Venjamin’s SIT Blog

Critical Reflection

In the first week of effective communication lesson, I have mentioned 2 outcomes I wished to achieve after this module; the ability to present more confidently and improvement in my ability to write.

Through the technical report project, I have improved my writing skills with the feedback from my teammates and Professor Brad. Looking back at my polytechnic days, I realized that my report writing has many sentence structure, grammar, subject-verb agreement issues, and most importantly APA citation. With poor citations, it can lead to plagiarism which is a serious matter. However, under the guidance of Professor Brad and my teammates, I was able to improve on my writing and learning the proper techniques for citations.

Having the honour to present our idea at the Presentation Showcase was a great opportunity for me to improve my presentation skills. As compared to the presentation conducted in the classroom, it was a vast difference for Presentation Showcase. Not only was it conducted in the lecture theatre, but I had to present to my cohort, professors and judges. Through the Presentation Showcase, I have identified my strengths and weaknesses. What I believe to be my strength would be the ability to present my idea in a clear-cut manner. On the contrary, my weaknesses would be vocalized pauses as I was trembling and even faltered on my words during my presentation. Comparing the presentation in the lecture theatre to the classroom, I felt that my voice projection was slightly better.

To me, the main key take-away from the presentation was confidence. With confidence, it entices the audience and creates a strong impression of the product. Presenting to a large crowd was a nerve-wracking experience for me. Nevertheless, it was a great exposure for me to improve on my presentation skills and gained feedback from the judges.

To conclude, this module was a fun and enjoyable lesson. Besides, I was able to achieve my goals and understand the importance of communication professionally. All these would not be made possible without my classmates and Professor Brad. Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to each individual for their time and effort spent in making these possible.

#Edit Summary_Reader Response “Singapore Revs Up Engines for Autonomous Vehicle”

Dear Professor Blackstone,

Thank you for spending time to read and provide feedback on my reader response. I have made some amendments based on the feedback.

In this article “Singapore Revs Up Engines for Autonomous Vehicles Race”, Noble (2019) stated that as Singapore has been trying to merge autonomous vehicles into its transport system, several government agencies came up with a temporary national standard called “Technical Reference 68(TR 68)” to advocate the safety of fully deployable autonomous vehicles (AVs). It was further elaborated that TR68 plays an essential role in covering four important aspects of AV deployment; automobile performance, safety, network security and statistic configurations. According to Nobel, this standard will not only enhance the safety of AVs but also uplift Singapore’s development and adoption of AVs. Although Noble has stated that complying with the TR68 standard will ensure AVs deployed are safe to a certain extent, other factors that affect safety like the AV processing system, the detection system and weather conditions must be taken into consideration before AV deployment can be considered safe.

The first factor that makes AV deployment safe is the processing system of the AV. The processing system acts as the “brain” of the AV. It takes in information from sensors and responds according to the situation. With the “brain” being an essential aspect of AV, failure of the processing system can be a minacious issue. One example was found in the article written by Felton (2018). The article stated that on 20 January 2016, a driver was travelling on a highway in China when his Tesla crashed into the rear of a road-sweeping truck, resulting in his death. An SD memory card installed in the car and AV experts determined that the autopilot mode was turned on throughout the drive, but it did not stop the car when it was nearing the stationary truck. In addition, there was no warning alert. While there was no definitive explanation stated in the article on how this accident occurred, it was likely a malfunction in the processing system that caused the car to not respond appropriately to the information fed by the sensors. This shows that there is still room for improvement in enhancing the functionality of AV’s processing system

Another aspect that needs to be taken into consideration for the safe deployment of AV is the detection system of the AV. The detection system acts as the “eyes” of an AV to detect objects on the road. Thus, failure in the detection system could result in dire consequences. This was supported by a magazine article written by T.S. (2018). The article stated that on 18 March 2018, a pedestrian was killed in the night by an AV, even though the vehicle was equipped with a “Lidar” detection system. It was further elaborated that the “Lidar” detection system has the capability to detect objects around the car even at night. Contrary to this claim, the detection system misclassified the pedestrian as an unidentified object and failed to engage its emergency brakes despite being on autonomous mode, resulting in the fatality of the pedestrian. Such fatality accident has proved that AVs up to the present time are incapable of enhancing safety and improvements must be made to minimize such incident from occurring.

Lastly, the unpredictability of weather conditions needs to be considered for the safe deployment of AV too. Harsh weather conditions such as rain or snow could prevent AVs from functioning properly and safely. This was supported by Resnick (2019) stating that these harsh weather conditions can change the way an AV distinguishes objects on the road. Firstly, harsh weather conditions could blur or block the “eyes” of the AV which could potentially cause AVs to confuse the weather conditions as obstacles. Secondly, such conditions can cover road signage such as speed limit and prevent the detection system from gathering the essential information it needs. With the inability to detect road signage, it will hinder the system from functioning which may result in fatality accidents.

