有“J.O.E环保联盟”字样的朴素帆布包里,还有一个A5大小的月历。每一天的会议和约会,小川舒用铅笔写在一个个小方格里,每个日期都被工整的字迹填满。物尽其用,正是环保的黄金守则之一。

日本盛产精美文具和纸制品,小川舒怎么不像很多日本人一样使用正统日程本?他说“太美了舍不得用啊”,宁愿用“废纸”自制笔记簿。

小学开始学习华文的小川舒,用流利的华语说道:“我要反省和自我检讨,我们可以为下一代,为环境,为这个世界和地球,做些什么。我原本是个污染大户,现在是环保人,我要变废为宝。”

JOS & Sunon体验中心内最吸睛的鲸鱼椅以回收塑料制造,可爱、实用又环保。(龙国雄摄)

为什么说自己是污染大户?

原来小川舒的家族在日本和中国经营服装生意,给布料染色和加工时用上大量清水和化学剂,虽然都会适当过滤和处理,但始终给环境造成负荷。

有淡水水源危机感

小川舒和妻子在日本、中国和新加坡经商,几年前还接手一家面临倒闭的本地家具公司。小川舒说,家具工业是比服装业更大的污染户,因为会伐木和使用皮革,而皮革染色和加工过程相当耗水。

他有感而发:“做了这么多年生意,我觉得我们污染了环境,我必须负起这个社会责任。世界上的淡水水源已经很少,工业又和人类争夺非常宝贵的水,我有危机感。很多人认为环保和自己没关系,其实和每个人息息相关。”

他坚持在服装和家具生意上“变废为宝”。制作服装时剩下的零碎布材,回收再纺成纱布,可制成新面料;宝特瓶回收后高温融化,拉丝做成短纤和长纤,纺纱后就是服装材料。

家具业可发挥异曲同工的环保效益。小川舒的家具公司JOS与中国家具企业圣奥(Sunon)共同出资打造JOS & Sunon品牌,积极回收本地客户的旧家具,也提供多种环保家具(材料不含有害环境物质,有些则利用回收材料制成)。

这些环保家具可在JOS & Sunon位于罗敏申路(18 Robinson)的体验中心看到。为什么开在租金昂贵的中央商业区?小川舒说他喜欢《鲁滨逊漂流记》(Robinson Crusoe)这本书,这条路名深得他心,“何况我现在就是背水一战啊。”

用海洋垃圾制作家具

访问和拍摄约在体验中心,小川舒兴致勃勃地介绍新品:H5哈孚椅。

线条优美,坐起来舒服的H5哈孚椅,以海洋垃圾制成的再生塑料制造,仅12公斤的轻量设计,运输时可减少所需燃料。(龙国雄摄)

这是圣奥与瑞士的设计工作室联合研发的作品,特色包括可轻松折叠,便于携带的轻量设计(仅12公斤),以及选用渔网等海洋垃圾制成的再生塑料。

小川舒说:“这张椅子意义特别大,因为海洋垃圾太多了。中国有专门回收渔网、漂浮物等海洋垃圾的公司,回收后制成塑料就能用来制造家具,是名副其实的变废为宝。”轻量设计也能减碳;东西轻,可折叠,体积越小越容易运输,减少运输所需燃料。

小川舒自认做生意时污染了环境,必须为此负起责任。(龙国雄摄)

环保不是说说而已

把污染环境的物质或原本要丢的“垃圾”变成再生材料,要耗费不少资金,如果企业只考虑短期利益,不会走这条路。小川舒说:“这些材料确实比普通材料贵,有些甚至贵上二三成。贵,是因为产业链未形成,只有少数人在做。”

但对他来说,赚大钱不是唯一,也不是最重要的目标,环保教育势在必行。他认为:“总要有人带头,今后更多人开始使用环保材料,价钱就会渐渐降低。”

他向记者和摄影同事展示十多张国际认证书,证明所谓“环保”不是说说而已,无论是使用再生塑料或不会在空气中传播有毒物质的零甲醛板材,全有相关证书。

JOS & Sunon体验中心的环保家具都有国际认证。(龙国雄摄)

要取得国际认证须要花钱,小川舒愿意这么做,因为“要向大家证明我们是认真在做环保。”他强调环保不但要认真,还要发自内心,那是对于周围的人和环境的一种关心和温柔。

回收废弃办公家具

回收与再造是环保工作重要的一环,但更重要的是充分利用已经生产的东西,减少浪费。

小川舒强调环保要认真做,还要发自内心,那是对周围的人和环境的一种关心和温柔。(龙国雄摄)

