FOR her new home, she is installing a $4,000 solar heater which converts heat from sunlight to warm the water used for showering.

There will be no conventional tiles used - jewellery designer and ex-MTV VJ Nadya Hutagalung will be using recycled wood and bamboo for the flooring of her bungalow.

These green efforts require considerable monetary investment, but the environmentally- conscious mother of three said she's just doing her part for the Earth.

And like Nadya, more executives here are doing more than just recycling their trash - many of them are consciously incorporating more green features into their home.

Some local homeowners are even willing to pay up to $110, 000 to install photovoltaic (PV) systems - this is a solar panel system that can harvest the energy of the sun's rays for all the home's energy needs, said architects and designers my paper spoke to. Most of these homes are private property.

And their clients, these businessmen said, are genuine greenies - they are not doing it just for the "prestige" of owning such a unique home.

Mr Sim Boon Yang, 45, director of architecture firm eco.id: "They're knowledgable and willing to spend money on such measures."

Christophe Inglin, managing director of Phoenix Solar - a company that provides PV systems, said that he has seen the demand in Singapore grow from almost nothing two years ago to about 20 such systems being installed in local houses now.

Said Mr Inglin, 45: "More wealthy Singaporeans want to make an environmental statement with their own house. It certainly isn't because they just want to save electricity costs - it can take 40 years to break even with this heavy investment."

Said Nadya: "Building a house from scratch was an important time to be responsible."

Nadya added: "Having an eco-friendly house doesn't necessarily have to be much more expensive. Just use the money you save from not buying expensive furnishings."

Mr Sim himself also plans to install green features in his home - a bungalow in Upper Thomson that is currently being constructed. Among others, it will have a specially designed stairwell that will help increase natural ventilation.

He said: "The challenge is to make these technologies widespread so that prices will drop, and become suitable, hopefully even for HDB usage."

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