Singapore is a country that focuses on safety for commuters. Adhering to the TR68 standard indeed helps in the safe deployment of AV, but only to a certain extent. Therefore, other factors need to be evaluated as well before AV deployment can be considered fully safe.

References:

Felton, R. (2018, February 27). Two Years On, A Father Is Still Fighting Tesla Over Autopilot And His Son’s Fatal Crash. Retrieved from https://jalopnik.com/two-years-on-a-father-is-still-fighting-tesla-over-aut-1823189786

Noble, L.W. (2019, July 8). Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicle race. Singapore Business Review. Retrieved from https://sbr.com.sg/transport-logistics/exclusive/singapore-revs-engines-autonomous-vehicle-race

Resnick, J. (2019, January 29). How Does Weather Affect Self-Driving Cars? Retrieved from https://ride.tech/self-driving/how-does-weather-affect-self-driving-cars/

T.S. (2018, May 29). Why Uber’s self-driving car killed a pedestrian. The Economist. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/05/29/why-ubers-self-driving-car-killed-a-pedestrian

Annotated Summary

Kishan., Rahul,K., Rohan,T., & Anshul,J. (2018). Production of Mycelium Bricks. Retrieved from https://ijisrt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Production-of-Mycelium-Brick.pdf

This article focuses on the production process of mycelium bricks which also include the comparison between mycelium brick and conventional brick. From the article, it stated that block producing industries emit many highly concentrated harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. It was further elaborated that the industry contributed approximately 28% of sulphur oxides and 8.8% of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. Over time, with these pollutants being released into the atmosphere, it could cause people to be struck down with cardiovascular, pneumoconiosis, silicosis, etc. Therefore, mycelium brick was introduced to replace conventional brick. As compared to the production of conventional bricks, mycelium brick was produced using agriculture waste, fungi seeds and water, which does not release harmful pollutants. Thus, reducing the chances of people getting diseases.
Producing mycelium brick is not a difficult task and requires approximately 20days. Firstly, fungi seeds and water were mixed in agriculture waste to produce mycelium. Subsequently, the mycelium will be transferred into the brick mould to take its shape. Lastly, the mycelium brick will be kept in the oven at 200 degrees celsius for some time to hardened. From the process of producing mycelium bricks, it has clearly show that mycelium brick is a more environmentally friendly solution as compared to standard bricks.
This article provides information for our research project on persuading government agencies to adopt the use of mycelium bricks as compared to standard bricks in terms of environmental sustainability. It provides useful information with the process of how mycelium bricks were created without emitting harmful substances to the atmosphere which can affect human health.

#Draft 3 Technical Report

1. Background

This report responds to a call for proposal to recommend an engineering solution to a specific problem in the built environment sector.

Cement is inarguably the most used and crucial construction resource since civilizations came into existence. Over the years, especially in recent decades, buildings are becoming bigger and taller. In the year 1998, the Petronas twin towers, the two tallest buildings at that time stood at 452m (Kazmierchak and Gramsbergen, 2005). Today, the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa which stands at 828m, uses 330,000m3 of concrete(Burj Khalifa, n.d.). Rodger (2018) states that most of our concrete in the world is being used to construct buildings and that the main ingredient of concrete is cement, whose production contributes to 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, which is equivalent to 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year.

In addition, the process of producing bricks in kilns not only releases carbon into our atmosphere but also large amounts of pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and black carbon into the atmosphere. (Climate and Clean Air , n.d.). These effects are not easily reversed and will accumulate in the earth’s atmosphere much to the suffering of future generations.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) mentioned in their special report that it is essential to maintain global temperature within 1.5 degree celsius. A one-degree increment of global temperature can result in a drastic increase of the atmospheric temperature. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) statistics, the global temperature in September 2009 was 0.62 degree celsius. Currently, the global temperature is at 0.95 degree celsius, an increment of 0.33 degree celsius. With this constant rate of increment, it will definitely affect people around the world, including Singapore.

Singapore generated 52.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2017 which contributed 0.11% of global carbon emissions, that equates to 8,000 tonnes of CO2 per capita in that year (Tan, 2019). According to Dr Muhammad Eeqmal Hassim, senior research scientist with the MSS Centre for Climate Research Singapore, the constant rise of carbon emissions around the world will lead to an increase of Singapore’s to 40 degrees celsius by 2045 (Low, 2019). Therefore, it is necessary for Singapore to reduce the amount of carbon emission.

The rising of carbon emissions from production of conventional bricks have led Bricknology to source out sustainable alternatives for brick production. Bricknology has identified mycelium brick as an alternative brick to replace conventional bricks. Mycelium brick is an environmentally friendly brick which does not require coal for its production as it is created through organic components and fungus. It is praised for its super strength, ability to withstand harsh conditions, low cost, health benefits and its eco-friendliness. In New York City, an architecture firm called “The Living” created a 40 feet tower, “Hi-Fy Tower” with mycelium bricks in 2014. David Benjamin, principal architect of The Living stated that on top of being cheaper to produce, mycelium bricks requires minimal energy for growth, in fact, it decomposes waste to grow and does not produce any waste itself; this in itself is a revolutionary technique for producing building materials (Brownstone, 2014).