小川舒和妻子2020年启动JOS办公家具永续回收再利用企划,回收企业有意丢掉的家具,合作伙伴包括跨国奢华品集团、人寿保险集团和大型会计事务所。每次回收的数量各异,有100多张仅用了一年多的椅子,也有两万平方英尺办公空间的所有家具。

这些完好无损的办公椅原本要丢掉,小川舒将它们回收。(受访者提供)
回收的办公椅在另一家公司继续使用。(受访者提供)

小川舒说:“某家公司有一整个楼层的家具都是新的,但全部要丢弃,我们看了太痛心,一定要做(回收)。这些‘垃圾’在我眼里都是宝,我要打造一个产业链,不然宝物被视为垃圾扔了,真的是もったいない(日文,mottainai)!”

这个词汇源自佛教用语,意思是“事物失去了它该有的样子,对此感到惋惜感叹”,现多用于表达“明明有用的东西却被糟蹋,太可惜,太浪费”。

要减少浪费,首先得分门别类:A级是完好无损的家具,最理想的方案是继续使用,可转赠其他企业;B级家具有一些损坏,但修理后能续用;C级难以修补,无法继续使用,但可拆除适宜回收的部分(多为金属),送去回收厂。

金属是回收价较高的材料,较容易找到买家,小川舒说:“最头痛的是木,因为谁都不要,所以成为问题,要不烧,要不埋。”

JOS回收这张被丢弃的桌子,循环利用桌子的木材,改造成JOS & Sunon体验中心的屏风(见下图)。(受访者提供)
位于罗敏申路的JOS & Sunon体验中心,精致漂亮的屏风,材料来自上图那张原本要丢弃的桌子。(受访者提供)

要建造木材回收厂

要把被丢弃的木材家具变成新家具固然可行,但小川舒有一个更具前瞻性的计划,他准备在本地建造木材回收厂,估计明年可投入服务。回收厂能大量回收木材,再用粉碎机处理,压制成板,成为新家具的板材。
小川舒说:“一个人做环保,孤掌难鸣,所以要双掌‘合鸣’,多掌‘合鸣’。星火燎原,我希望吸引更多志同道合者一起做。”

国外有木材回收厂,可以把回收木打造成新材料,但要把回收木送到国外耗费大量资源,造成更大碳足迹,小川舒于是决定在本岛建回收厂。(龙国雄摄)

所以他不单售卖环保家具,还积极举办教育活动。

J.O.E环保联盟为学生办过环保演讲比赛,吸引400多人参加。新加坡公共卫生理事会2023年8月主办的“变废为宝”比赛(Bulky Waste to Wonder Competition),J.O.E环保联盟是协办单位之一,比赛名称“变废为宝”正是小川舒想的。参赛学生把废弃的大件家具重新设计改造成有用物品,例如手推车、折叠桌、床头柜等。

比赛结束后,学生的作品在新加坡国家美术馆展出,但小川舒认为这还不够。他在JOS招待客户和商业伙伴的年度派对上办竞标活动,让出席者标下喜欢的作品,自己也带头竞标,所得全数捐给SPD( 前称体障人士协会);环保兼行善,一举两得。

小川舒说:“我要像灯塔一样,在新加坡宣导我们的环保理念、概念、观念、精神、思想、意识和做法,这些都是会闪闪发光,散发人性光辉的东西。”

文章转自《联合早报》,作者陈映蓁

本地明年实现半数组屋装太阳能板 争取10年后满足35万户家庭常年用电需求

陈振声宣布,为朝低碳的可持续未来迈进,我国计划在2030年将太阳能装机容量提高到至少2千兆峰瓦,这一目标相当于当前260兆峰瓦水平的近八倍。

到了明年,全国每两座组屋就有一座会装有太阳能板。我国接下来将大幅扩大太阳能板安装范围,所产生的电量到2030年将能满足约35万户家庭的常年用电需求。

贸工部长陈振声昨天在新加坡国际能源周开幕式上宣布,我国计划在2030年将太阳能装机容量(installed capacity)提高到至少2千兆峰瓦(GigaWatt Peak,简称GWp),朝低碳的可持续未来迈进。

