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Malaysia wants to be region's green energy hub

MALAYSIA is keen to become the regional centre for green energy, especially solar energy, a move which has attracted small and medium enterprises (SMEs), says International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.
So far more than RM9.5 billion investments have been approved, including by major global names in the solar industry such as First Solar from the US and Q-Cells from Germany.
"These large manufacturers would need a lot of vendors to supply the inputs and components," Mustapa said.
"Given the extent of SME involvement in the economies of most countries, it makes sense to engage them in the process of increasing energy efficiency in production and delivery, and of services," he added.
The Malaysian German Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive director Alexander Stedtfeld said the expansion plans of companies like Q-Cells into the second and third phase would need SMEs to help develop the technology.
He said growth potential of the renewable energy sector is large, as in the case of Germany where the number of people working totalled 1.3 million compared with 700,000 in automotive sector.
EU ambassador Vincent Piket said the EU climate and energy package has legally binding 20:20:20 targets for 2020, with 20 per cent greenhouse gas savings, 20 per cent share for renewable energy and 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency.
"Investment in green growth will not just take our economy out of the slump, it will take it to a new level of sustainable growth in economic, social and environment terms," Piket said.

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Greening KL’s buildings

Stories by BAVANI M
Photos by ART CHEN

TO become a world-class city, Kuala Lumpur must also be sustainable. To do that, the city must learn how to reduce its carbon footprint by using natural resources more efficiently, re-use resources and reduce waste. One way of doing this is by designing buildings with minimal negative impact on the environment. StarMetro reports.

IF Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail had super- powers, he would transform Kuala Lumpur into a green city with zero carbon footprint. But alas, the mayor is no superman, but he still harbours this vision of seeing KL being developed into a sustainable city whose residents would enjoy living in a zero carbon and waste-free environment.

A bone fide greenie, Fuad has shown that he is one leader who is willing to embrace the green movement by ensuring that developments in the city are environment- friendly.

Therefore when Malaysia introduced its very own Green Building Index (GBI) on May 21, no one was more delighted than Fuad.

Cooling: Shady trees amid the city’s streets and buildings provide much-needed relief from the heat.

For the uninitiated, the GBI is a certification tool that will provide guidelines for sustainable development and environment-friendly construction.

Knowing full well that with this tool, new buildings in Kuala Lumpur can be guided and managed to lessen their impact on the environment the mayor is enthusiastic about getting started.

But there is a hitch. The GBI is developed by Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia (PAM) and the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM) – two private bodies with no affiliation with the government.

Despite the government’s support, there is not much that Fuad can do to encourage and promote sustainability in the built environment since it concerns policy decision and requires the blessings of, among others, the Federal Territories Ministry, Housing and Local Government Ministry, Public Works Ministry and the new Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry.

But the mayor is not about to let that stop him. He already speaks of offering incentives to be given out to developers and building owners in the city to design and construct green, sustainable buildings that can conserve energy and water, provide a healthier indoor environment, better connectivity to public transport and the adoption of recycling and green programmes for their projects.

Bringing the heat down: Building owners can reduce the heat-island effect by planting more trees and greens around their offices and rooftops.

At a recent interview, Fuad told StarMetro that incentives such as increased plot ratio and reduction in assessment are just some of the perks that could be offered to developers and building owners who are willing to embrace the green mission.

But it is something that needed thought and planning before it could be implemented. Fuad, however, said any project, however, minor that incorporateed the green agenda such as planting more trees, recycling, and composting would indeed be rewarded.

PAM president Lee Chor Wah welcomed Fuad’s suggestion saying that it would be a good incentive for current building owners and developers to embrace the green mission now in order for them to reap its long-term benefits.

“By having our own rating system, we can start with simple tasks such as changing light bulbs to energy- efficient ones, or doing away with paint, or installing solar heaters for buildings and offices,’’ said Lee.

The idea, Lee said, was to provide opportunities for developers, and building owners to design and construct green, sustainable buildings that could provide a healthier indoor environment that would save on energy and water.

Future look: The Kuala Lumpur City Hall building in Jalan Raja Laut (right) looks bare as compared with an artist’s impression of the building by Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia on how it can incorporate green elements by planting plants on the rooftop, windows and balconies.

Apart from the long-term benefits, green buildings send the right message about a company or organisation.

According to Lee, foreign and multi-national companies are looking at buying or leasing properties in Asia that are green. Even international brands look for shopping malls that are green before taking up lots in the mall.

“It shows that the particular organisation is committed and responsible about the future,’’ Lee said, adding that it was part of their social responsibility to preserve the environment.