The use of mycelium bricks in construction is still in its infancy stage and based on existing research, mycelium bricks shows very promising potential in sustainability and mid tier construction projects. Bricknology wishes to implement the use of mycelium bricks in the upcoming Build-to-Order (BTO) flat at Sembawang area as a pilot programme. The team have selected Sembawang as there will be more public housing in the northern region of Singapore around existing and upcoming mass rapid transport(MRT) stations, including the newly opened canberra MRT.

1.1 Current practices for public housing in Sembawang area

The team had observed that the bricks used to build the internal structure of the house in Sembawang were made up of in-situ reinforced concrete walls, precast concrete walls and masonry walls. In-situ reinforced concrete walls and mansory are made on site whereas precast concrete wall is made in the factory and assembled on the worksite.

1.2 Problem Statement

Ideally, Building Construction Authority (BCA) should authorise the use of mycelium brick for all future construction. However, BCA is not implementing the use of mycelium bricks despite its potential as a sustainable material for construction.

1.3 Purpose Statement

The purpose of this report is to convince Building & Construction Authority to adopt the idea of using mycelium bricks and initiate a pilot project in the upcoming Build-to-Order (BTO) flat at Sembawang area.

2. Proposed Solution

The team has referenced online research done for sustainable bricks has decided to propose the use of mycelium brick on the upcoming BTO flat at Sembawang area for BCA to consider.

2.1 Use mycelium bricks in place of conventional bricks

The team conducted a site visit to the upcoming BTO public housing in sembawang area. The team was told and observed that bricks used to build internal walls for the houses were mainly by concrete and clay bricks. It was further elaborated by the construction staff that in Singapore, most internal walls in buildings uses concrete or clay bricks because of its ability and cost.

The production of concrete and clay bricks involves burning fossil fuels to heat the bricks to high temperatures which produces a high amount of CO2 as a by-product. It is also noteworthy that the production of concrete and clay bricks produces a ratio of 1 tonne of bricks to about 250kg of CO2 (Rathi, 2017).

To reduce the amount of carbon emission, the team proposes the use of mycelium bricks. Mycelium is an organ belonging to fungi that plays the role of digesting and absorbing nutrients for the fungi. The current technique for growing mycelium bricks incorporates a process of decomposing organic waste materials such as agricultural waste and sawdust, allowing the mycelium to grow in a mould and drying them after to inhibit growth to retain the shape (Bonnefin, 2018).

Although growing mycelium bricks does produce CO2, the production process comes at a sustainable cost of decomposing organic waste. This is a sustainable method of growing the mycelium as the mycelium is recycling essential nutrients from the organic waste (Hebel, Javadian, Saedi, 2019). Furthermore, at the end of a building’s estimated safe habitable lifespan, the building has to be torn down with its bricks. Concrete, the main bulk of what forms a building cannot be recycled, which means that the carbon used to produce these concrete bricks can never be reused. On the contrary, mycelium brick, given the right conditions, is easily biodegradable into soil which recycles the nutrients (Critical Concrete, 2018). In comparison with producing the same number of concrete or clay bricks, mycelium bricks produces less CO2 by a large margin.

With the incorporation of mycelium bricks into the built environment, BCA would be a leader in Singapore’s sustainability, using naturally made bricks that is at the same time, biodegradable after its projected life expectancy.

3. Benefits of Proposed Solutions

The team’s proposed solutions can lead to many benefits for Singapore’s built environment sector.

3.1 Physical Capabilities

Mycelium brick is fifty six times per cubic meter lighter than your typical conventional bricks. Despite it being lighter compared to conventional bricks, mycelium bricks are stronger than conventional bricks in terms of pound-for-pound (Critical concrete, 2018). It is capable to withstand a high amount of compression force. Mycelium bricks can be grown in a controlled environment where the mycelium is grown in such a way so as to produce desired physical capabilities. In one such experiment, the results are a mycelium brick that is 200,000 times more ductile than steel, 10,000 more rigid than brick while still able to support the weight of 50 cars (Abrams, 2014). As proven from architectural structures, it is able to withstand external factors such as wind and rain.

3.2 Fire Resistance

Although mycelium does take a shorter time to ignite in comparison with clay and concrete, the beauty about mycelium bricks is that the moment the outer layer is burnt, a layer of char forms on the surface of the mycelium which actually increases the flame resistance of the entire brick itself (Jones, Bhat, Wang, John & Moinuddin, 2017). This results in the bricks actually being able to last longer in prolonged fires, maintaining its structural integrity long enough so that the building does not collapse under its own weight, leaving room for people to escape.

