Hi everyone, I will be going for reservist training in the Army for the next 2 weeks. So no updates for the time being (I promise to squeeze in short updates whenever possible).
So why not take this chance to go through some of the previous articles that you might have missed out? 
I’ll be back!
In a flash, the Star Bamboo blog has already been up and running for just over a month now. How has the experience been?
Without a doubt, it has been a highly positive move. In the past month alone, we have reached out to hundreds of new visitors, and strengthened our relationship with existing clients.
We discussed a huge variety of topics, including:
Half of these topics weren’t even in our original agenda when we started the blog. You can be sure that the topics will continue to evolve and change.
Corporate blogging is a relatively new phenomenon in Singapore. It’s hardly surprising when you consider that many Singapore companies, especially SMEs, don’t even have a corporate web site.
A simple corporate web site would cost only hundreds of dollars to set up, and much less to maintain. With such low costs involved, there aren’t many excuses not to have one.
A corporate blog is even cheaper. This Star Bamboo blog has an extremely attractive price tag: It’s free.
Now you have no reason not to have one. Why not start one today?
Yesterday I helped to publicise the Eco Action Day event on 5 June, which is organised to coincide with World Environment Day (WED).
What’s WED, you ask? To be honest, I’ve never heard of it either until 3 days ago.
It is a United Nations initiated global initiative, and the first was held way back in 1972. Each year, a city will host a week-long international exposition to discuss various environmental issues.
For example, this year’s topic is “Melting Ice – A Hot Topic?” and will be focusing on climate changes and the effects on ice- and snowcovered areas of the world.
That description pretty much sums up why after more than three decades, you’d struggle to find anyone familiar with this.
Now, I’m not saying that it’s of no use. In fact, it’s probably an excellent opportunity for academics and policy makers to exchange ideas.
But for the typical man in the street, this day will simply pass us by.
Which is why Star Bamboo supports the Eco Action Day:
I have two suggestions to make it even more meaningful:
Firstly, encourage participating companies to carry on beyond 5 June. Don’t just do it for a day, do it every day.
Secondly, it’s not just for the office – you can do the same at home as well.
Good luck!
The Singapore Environment Council is organising an Eco Action Day on 5 June 2007, to raise awareness of environmental issues among companies.
Not much effort is required, just a simple flick of the switch to turn off any unnecessary lighting or office equipment.
I have already signed up Star Bamboo for this programme, to show our support and commitment to reduce energy wastage. The lights for our Singapore warehouse are usually turned on whenever we step into the adjoining office. Now, we will only turn on the lights when we actually retrieve stocks from it.
It’s a simple act, but it will save us 1/3 off our lighting bills. It’s so simple that we will be practising it every day starting right now – why limit yourself to 5 June?
Although this Eco Action Day programme is meant for Singapore companies only, all overseas visitors reading this are welcome to start similar initiatives in your company.
It’s easy, it’s simple, and speaks volumes of your commitment to the environment. If you decide to join in this effort, please drop me an email to tell me all about it. I’m all ears!
OK, better sign up first because the 28 May deadline is just around the corner. Click here to register now!
People know Star Bamboo for our eco-friendly bamboo flooring, but we also offer other bamboo products. One of our most popular and versatile products is bamboo veneer.
Bamboo veneer are thin sheets of bamboo material, with a frieze cotton backing to minimise breakage. They typically come in 4′ by 8′ sheets of 0.6mm thickness, and are made by thinly slicing big blocks of bamboo material.
The beauty of bamboo veneer is its flexibility. Our bamboo material, like that of bamboo flooring, is very hard and strong. But this strength can be a double-edged sword, making it difficult to mould and press.
Bamboo veneer, on the other hand, is so flexible that it can be used to wrap curved surfaces. The most popular application of bamboo veneer is on kitchen and bedroom cabinets.
But it can be so much more than that.
The big news last weekend in Singapore was the announcement by S Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister of State for Trade and Industry that the F1 carnival is finally coming to our shores.
F1 is the most un-green sport today. Today’s Straits Times newspaper carried an article with some fascinating nuggets of information to show just how polluting it is:
Coincidentally, S Iswaran was also the Guest-of-Honour at the prize-awarding ceremony for the Eco Products International Fair (EPIF) 2006 where Star Bamboo won the Silver Medal for our bamboo flooring:
The EPIF and F1 are at opposite ends of the eco-friendliness scale, but there is one common link.
From the outset, the Singapore government has cited commercial reasons for courting F1: tourism receipts, branding of Singapore as a cosmopolitan and glamourous city to 500 million television viewers, and jobs creation.