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“WALK Kuala Lumpur” Treasure Hunt - Green Lifestyle @ The Podium, Menara Hap Seng

“WALK Kuala Lumpur” Treasure Hunt is a 100% cryptic, no frills, just thrills treasure hunt on foot in the heart of the KL City. This walk hunt is organised by The Podium @ Menara Hap Seng.

CoC: Michael Pang

ENTRY FORM

Format and details of this event.

• Date : Saturday 1^st August 2009
• Start/End venue: The Podium @ Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P. Ramlee
• Final Briefing: 3.30pm. Mass flag-off : 4pm
• Duration: 3hours. No extra penalty time.
• Hunt finishes at 7.00pm.
• A 2 minutes tie breaker event starts at 7.01pm.
• Answers and prize presentations at 8.30pm
• • Format
  • 20 outdoor route Qs x 3 points each
  • 10 indoor Qs x 3 points each
  • 2 treasures x 5 points each
  • Tie breaker session (2 minutes, starts at 7.01pm)
• Tie breakers - 1. Treasure 2. Route & indoor Qs. 3.Tie breaker event 4. Time
• Collect t-shirts from The Podium @ Menara Hap Seng on hunt day, 1^st Aug. 1pm - 3pm.
• “Treasure Hunt 101″ - a coaching session tailored for beginners will be conducted at The Podium @ Menara Hap Seng on Friday 31^st July at 7.00pm. All regular hunters need not attend.
• Please contact the Clerk of Course Michael Pang for all technical and treasure hunt related questions. Contact : 012-2899782 or email hunt@michaelpang.com.my or visitwww.michaelpang.com.my
• Closing date: 5pm on Saturday 25^th July 2009

Entry Fee RM150/team.

Each team MUST consist of 4 members

Teams will receive a RM75/team cash voucher to be use for dinner at any The Podium’s F&B outlets. Valid on hunt day dinner only.

Green Lifestyle @ The Podium Menara Hap Seng is a a community project by Menara Hap Seng that is supported by Nokia.

The objective of this campaign is to promote green lifestyle habits and to promote the conservation of mother earth by actively participating in environmentally friendly activities.

The Green Lifestyle @ The Podium Menara Hap Seng campaign will start from 1 Aug – 1 Oct 2009. Various activities have been plann

ed and among them:

• KL Walk Hunt on 1 August 2009 ( 4pm – 7pm) and 1 October 2009 ( 5.30pm – 7.30pm ). Please download entry forms here.
• Adopt a Tree campaign: Recycle your old mobile phones, batteries and charger into the Nokia Kiosk and Nokia will plant a tree on your behalf (only for mobile phone). All entries will also be entered into a lucky draw to win a brand new Nokia phone.
• Green Lifestyle Fair : Green awareness booths and enviromental talk by MENGO (Malaysian Enviromental NGO) and weekend Green Lifestyle Market Fair by Nagomi Shabu-Shabu & Desserts’ Bar for a green, organic and healthy lifestyle.
• Fashionably Green : Participating FnB outlets @ The Podium will reward diners who dress in green during dinner and weekends.
• Say NO to plastic bags: Simply spend RM30 at participating outlets @ The Podium to redeem a reusable bag (1 bag per receipt only).
• Messages to mother earth @ The Podium Tree: Write down your pledge to save mother earth on a piece of recycled paper and help us to decorate the barren Podium Tree to full “bloom”.

Further information will be available shortly. Please check back soon!

For enquiries, please call 03 – 2116 9333 /9345 or email thepodium@hapsenghomes.com.my

Green tech to be the new driver for economic growth

By ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN

BANGI: The National Green Technology Policy is set to play an important role in charting the country’s development where green technology will be the new driver for economic growth.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the policy would include the setting up of a legislative and regulatory framework that would support development of green technologies and promote a culture of resource use optimisation.

The policy seeks to promote low-carbon technology and ensure sustainable development while conserving the natural environment and resources.

He said green technology offered opportunities and potential in economic regeneration, innovation, wealth creation and high-paying job opportunities.

“It can create a revolutionary impact on our lives and reduce Malaysia’s carbon footprint while enhancing environmental sustainability,” he said during the roll-out of the policy yesterday.

Najib also opened the green energy office of the Malaysia Energy Centre head office here.

He added that the policy would create opportunities for new green businesses, including the manufacturing of “green products”.

The five objectives include decreasing energy consumption while enhancing economic development and facilitatating growth of the green technology industry and enhancing its contribution to the national economy.

It also seeks to increase innovation in green technology development and enhance Malaysia’s green technology competitiveness globally besides ensuring sustainable development for future generations.

The policy will also enhance public education and awareness about green technology and encourage its use in everyone’s daily lives.