3.3 Good thermal insulation

Mycelium insulation has way better R-value and EPS R- value as compared to conventional insulation boards. It does not absorb heat as fast as the conventional boards (Critical Concrete, 2018). R-value is a measure of resistance to heat flow through a given thickness of material. The higher it is, the greater the resistance to heat flow. It is also thinner and lighter which makes it easier for construction process.

3.4 Environmentally friendly

Mycelium is 100% biodegradable as it is an organic compound. It does not release any toxic or volatile compounds when biologically broken down. It is a common misconception that since mycelium is an organic compound, it will therefore rot easily overtime. However, this is easily prevented by drying and coating the mycelium brick to protect it from moisture.
3.5 Health

From an article “Production of Mycelium brick”, (Kishan, Rahul, Rohan & Anshul, 2018) stated that the production of conventional bricks releases many toxic pollutants such as carbon monoxide and sulphur oxides. It was further elaborated that such pollutants causes 27% of people to pass on due to cardiovascular related diseases and pneumoconiosis. As mycelium brick uses bio-based materials, it reduces the amount of toxic pollutants being released into the atmosphere. With the decrement of toxic pollutants, it will reduce the chance of people getting diseases.
3.6 Production

The production of mycelium brick is simple and versatile. Pieces of agricultural waste materials and natural organic materials can be used to make mycelium bricks, thus reducing the use of fossil fuel required when using kiln. The reduction of fossil fuel usage will result in less CO2 emissions.
3.7 Economical

Mycelium bricks does not rely on conventional factories which uses expensive machines and materials but just a mould and waste material. This reduces overall cost of production by a huge margin. A square foot of mycelia material costs around $50 (Chitnavis,2019). It only requires more human effort to put the materials together but overall it does not cost as much as producing conventional bricks.

4. Limitations of proposed solution

4.1 Production

Mycelium takes time to grow, taking a few days to weeks to be able to use it as a component to make the bricks. External factors such as temperature and moisture affects the rate of growth of the mycelium. Due to the uncertainty in its completion, it affects the marketability as an easily accessible product.

4.2 Long term

Mycelium bricks are still in the early stages in their line of production. As a result, the full capabilities of these bricks have yet to be known. Much of its credibility is theoretical as to how long it is able to last in residential and non residential buildings. It might be the solution to replacing all conventional bricks but because mycelium bricks have only been around for about 5 years, no concrete research is available for these bricks in a 50 year lifespan. No matter how much research and claims from experts that says it will last, it will only remain as projections. The only thing we are able to fully trust is to wait until it reaches its maximum brick lifespan.

4.3 Compromised structural integrity

After the drying phase, the mycelium has to be completely dry to kill off all of the fungus to inhibit its growth. If the drying phase is not done properly, the fungus can still grow which risks the brick rotting and losing its structural integrity. If the structural integrity of the brick is at risk, it may collapse and endanger its occupants.

5. Methods & Procedures

The team came across an article stating that conventional bricks uses mainly concrete and masonry which releases harmful pollutants during the process of burning in the kiln. Therefore, the team decided to research on alternative of bricks which is environmentally friendly and found out about mycelium bricks. This section details the methods used by the team to gather information for the report.

5.1 Primary Research

The team went down to Sembawang public housing estate and conducted interviews with construction staff to find out the type of bricks they were using for construction site. As most of the construction workers were from India, they mentioned that India is a country that produce most of the conventional bricks. As one of the team members used to work as a hotel technician, he was able to observe the type of cement and bricks that they were using.

5.2 Secondary Research

The team did research through articles, government websites and newspapers for relevant information of mycelium bricks.

6. Conclusion

Climate change has been an ongoing issue in the world and urgent actions are needed to prevent it. BCA can take action through piloting the use of mycelium bricks to reduce Singapore’s demand of conventional bricks. With the reduction of demand, the supply of conventional bricks will be reduced thus leading to lesser carbon emissions.

Other than implementing the proposed solution, BCA can also explore other environmentally sustainable alternatives and try it in a pilot programme.

With BCA paving the way through promoting the use of mycelium brick, the private sector will be inspired to follow suit. Collectively, Singapore will be discouraging the use of conventional bricks and thus reducing its contribution to carbon emissions in the world.