That is why the Singapore government has committed itself to spending up to S$90m per year for the F1 race. If green businesses were ever to enjoy this level of support, we would have to demonstrate the same kind of ROI.
After all, it’s just business.
A few days ago, I posted an entry questioning the high prices of Funkin Function’s scrap wood skateboards, and its adverse impact on the acceptance of eco-friendly products.
After that, I got an email from Daniel Moyer, the designer behind Funkin Function. He has agreed for his email to be reproduced here, so that readers may understand his side of the story.
Below are the main excerpts from his email, along with some of my thoughts:
Your only mistake is in assuming that I am a manufacturer. On the contrary, I am a one-man one-at-a-time furniture maker using the scrap from my furniture pieces to make similarly artistic longboard skateboards.
Each board is composed. Stock is arranged for visual statement and for physical characteristics that might contribute to the natural flex that makes these boards so nice to ride. Then I thickness plane, joint the ends. biscuit for reference, glue-up, rough sand, shape, mill for truck-mounting, finish sand, wet-sand-in a slurry coat of oil, buff off the slurry, and finish with a few coatings of hand-rubbed oil.
A one-man operation (OMO) like Daniel Moyer’s is still a manufacturer. But I see his point that he does not have the economies of scale. These skateboards are more akin to works of art – hand-crafted and one of a kind.
As a business model for manufacturing, this is a disaster. I’m not on a green mission; I’m just trying to be responsible with my own waste stream and make a wage from my time.
As a businessman, Daniel Moyer is entirely justified in pricing his product at what he considers to be a fair price. His rationale for the high prices is that his skateboards are entirely hand-made and artistic.
Where we disagree is what that price should be: his costs of production are low, and after taking into account the amount of manual work, I feel that he could still turn in a healthy profit even with lowered prices.
I realize that being thrust into the eco-spotlight by the BKLYNDESIGNS coverage leaves me open to whatever criticism I have coming to me. However, if someone were to imply I was seeking to milk or even bang the buying public while flying the green flag, I would find that most insulting.
I had never intended to imply that Daniel Moyer was taking advantage of the eco-conscious customer.
My point was that eco-friendly products should be more attractively priced to attract mainstream customers. Pricing them too expensively might actually slow down the green movement, as it creates a misleading impression that green goods are only for the rich and privileged.
And if the product is not intended to be positioned as a green product, then why not play down the “scrap wood” and promote the “hand made” and “artistic” parts?
There, I hope I have given a fair account of both sides of the story. Feel free to tell me what you think.
This ChannelNewsAsia report caught my eye this morning – “Easier entry for green energy suppliers”.
Unfortunately, reality is not as rosy as the headline.
The electricity market in Singapore is tightly controlled, and previously monopolised by Singapore Power – a corporatised body spun off from a government statutory board.
Liberalisation first started in January 2003, and it has been a slow process. The industry regulator Energy Market Authority (EMA) is doing it in slow, painful phases, beginning with the commercial sector.
The “easier entry” above simply refers to the scrapping of a relatively paltry $5,000 joining fee to join the energy market as an energy provider.
More than 4 years later, the entire domestic market of 1.2 million households in Singapore remain tightly bound to one company – SP Services (which happens to be a subsidiary company of Singapore Power).
It’ll be 2009 before a pilot trial to let the average consumer buy from other electricity providers even begins. Give or take another 2 years for the trial to be completed and analysed, it will easily be 2011 before we begin to see real alternative choices in the electricity market.
Even more astonishingly, the same CNA report above says that Singapore is planning to test by 2009 if renewable energies e.g. solar and wind power, can be fed into our national power grid.
I’m no energy expert, but it sounds like a relatively straightforward task. The Chief Executive of the wholesale market operator, Energy Market Company (EMC), Mr Dave Darlson himself admitted “there are no technical constraints to prevent renewable energy generators from joining the market“.
All these delays are highly unfortunate. The reason is simple – solar power.
Bamboo is a beautiful sustainable material. It’s strong, durable and extremely fast growing. Did you know that some species of bamboo have been known to grow an astonishing 1 metre in a single day?
No wonder companies have been making all sorts of products from it for years, from flooring to chopping boards and other household items.
Star Bamboo was one of the first companies to make furniture out of the bamboo material. But it’s a matter of time before other companies caught on to this.
This may sound a bit odd coming from a manufacturer of eco-friendly bamboo flooring, but you really shouldn’t be paying over the top for eco-friendly products.
I have discussed this issue before. It is perfectly understandable if prices are higher due to higher costs of manufacturing. But we have to ask ourselves, is it a fair price?