A Green Technology Council will also be established to facilitate the role of stakeholders for the successful implementation of the green technology roadmap.

It will be chaired by Najib and, alternately, by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

At a press conference later, Najib said the Government was studying incentives for the private sector that adopts green technology.

On promoting solar energy usage, Najib said the equipment needed to do so was expensive, but that the Government would continue its development.

On plans to set up a nuclear power plant in Malaysia, Najib said nuclear energy was not considered to be against green technology as long as it was deemed safe.

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Borneo's 'Green Gold'

Borneo's 'Green Gold'

Peter Ritter, The Far Eastern Economic Review, The Wall Street Journal17 Jul 09;

Our guide, Gerald, points to a spot 15 meters above us in the canopy. "There. Look over there. In the trees," he says. In the crook of two branches, nearly obscured by the foliage, we see a nest about the size of an eagle's made from leaves and sticks. Something moves. Leaves flutter to the jungle floor. A blur of orange. Gerald puts a finger behind his ear and cocks his head to listen. Mmooww. Mmooww. The call echoes around the forest, already receding into the impenetrable green. It sounds like a whale's song. "Orangutan," Gerald whispers.

The encounter is tantalizingly brief, both because we've spent hours hiking through muddy rainforest infested with leeches -- later I will lift my shirt and find a chorus line of the vile things, squirming and swollen with blood, on my stomach -- and because the animal we're looking for is one of the world's rarest and most threatened.

By some estimates, there are only 50,000 orangutans left in the remote forests of Borneo and Sumatra, where they are classified as critically endangered. Their declining population, along with their peculiarly expressive features -- "orangutan" means "man of the forest" in Malay -- has made them a poignant symbol for many conservationists of the despoliation of Asia's environment. Danum Valley, 43,800 hectares of lowland dipterocarp rainforest in Malaysian Borneo, may be one of the last, best places to catch a glimpse of these arboreal apes in the wild.

But if the orangutan is the star in Danum, he also has a stellar supporting cast: gibbons, whose laughing call sounds like a man slowly catching onto a joke; meter-long monitor lizards baking on the riverbanks; tarsiers, pocket-sized nocturnal primates whose enormous eyes seem to describe a sense of wonderment with the waking world; serpent eagles and flying snakes; and Sumatran rhinoceroses, so rare that only around 300 remain.

Seen at eye level, Borneo's rainforest is everything you want it to be. This is one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet, with up to 200 different species of tree per hectare. Together, they form a canopy so opaque that it is twilight at midday, so impenetrable that daily afternoon rainstorms register only as a faraway patter. The canopy is a lepidopterist's paradise. Clouds of butterflies flit in the gloom, including the famous Rajah Brooke's birdwing, with wings painted neon green against a velvet canvas. Beneath the sheltering ceiling grows an impossibly exotic garden, from orchids to the rafflesia, a parasitic flower that can grow to a nightmarish 40 inches in diameter. Pygmy elephants crash about in the underbrush, while orangutans descend from their leafy aeries to gorge on rambutans and wild figs.

But take another look at this primeval Eden -- this time from 200 miles above Earth -- and a very different picture emerges. In satellite photos, you'll see the thick jungle hemmed in by tidy rows of palm trees. These vast palm-oil plantations have become Borneo's fastest growing industry. They are also paring back the forest that once carpeted the island into small, isolated patches. The jungle, seemingly measureless to a visitor on the ground, may actually represent the last gasp of Borneo's legendary wilderness.

Compared to the illegal logging operations and gold mines that scar Borneo's landscape, the island's palm plantations seem benign, even beautiful, with green fronds swaying gently in the breeze and narrow roads winding among the trees.

Human beings have harvested palm fruit in groves like these for millennia. In Abydos, Egypt, archeologists discovered traces of palm oil in a tomb over 5,000 years old. But Borneo's palm-oil industry is a relatively newer development, brought to the island by Dutch and British colonizers. Today, palm plantations cover about 8 million hectares in Indonesia. In 2007 alone, Malaysia exported more than 13 million metric tons of palm oil worth nearly $10 billion, according to government statistics.

The oil from that vast acreage ends up in a staggering array of products, from soap to chocolate bars to industrial lubricants. Palm oil has, significantly, also become a prime new source of biofuel. Malaysia has invested heavily already, opening dozens of plants to process the raw oil into fuel for export to China and Europe. Neste, a Finnish oil company, already produces a biofuel made mostly from palm oil that runs some of Helsinki's buses.