Reference:

Abrams,M. (2014, October 22). Construction materials made from ‘shrooms’. The American society of mechanical engineers. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/construction-materials-made-from-shrooms

Critical Concrete. (2019, January). Mycelium cardboard insulation. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://criticalconcrete.com/mycelium-cardboard-insulation/

Consiglio.L(2019, July 11). Eco-conscious construction: Three innovative solutions for sustainable builds. Pbctoday. Retrieved October 23, 2019, from https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/planning-construction-news/sustainable-builds/59900/

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2018, October 8). Summary for Policymakers of IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C approved by governments. Retrieved September 28, 2019, from https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/

National Climate Change Secretary. (n.d). Singapore’s Emission Profile. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.nccs.gov.sg/climate-change-and-singapore/national-circumstances/singapore’s-emissions-profile

Rodgers.L (2018, December 17). Climate change: The massive CO2 emitter you may not know about. BBC News. Retrieved September 28, 2019, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46455844

Sustainable Design Collective. (2015). Importance of sustainable architecture and design. Retrieved October 20, 2015, from https://www.sustainabledesigncollective.co.uk/kit-homes/importance-sustainable-architecture-design/

Youjin.L.(2019, August 5). Temperatures in Singapore could hit 40°C as early as 2045: Scientists. Today online. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-could-swelter-through-40degc-days-2045-if-business-usual-emissions

Climate & Clean Air Coalition. Bricks (2019). Retrieved from https://www.ccacoalition.org/ar/node/72

Brownstone.S (2014, October 2). This crazy brick structure is grown from mushrooms and can keep itself cool all summer. Fast Company. Retrieved October 23, 2019, from https://www.fastcompany.com/3026177/this-crazy-brick-structure-is-grown-from-mushrooms-and-can-keep-itself-cool-all-summer

Rathi.A. (2017, December 6). The material that built the modern world is also destroying it. Here’s a fix. Quartz. Retrieved October 23, 2019,from https://qz.com/1123875/the-material-that-built-the-modern-world-is-also-destroying-it-heres-a-fix/

Global climate report-September 2019 (2019). Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201909

Chitnavis.S(2019, January 25). Fungi fantasies: The future is made up of mushrooms. Tech spotlight. Retrieved October 23, 2019 from https://www.science-entrepreneur.com/blog-1/fungi-fantasie

Producing mycelium insulation (2018, October 31). Retrieved October 15, 2019, from https://criticalconcrete.com/producing-mycelium-insulation/

Foster.J(2014, February 9). Insulation grown from fungi. Arch daily. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.archdaily.com/473052/insulation-grown-from-funghi

Dikarya (2014, November 14). A mushroom material project. Retrieved September 28, 2019, from https://www.slideshare.net/funk97/ecovative-mushroom-material

#Draft 2 Technical Report

Background

This report responds to a call for proposal to recommend an engineering solution to a specific problem in the built environment sector.

Cement is inarguably the most used and crucial construction resource since civilizations came into existence and more buildings that are bigger and taller will inevitably be constructed in the future. Rodger (2018) states that most of our concrete in the world is being used to construct buildings and that the main ingredient of concrete is cement, whose production contributes to 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, which is equivalent to 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year.

According to Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), the process of producing bricks in kilns releases large amounts of pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and black carbon into the atmosphere. These effects are not easily reversed and will accumulate in the earth’s atmosphere much to the suffering of future generations.

Based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the global temperature in September 2009 was 0.62 degree celsius. Currently, the global temperature is at 0.95 degree celsius. Despite it being under 1.5 degrees, there was a 0.32 degree increase of global temperature within a decade.

Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, mentioned that Singapore generated 52.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2017 which contributed 0.11% of global emissions, that equates to 8,000 tonnes of CO2 per capita in that year (Tan, 2019). According to Dr Muhammad Eeqmal Hassim, senior research scientist with the MSS Centre for Climate Research Singapore (as cited from Channel News Asia), with the rise of carbon emission, it will lead to an increase of Singapore’s daily temperature from 35 to 37 degrees celsius (Hassim, 2019).

The most direct way Bricknology can contribute to the reduction of climate change is through convincing BCA to adopt the idea of using mycelium bricks in Yio Chu Kang private housing estate as a pilot programme. By implementing the use of mycelium bricks as a pilot programme in Yio Chu Kang private housing estate, the team hopes that Singapore could set an example to the world that mycelium bricks can help in reducing the overall global greenhouse gas emissions problem.

1.1 Current practices for Yio Chu Kang private housing

The team had observed that the bricks used to build the internal structure of the house in Yio Chu Kang private housing were made up of clay and concrete.

1.2 Problem Statement

Building Construction Authority (BCA) to authorized the use of mycelium brick for all future construction. However, BCA is not implementing the use of mycelium bricks despite its potential.

1.3 Purpose Statement

The purpose of this report is to convince Building & Construction Authority to adopt the idea of using mycelium bricks and initiate a pilot project in Yio Chu Kang private housing estate.

2. Proposed Solution

The team has referenced online research done for sustainable bricks and have decided to propose a solution for BCA to consider:

2.1 Use mycelium bricks in place of conventional bricks

The team conducted interviews with the construction supervisors and workers in Yio Chu Kang private housing during a site visit. The team was told and observed that bricks used in Yio Chu Kang private estate houses to build internal walls were mainly by concrete and clay bricks.

