Merrick's Blog

This article aims to summarise what the SolarNova Programme is about as well as what it has achieved in recent years in which the seventh solar leasing tender has been called. HDB has steadily deployed tenders through the years and significantly gained economically and to installed solar panels cheaper. HDB Green Town programme has been working towards sustainable living by adding greenery as well as reduce energy consumption by using solar energy. HDB being the biggest promoter of solar panels is pressured by the public sector to install more solar panels. This will assist in reducing carbon emissions and reducing effects of climate change. According to Mr Tan Meng Dui(2022) in the 14 years that HDB has been operating there are now 10000 flats with solar panels. Initially, solar energy was used for everyday facilities in HDB. HDB can reach a self-sufficient state in common areas. It has been mandatory to install smart electrical sub-meters since the sixth SolarNova tender, allowing th...

  Dear Professor Blackstone, My name is Merrick Soon Ng, and I am writing to you today to introduce myself as a student in your communication class. I graduated junior college in Yishun Innova Junior College with an A-level certificate and managed to get into the engineering course offered by SIT  after National Service(NS). My interest in Engineering was actually sparked from my various experiences in NS, in which I served as a firefighter. Being a firefighter in Singapore has allowed me exposure to most events that the common populace would not have access to. This includes learning various topics that are relevant to the job, like what makes the structural integrity of a building fail in case of a fire, or perhaps the various weak points in a certain structure that we can target to make our lives easier. Throughout these experiences, I had gained a deeper understanding of the capabilities of engineering which was what spurred me on to apply for the course. A communication s...

 “I contend that we (engineers) are undervalued because of our widespread inability to explain what we do to the general public (and why it is so important). It is one of the hardest goals to accomplish, to be able to boil down difficult concepts into a short and easily understood presentation or elevator pitch.” Marybeth Miceli, President, Miceli Infrastructure Consulting, USA (2011) Marybeth Miceli What Marybeth Miceli said in her quote refers to the the general miscommunication of engineers due to their lack of ability to translate technical terms and ideas to the common people that do not have the expertise. This can result in the misjudgment of certain individual's abilities as competent as they can be to be less so. The inefficient or lack thereof of communication skills causes many engineers to be undervalued and not optimally utilized in various aspects of their work. How I interpret this is that there is a severe lack and need to develop communication skills for engineers,...