But many environmental groups argue that palm oil isn't the green panacea it's been billed as. Much of the expansion of palm plantations has come at the expense of Borneo's forests, critical incubators of the island's biodiversity. Particularly in Kalimantan, the Indonesian section of the island, farmers sometimes clear land for palm cultivation by burning the forest, sending up a haze that can drift across Asia.

And much of that burning happens in Borneo's peat swamps, one of the island's most important and fragile ecosystems. Densely packed with centuries of decaying organic material, these swamps store a huge payload of carbon, which, when burned, is released into the atmosphere. Lian Pin Koh, a scientist at Switzerland's Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems who has studied palm oil's environmental impact extensively, says that the resulting enormous release of greenhouse gases could exacerbate global warming. "Indonesia's decision to convert peat-lands to oil palm is a monumental mistake for the country's long-term economic prosperity and sustainability," he says.

Malaysia has been more prescient about protecting its environment, banning agricultural conversion of protected forest. But Mr. Koh says that new plantations may still spring up in previously logged forests -- less impressive than virgin wilderness like Danum valley, but still vitally important habitat for wildlife like orangutans and elephants. "A growing number of scientific studies have shown these secondary forests to be highly valuable for biodiversity conservation," he says. "A large proportion of the remaining forest in Malaysia belongs to this category of unprotected secondary forest, which remains vulnerable to palm-oil development."

The danger to Borneo's biodiversity is hard to overstate. Between 1985 and 2005, roughly a third of the island's rainforest disappeared, felled by indiscriminate logging or cleared for palm plantations. One alarming 2001 study predicted that Kalimantan's lowland forest could be completely gone by 2010. Navjot Sodhi, a researcher at the National University of Singapore, has estimated that deforestation could result in a third of Asian forest species going extinct this century.

In Kota Kinabalu, Sabah's laid-back seaside capital, I meet Darrel Webber, a project manager with the World Wide Fund for Nature. Mr. Webber oversees one of Sabah's most ambitious conservation projects, a "corridor of life" along the Kinabatangan River in eastern Sabah designed to act as a buffer between a wildlife-rich protected forest and the palm plantations that crowd against it. He explains that the industry is likely to keep expanding world-wide, since palm oil represents a major economic opportunity for poor countries. "We know for a fact that palm oil can alleviate poverty," he says. "Compared to other commodities, even coffee or cocoa, nothing else gets as much profit from the land. You just can't beat palm oil."

For nations weighing conservation of their natural environment against economic development, the math becomes hard to resist. I ask Mr. Weber if he thinks palm plantations will continue to encroach on Borneo's wilderness. "As long as people do not value forest as much as other land uses, the danger will continue," he says.

In the past, campaigning by environmentalists has slowed expansion into more controversial areas. In 2007, the Indonesian government scrapped a plan, funded by China, to build the world's largest palm-oil plantation along its mountainous border with Malaysia, in a biologically rich, largely inaccessible region known as the heart of Borneo. In a victory for conservationists, the two governments, along with Brunei, instead agreed to permanently protect more than 200,000 square kilometers of remaining rainforest.

Palm-oil companies, stung by hyperbolic characterizations of their industry as rapacious plunderers, have also responded to environmental concerns. In 2003, a consortium of oil companies and conservation groups set up the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to codify and encourage environmentally sustainable practices for growers and producers. Some plantation operators in Malaysia have gone even further, setting up buffer zones for wildlife and organizing jungle patrols to stop poaching and encroachment on habitat. Last year, the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever, which is among the world's largest palm-oil consumers, announced that by 2015 it would only buy oil produced according to rspo standards.

Because compliance is voluntary, some groups, including Greenpeace, have charged that the RSPO is largely a "greenwash," the environmental equivalent of corporate damage control. Yet other conservation groups, including the WWF, have embraced the initiative, arguing that the only way to improve the industry is with the cooperation of companies themselves. "There's been a lot of criticism of the RSPO," the WWF's Mr. Webber acknowledges. "But there's no other vehicle for sustainable development."

In Mr. Webber's view, there's no reason why palm oil can't be grown sustainably while still enriching local economies. After all, Borneo's logging industry, once the bete noire of environmentalists, has made admirable strides toward sustainability. But the success of the RSPO depends on convincing thousands of small farmers to go along with the program. And in a larger sense, it may depend on getting everyone -- consumers of chocolate and biofuel in Asia and Europe, as well as impoverished farmers in Borneo -- to agree that the island's remaining forests are every bit as valuable as the crop referred to here as "green gold."

Mr. Ritter is a free-lance writer based in Hong Kong.

The need to go green

By LESTER KONG

The newly established Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry is making a stand to promote green technology to reduce the country’s carbon footprint and damage to the environment.

Malaysia has to go green soon or risk completely using up valuable resources in the country and reducing its natural heritage to nothing.