The production of making these bricks involve heating the bricks to high temperatures which produces a high amount of CO2 as a by-product. It is also noteworthy that the production of concrete and clay bricks produces a ratio of 1 tonne of bricks to about 250kg of CO2 (Rathi, 2017).

Mycelium is an organ belonging to fungi that plays the role of digesting and absorbing nutrients for the fungi. The current technique for growing mycelium bricks incorporates a process of decomposition and drying.

Mycelium bricks reduces the carbon emission of producing the same number of concrete or clay bricks by a large margin.

3. Advantages of mycelium bricks

3.1 Good physical capabilities

Mycelium bricks is fifty six times per cubic meter lighter than your typical conventional bricks. It is capable to withstand a high amount of compression force. Mycelium bricks can be grown in a controlled environment where the mycelium is grown in such a way so as to produce desired physical capabilities. In one such experiment, the results are a mycelium brick that is 200,000 times more ductile than steel, 10,000 more rigid than brick while still able to support the weight of 50 cars (Abrams, ???). As proven from architectural structures, it is able to withstand external factors such as wind and rain.

3.2 Fire resistance

Although mycelium does take a shorter time to ignite in comparison with clay and concrete, the beauty about mycelium bricks is that the moment the outer layer is burnt, a layer of char forms on the surface of the mycelium which actually increases the flame resistance of the entire brick itself. This results in the bricks actually being able to last longer in prolonged fires, maintaining its structural integrity long enough so that the building does not collapse under its own weight., leaving room for people to escape.

3.3 Good thermal insulation

Mycelium insulation has way better R-value and EPS R- value as compared to conventional insulation boards.It does not absorb heat as fast as the conventional boards. It is also thinner and lighter which makes it easier for construction process.

3.4 Environmental effects
Mycelium are 100% biodegradable and they can be found in abundance on the planet. It does not release any volatile organic compounds. As it is made up of fungi, people will get the misconception that overtime it will turn rotten and start releasing foul smell and release harmful gases. Thus it will not release any external harmful effects.

3.5 Resources and production

The production of mycelium does not cost much as it uses bio-based materials and is biologically grown. Even pieces of agricultural waste materials and natural bio materials can be used to make mycelium bricks. It does not rely on factories for producing mycelium bricks unlike conventional bricks. Thus hugely reducing the use of artificial energy and the amount of CO2s to produce mycelium.

4. Disadvantages of mycelium bricks

4.1 Weak compressive strength

Mycelium bricks can only withstand 30 psi whereas a concrete block can withstand 4000 psi to 10,000 psi. Mycelium bricks can not support as much weight as compared to a normal concrete block.

4.2 Production

As mycelium takes time to grow, it might take a few days to weeks to be able to use it as a component to make the bricks. External factors such as temperature and moisture might delay the growth of the mycelium.

4.3 Long term

#Draft 1 Technical Report

Background

This report respond to a call for proposal to recommend an engineering solution to a specific problem in the built environment case of focus. The team decided to convince Building & Construction Authority to adopt the idea of using mycelium bricks and initiate a pilot project in Yio Chu Kang private housing estate.

Cement is inarguably the most used and crucial construction resource since civilizations came into existence and more buildings that are bigger and taller will inevitably be constructed in the future. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) states that most of our concrete in the world is being used to construct buildings and that the main ingredient of concrete is cement, whose production contributes to 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, which is equivalent to 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year (BBC, 2018).

Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, mentioned that Singapore generated 52.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2017 which contributed 0.11% of global emissions, that equates to 8,000 tonnes of CO2 per capita in that year (The Straits Times, 2019). With the rise of carbon emission, it will lead to an increase of Singapore’s daily temperature from 35 to 37 degrees celsius. (Dr Muhammad Eeqmal Hassim, senior research scientist with the MSS Centre for Climate Research Singapore).

The most direct way Bricknology can contribute to the reduction of climate change is through convincing BCA to adopt the idea of using mycelium bricks. One tonne of cement produces 1.2 tonnes of CO2 (BBC, 2018). As mentioned, Singapore contributed 0.11% of global emission hence by implementing the use of mycelium bricks in Singapore, it will help tackle the overall global problem of reducing the production of conventional bricks. Thus reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses.

1.1 Current practices for Yio Chu Kang private housing

The current bricks used to build the internal structure of the house in Yio Chu Kang private housing are made up of clay and concrete. Clay bricks are more commonly used in the construction industry in Singapore.

1.2 Problem Statement

Building Construction Authority (BCA) is not implementing the use of mycelium bricks despite it potential. Bricknology aims to convince BCA to pilot the use of mycelium bricks in Yio Chu Kang private housing estates.

1.3 Purpose Statement

The purpose of this report is to propose to convince BCA to implement the use of mycelium bricks in all newly constructed private houses located at Yio Chu Kang.