这一目标相当于当前260兆峰瓦水平的近八倍。

本地用来发电的燃料组合中,太阳能仅占总量不到1%,其余高达95%是天然气,以及石油与煤炭等。天然气虽是最清洁的化石燃料,但不是最环保的能源选项,因此把太阳能发电比重到2030年提升至4%,能有效降低我国的碳排放,减轻对气候变化的影响。

陈振声表示,尽管过去10年太阳能板安装数量已从30处增加到超过3000处,我国仍面对土地制约。

组屋、学校、国防等公共建筑以及私人工商建筑的屋顶、未被征用的闲置空地、蓄水池,甚至是岸外水域,都是政府安装太阳能板的范围。当局也探讨在建筑物侧面或是路面装太阳能板的可行性。

南洋理工大学能源研究院执行主任苏博德教授(Subodh Mhaisalkar)受访时表示,对民众而言,使用太阳能的一大好处在于全国的空气质量会得到提升。“如果排放到空气中的温室气体更少,民众也能享受更凉快的天气”。

陈振声认为,要善用太阳能,需要能源储存系统(energy storage solutions)的支持。我国天空多达80%的时间被云层遮盖,使得太阳能面对间歇性电流供应问题。加上每日高峰和非高峰的电力需求差距可达30%,能源储存系统能平衡电力需求,加强能源网韧性。

然而由于气候炎热潮湿,加上造价昂贵,本地能源储存系统采用率很低,据能源市场管理局提供的数据,已安装的存电容易不到1兆瓦(MW),且大部分还在试验阶段。

发展四大“能源开关”

尽管如此,我国仍将坚持增加资源投入研发,力求在2025年之后使用存电量达200兆瓦的能源储存系统。陈振声说,研发一旦成功,除了节省部分基础设施建造成本,“解决方案不仅对新加坡有利,也会惠及新加坡以外的其他国家”。

他展望,如同我国成功谱写属于自己的水源故事,未来50年我国要书写的是能源故事。加大太阳能使用、提高天然气效能、开发跨国电网和投资低碳替代能源是我国接下来的四大电力来源与发展重点。“我们这代人的职责是确保为下一代留下更洁净、更实惠和更可靠的能源故事。”

The Republic is ramping up its drive to soak up more energy from the sun, amid growing global awareness on how fossil fuels are contributing to climate change.

By 2030, Singapore wants to ramp up its solar capacity by more than seven times from current levels, and increase the current 260 megawatt-peak (MWp) of installed solar capacity to 2 gigawatt-peak (GWp).

This is enough to meet the annual power needs of around 350,000 households in Singapore, or about 4 per cent of Singapore’s total electricity demand today.

The new 2GWp target for Singapore was outlined by Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing on Tuesday morning (Oct 29) at the opening of the Singapore International Energy Week held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Solar energy is the most viable renewable energy option for Singapore, but harnessing it to power the nation did not come without obstacles.

Singapore’s small size, the intermittency of sunshine due to cloud cover and urban shading, and cost of solar deployment were some challenges.

Currently, solar energy contributes less than 1 per cent to Singapore’s total energy mix.

More than 95 per cent comes from natural gas, the cleanest form of fossil fuel. Other sources, such as oil and coal, round up the mix.

But just as how Singapore pushed the boundaries on water technologies and thrived, so too will the nation tackle the energy frontier, said Mr Chan.

Singapore does not have any natural sources of water but has overcome the erratic nature of weather-dependent sources of water, such as rainfall, with desalination and by recycling used water.

The next frontier for Singapore, said Mr Chan, is energy.

Singapore started moving on this front since the early 2000s, when it switched from oil to natural gas – a cleaner fuel which Singapore now imports in liquefied forms from all over the world and through pipes from neighbouring Indonesia and Malaysia – to power the nation.

The next step would be to increase the adoption of solar energy here, Mr Chan said.

In the longer term, Singapore could be plugged into a regional power grid to trade electricity with its neighbours, which would increase its energy security, even as the Republic invests in research and development in other low-carbon technologies that, unlike solar energy, have yet to become commercially viable.

his includes research into the possibility of using “green” hydrogen as a fuel, and in carbon capture utilisation and storage technologies – innovations that could suck planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the air and convert it into useful products, such as chemicals and building materials.

MEETING THE TARGET

The Government is looking into a few ways to meet the 2030 solar target, said Mr Chan.

The first is to maximise the deployment of solar panels onto available surfaces, including rooftops, reservoirs, offshore sea space, and on the vertical surfaces of buildings.

Just as Singapore had turned two-thirds of Singapore’s land surface area into a water catchment area, the Republic will look to do the same for solar, he said.

