In Singapore, buses have been given the green light to find new ways to reduce emissions(排放) and improve the air quality of their services.
Last month, GWS Living Art, a company specializing in urban green structures installed (安装) green roofs on 10 public buses. While a bus might not seem like the typical location for a green roof, the installation could provide environmental and economic benefits. According to research by Michigan State University, green roofs are great at reducing polluting emissions, providing spaces for nature and cooling cities through the water that evaporates(蒸发) from their leaves and by shading surfaces that would otherwise absorb heat.
"While the impact of green plants on buildings has been well documented, much less is known about the effects of them on moving vehicles," said Tan Chun Liang, a research fellow at National University of Singapore who advises the "Garden on the Move" bus campaign. This bus campaign is part of a three-month study to test whether green plants can help lower the temperature inside the buses and reduce the amount of fuel needed to power the air-conditioning. Liang hopes the research will provide a possible solution for cities to fight against global warming and the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect -- when a city experiences much warmer temperatures than nearby rural areas, due to the heat produced and absorbed by industry, traffic and building materials.
To make Singapore a "Garden City," the government has joint this bus campaign with other green projects such as the Green Mark Scheme which aims for 80% of buildings to be green by 2030 and Gardens by the Bay, an eco-friendly garden featuring solar-powered "supertrees"' and over 1.5 million plants.