Draft #3 Summary_Reader Response “Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicles race”

In this article “Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicles race”, Noble (2019) stated that as Singapore has been trying to merge autonomous vehicles into its transport system, several government agencies came up with a temporary national standard called “Technical Reference 68(TR 68)” to advocate the safety of fully deployable autonomous vehicles (AVs). It was further elaborated that TR68 plays an essential role in covering four important aspects of AV deployment; automobile performance, safety, network security and statistic configurations. According to Nobel, this standard will not only enhance the safety of AVs but also uplift Singapore’s development and adoption of AVs. Although Noble has stated that complying to the TR68 standard will ensure AVs deployed are safe to a certain extent, other factors that affect safety like the processing system, the detection system and weather conditions must be taken into consideration before AV deployment can be considered safe.

The first factor that makes AV deployment safe is the processing system of the AV. The processing system acts as the “brain” of the AV. It takes in information from sensors and responds according to the situation. With the “brain” being an essential aspect of AV, failure of the processing system can be a minacious issue. One example was found in the article written by Felton (2018). The article stated that on 20 January 2016, a driver was travelling on a highway in China when his Tesla crashed into the rear of a road-sweeping truck, resulting in his death. An SD memory card installed in the car and AV experts determined that the autopilot mode was turned on throughout the drive, but it did not stop the car when it was nearing the stationary truck. Besides, there was no warning alert. While there was no definitive explanation stated in the article on how this accident occurred, it was likely a malfunction in the processing system that caused the car to not respond appropriately to the information fed by the sensors.

Lastly, the unpredictability of weather conditions needs to be considered for the safe deployment of AV too. Harsh weather conditions such as rain or snow could prevent AVs from functioning properly and safely. It was supported by an article written by Resnick (2019) that these harsh weather conditions can change the way how an AV distinguishes objects on the road. Firstly, harsh weather conditions could blur or block the “eyes” of the AV which could potentially cause AVs to confuse the weather conditions as obstacles. Secondly, such conditions can cover road signages such as speed limit and prevent the detection system from gathering the essential information it needs.

Singapore is a country that focuses on safety for commuters. Adhering to the TR68 standard indeed helps in the safe deployment of AV, but to a certain extent. Therefore, these factors need to be evaluated as well before AV deployment can be considered fully safe.

Noble, L W. (2019, July 8). Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicle race. Retrieved from https://sbr.com.sg/transport-logistics/exclusive/singapore-revs-engines-autonomous-vehicle-race

Resnick, J. (2019, January 29). How Does Weather Affect Self-Driving Cars? Retrieved from https://ride.tech/self-driving/how-does-weather-affect-self-driving-cars/

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Draft #2 Summary_Reader Response “Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicles race”

In this article “Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicles race” Noble (2019) stated that as Singapore has been trying to merge autonomous vehicle into its transport system, several government agencies came up with a temporary national standard called “Technical Reference 68(TR 68)” to advocate the safety of fully deployable autonomous vehicles (AVs). It was further elaborated that TR68 plays an essential role in covering 4 important aspects of AV deployment; automobile performance, safety, network security and statistic configurations. With this standard, it will not only enhance the safety of AVs but also uplift Singapore’s development and adoption of AVs. Although complying to the TR68 standard will ensure AVs deployed are safe to a certain extent, other factors that affect safety like processing system, detecting system and weather conditions must be taken into consideration before AV deployment can be considered safe.

The first factor that needs to be examined is the processing system of the AV. The processing system acts as the “brain” of the AV. It takes in information from sensors and respond according to the situation. With the “brain” being an essential aspect of AV, failure of the processing system can be a minacious issue. An example would be American automobile company Tesla’s accident, which caused the death of a driver on 20 January 2016. The driver was travelling on a highway in China when his Tesla crashed into the rear of a road-sweeping truck. An SD memory card installed in the car and AV experts determined that the autopilot mode was turned on throughout the drive, but it did not stop the car when it was nearing the stationary truck. In addition, there was no warning alert. While there is no definitive explanation on how this accident occurred, it is likely a malfunction in the processing system that caused the car to not respond appropriately to the information fed by the sensors.

Another aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is the detection system in the AV. The detection system acts as the “eyes” of AV and detect objects on the road. Thus, failure in the detection system could result in dire consequences. On 18 March 2018, a pedestrian was killed in the night by an AV, even though the vehicle was equipped with a “Lidar” detection system. The article claims that the “Lidar” detection system has the capability to detect objects around the car even at night. Contrary to this claim, the detection system misclassified the pedestrian as an unidentified object and failed to engage its emergency brakes despite being on autonomous mode, resulting in the fatality of the pedestrian.

Lastly, the unpredictability of weather conditions needs to be considered. Harsh weather conditions such as rain or snow could prevent AVs from functioning properly and safely. In the article “How Does Weather Affect Self-Driving Cars?”, Resnick (2019) mentioned that these harsh weathers can change the way AV distinguish objects the road. Firstly, it could blur or block the “eyes” of the AV which could potentially cause AVs to confuse the weather conditions as obstacles. Secondly, it could cover road signages such as speed limit and prevent the detection system from gathering the essential information it needs.