To reduce the country’s carbon footprint and damage to the local environment, the newly established Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry is now making a stand to promote green technology.

Dr Halim: We risk using up valuable resources and reducing our natural heritage to nothing.

Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Dr Halim Man said that green technology meant using resources such as energy and water minimally if not efficiently to develop and produce goods and services.

“Any technology to produce or develop products and services which contributes to emissions such as carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gases must be reduced through awareness in this initial stage and further through enforcement,” he said in an interview at his Putrajaya office.

Even the ministry’s building in the nation’s administrative capital had incorporated ‘green’ aspects such as recessed glass panels on its windows to reduce the amount of heat seeping through, thus reducing the amount of energy that is needed to power air-conditioners to cool the building.

The Government’s effort to develop green technology could be seen from two aspects, according to Dr Halim.

“First is innovation, namely to create or develop green technology that are environmentally friendly and practical.

“It is vital to encourage students to invent green technology that are simple. In the tertiary levels, researchers could also be encouraged to produce products that did not waste energy and water. These innovations could then be commercialised for local consumption and export,” he said.

Secondly, he said, the Government also wanted to promote the use or application of green technology in both work processes and daily practices.

“For example, we can carry drinking water in our own containers instead of buying mineral water bottles. If we buy food to bring home, we can use our own food containers without relying on styroform or unenvironmentally-friendly plastic,” he said.

On energy efficient appliances, Dr Halim said the ministry was working on an Energy Efficiency Master Plan to introduce such as labeling of energy efficient equipment, minimum energy, energy performence standard, to ensure that energy is use more efficiently in the country.

“This is like what Japan, Thailand and Germany have. We have to model after these countries,” he said.

He gave the example of China having enacted regulations that require motorcycles in Beijing to use batteries instead of highly-polluting two-stroke engines in motorcycles.

Dr Halim said the ministry was now in the process of developing a National Green Technology Policy that it planned to roll out on July 24.

“We anticipate the need for legal and regulatory framework for green practices and technology. In terms of research and development, we must encourage this.

“We must also have more people trained in green technology through the local universities,” he said, adding that the ministry is already collaborating with the Higher Education Ministry to come up with the syllabus on green technology.

“Now it is time to hinge on green technology. We are also looking into how we can collaborate with overseas universities on green technology,” he said.

Dr Halim pointed out that it was all about creating awareness and educating the public about why Malaysian homes and businesses had to switch to using renewable energy and energy-efficient sources.

“We need to spend a lot of time and money on public education to create awareness on green technology. The reason is to have sustainable development,” he said.

One of the key ways to encourage homes and businesses is to switch to using green technology was through the Green Building Index (GBI), developed by the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) and Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM).

Buildings that incorporate PAM’s six key criteria – energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, sustainable site planning and management, materials and resources used, water usage efficiency and innovation – will be given a GBI rating.

“Any buildings with these criteria will have very low carbon footprint, for instance, energy used to cool the building will be low. These are all elements of design, so that buildings would not need cooling system that consume a lot of energy. Buildings that are compliant to the ratings will be considered green buildings,” he said.

He added that the capital outlay for green buildings will be higher.

“But in the long run, you save a lot in water and electrical costs. It would cost about 10% higher to develop and build but in terms of savings, you gain it back in a short time. If you had solar cells, you could even gain more power than is consumed,” he said.

Dr Halim said most people did not realise the extent of environmental costs generated through home and industrial waste.

“This is the cost you have to pay to mitigate environmental damage. Like plastic clogging the rivers and other water bodies. What is the environmental cost for you to mitigate these situations? If we drive a car, we are polluting the environment and it takes a lot to clean it up. Rubbish by the road and in rivers are visible and we can spend money to clean it up. But what about climate change? You cannot pay money to clean up greenhouse gases. In the end, society loses,” he said.

Dr Halim explained that economic growth was coupled with energy consumption and usage.

“The higher, the growth, the higher the energy use. Some countries are trying to ‘decouple’ this trend. That means you still have economic growth but your energy consumption is limited.

“In Malaysia the growth of energy consumption was parallel to economic growth”.

“The growth was not exponential but very sharp. We had grown very fast during (former Prime Minister) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s time,” he said, adding that the highest energy consumption per capita in the region was Singapore.

He said Malaysians had to understand that sustainable development and care for the environment is the goal that must be made centre stage now.

“We can develop without damaging the environment. At the end of the day, it’s not just about economic growth but also sustainable development.

“Future generations must not have less than what we have now. We need to slow down the process of destruction on the environment. If we don’t practice green technology now, it will be too late,” he said.

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