By 2020, one in two HDB rooftops will have solar panels deployed.

Under the recently awarded SolarNova Tender 4 announced earlier this month, solar panels will also be deployed at 30 schools, as well as 13 Ministry of Defence sites.

Industrial developer JTC will also be deploying mobile solar panels and substations on vacant land, such as existing plots on Jurong Island, not required for development in the near future under its SolarLand initiative.

Mr Chan said Singapore will also invest more in research and development into energy storage systems. These essentially function as batteries when hooked up to solar systems, helping to overcome the challenge of intermittent sunshine.

EXPERTS WEIGH IN

Experts approached by The Straits Times said Singapore’s target of having 2GWp of installed solar capacity by 2030 is an ambitious target – but one that was achievable if certain conditions are met.

Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, executive director for the Energy Research Institute at the Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N), pointed to Singapore’s limited land area and built-up environment, saying solar panels have to be deployed on a larger scale.

He said: “Other than deploying solar panels on Housing Board rooftops, we will need very large contributions from other sources, including residential and industrial buildings, and also deploy solar panels on infrastructure such as walkways and depots, on building facades and on water bodies such as reservoirs and the sea, to name some possibilities,” Prof Subodh told ST.

Another factor to consider is oil and gas prices, said Dr Thomas Reindl, deputy chief executive of the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (Seris) at the National University of Singapore .

“The target seems achievable, as long as oil and gas prices don’t fall well below today’s levels,” he said.

He added: “This is important, as the cost of solar electricity in Singapore competes with conventional electricity. For larger rooftop installations of more than one MWp, the cost of the generated solar electricity is already lower than the typical commercial electricity rates, and in many cases even lower than the wholesale market price.”

While the increase in solar deployment is likely to occur in tandem with an overall increase in energy use, Prof Subodh and Dr Reindl are confident that solar would still be able to contribute about 4 per cent to Singapore’s energy mix by 2030, due to Singapore’s focus on energy efficiency.

Dr Reindl said that while some increase in energy demand would be from population growth, the main impact would come from existing and new industries, and possibly the shift from combustion engines to electric cars in the transport sector.

He added: “In all cases there are already measures or plans underway to proactively manage future electricity demand. Therefore, I am confident that the 4 per cent of total annual electricity demand by 2030 is achievable.”

REDUCING ENERGY USAGE THROUGH DESIGN

Even as Singapore moves to green its fuel mix, the country should also see how its energy usage can be managed, Mr Chan said.

In charting Singapore’s progress toward a future with a sustainable, reliable and affordable supply of energy, Mr Chan said managing energy demand was also important.

“I think we need to see how we can save on our usage of energy,” he said. Key to this is design, he noted, citing the unnecessary cooling of an entire hall to keep its occupants comfortable.

Said Mr Chan: “If you look at a typical audience hall, we just need to cool two meters up from the ground level to provide thermal comfort to the audience. Much of the cooling for the rest of the building is probably unnecessary.”

The importance of design also applies to the broader scale, he said, from the design of individual buildings to clusters of buildings, industries, and residential areas.

For example, technology can be harnessed to determine exactly how much cooling is needed, he said.

And in Singapore, the direction a building faces could have significant impact on its occupants’ energy consumption, not just because of where the sun rises and sets, but also where the wind is coming from, said Mr Chan.

“So how we design the precinct to make full use of the natural ventilation to reduce the cooling needs will be both an opportunity and a challenge,” he added.

Singapore also has the opportunity to refresh the entire island’s infrastructure in the next 50 years, he said, unlike other urban cities which grow as an urban sprawl, randomly and organically.

Efficient design could minimise the energy wasted in transporting people and goods across the island, and get rid of the “tidal effects” of traffic patterns, he said.

This essentially refers to the surge of people travelling in one direction to get to work – usually from north to south and east to west in the mornings – and back home in the other.

Said Mr Chan: “But if we can progressively redesign the entire Singapore, we will get rid of this tidal effect, which will lead to a much more efficient use of our transportation system and network, and certainly the amount of energy that we will need for the entire system.”

But even as Singapore continues to explore new technologies, and build new buildings with zero carbon footprints, the challenge would be to find cost-effective ways of retrofitting existing buildings and precincts and make them energy-efficient, he said.

“That is the area where the Energy Market Authority, together with (industrial developer) JTC, are looking at new capabilities to see how we can help existing… sites convert into much more energy efficient sites.”

Source: Zaobao / The Straits Times