Singapore is a country that focuses on safety for commuters. Therefore, these factors need to be evaluated before AV deployment can be considered fully safe.

Noble, L W (2019, July 8). Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicle race. Retrieved from https://sbr.com.sg/transport-logistics/exclusive/singapore-revs-engines-autonomous-vehicle-race

The Economist. (2018, May 29). Why Uber’s self-driving car killed a pedestrian. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/05/29/why-ubers-self-driving-car-killed-a-pedestrian.

Resnick, J. (2019, January 29). How Does Weather Affect Self-Driving Cars? Retrieved from https://ride.tech/self-driving/how-does-weather-affect-self-driving-cars/.

Draft #1 Summary_Reader Response “Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicles race”

In this article “Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicles race” Noble (2019) stated that as Singapore has been trying to merge autonomous vehicle into its transport system, several government agencies came up with a temporary national standard called “Technical Reference 68(TR 68)” to advocate the safety of fully deployable autonomous vehicle (AVs). It plays an essential role while developing AVs which covers 4 important aspects; automobile performance, safety, network security and statistic configurations. It was further elaborated that with this standard, it will not only enhance the safety of AVs but also uplift Singapore’s development and adoption of AVs. While Noble emphasized the safeness of AV, she failed to address failures of AV which instil fear in people to accept AV.

On 18 March 2018, a pedestrian was killed by an autonomous vehicle in the night even though the car was equipped with detecting systems. It was stated in the article that “Lidar”, one of the systems that has the capability to detect objects around the car even in the night time. Despite its ability, the system had confusion with the classification of the pedestrian, and as a result, it classified her as an unspecified object. Due to the confusion of the system, the emergency braking of the vehicle was disengaged despite it being in autonomous mode. It was further elaborated that it was a “system-design failure” which resulted in the confusion of the system.

Another accident involving Tesla’s (America automobile company) autopilot malfunctioned and caused the death of a driver happened on 20 January 2016. The driver was travelling on the highway of China when his Tesla crashed into the rear of a road-sweeping truck. A SD memory card installed in the car and AV experts have proved that the autopilot mode was turned on throughout the drive, but it did not stop when the car was nearing the stationary truck. People might question that the car could have operated out of its specified condition which resulted in the accident. However, as stated in the US transport policy the vehicle should give a warning to the driver that the AV system is unavailable but there was no warning alert given when the car was cruising at a constant speed for 8 minutes before the accident happened.

These accidents clearly show that failure of AV system can occur and cause harm to others. This is supported by a statement made by Megan Foster, AAA’s director of Federal Affairs that “While autonomous vehicles are being tested, there’s always a chance that they will fail or encounter a situation that challenges even the most advanced system”. Despite the strong emphasis on safety in AVs, these accidents caused people to lose faith for AVs. From an article “AAA: American Trust in Autonomous Vehicle Slips” Edmonds (2018) stated that “three-quarters (73 percent) of American drivers report they would be too afraid to ride in a fully self-driving vehicle”. It was further elaborated that 64% of the current generation people were frightened to engage AVs as part of transportation. This proves that AVs instil fear in people.

In conclusion, it is true that the emphasis of safety in AVs can assist in improving road safety. However, occurrence of accidents could still happen which result in the loss of faith by people for AVs technology.

Noble, L W (2019, July 8). Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicle race. Retrieved from https://sbr.com.sg/transport-logistics/exclusive/singapore-revs-engines-autonomous-vehicle-race

Felton, R. (2018, February 27). Two Years On, A Father Is Still Fighting Tesla Over Autopilot And His Son’s Fatal Crash . Retrieved from https://jalopnik.com/two-years-on-a-father-is-still-fighting-tesla-over-aut-1823189786.

Edmonds, E. (2018, May 22). AAA: American Trust in Autonomous Vehicles Slips. Retrieved from https://newsroom.aaa.com/2018/05/aaa-american-trust-autonomous-vehicles-slips/.

Summary of Autonomous Vehicle (Draft #2)

In this article “Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicles race” Noble (2019) stated that as Singapore has been trying to merge autonomous vehicle into its transport system, several government agencies came up with a temporary national standard called “Technical Reference 68(TR 68)” to advocate the safety of fully deployable autonomous vehicle (AVs). It plays an essential role while developing AVs which covers 4 important aspects; automobile performance, safety, network security and statistic configurations. It was further elaborated that with this standard, it will not only enhance the safety of AVs but also uplift Singapore’s development and adoption of AVs.

While Noble explained how AV promotes road safety, she failed to address failures of AV which instil fear in people to accept AV.

Noble, L W (2019, July 8). Singapore revs up engines for autonomous vehicle race. Retrieved from https://sbr.com.sg/transport-logistics/exclusive/singapore-revs-engines-autonomous-vehicle-race