More investment in cleantech is needed (Business Times)

The following was published on December 5, 2012.  By Ron Mahabir

SINGAPORE SHOULD INVEST MORE HEAVILY IN CLEANTECH

AS WE speed dangerously along the highway of global economic growth, it has become awfully clear that we are headed for major accidents in food, water and other resource shortages, as well as increasing environmental disasters.

We just have had way too many red alerts in recent years including Fukushima, Gulf of Mexico, Katrina, floods and heat waves to not take these a great deal more seriously. It is probably more than coincidence that 2012 is on track to be the hottest year in the United States and Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record.

India Looks to Africa for Oil

No surprise that India has been beaten by China for oil exploration bids in Myanmar, Kazakhstan and elsewhere over the past few years. With serious shortages and blackouts seriously affecting and threatening India’s economic growth, India is looking to Africa, South America, Pakistan, and elsewhere for new supplies.

Read article at Bloomberg

Asia’s tigers eye nuclear future

February 15, 2008 (Asia Times) – The 2005-07 spike in petroleum prices topping out at US$100 a barrel has prodded economic planners across the globe to reconsider their energy options in an age of growing concern over global warming and carbon emissions. The Southeast Asian economies, beneficiaries of an oil and gas export bonanza through the 1970s-1990s, now find themselves in an energy crunch as once-ample reserves run down and the search is on for new and cleaner energy supplies. Notably, regional leaders at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore in November 2007 issued a statement promoting civilian nuclear power, alongside renewable and alternative energy sources.

Planting Seeds of Biofuel Where Little Else Grows

October 29, 2007 (IHT) – Until recently, Jatropha Curcas, a tall bush with highly toxic fruit and bark, was mainly used as a hedge plant to keep livestock away from crops. But amid soaring prices for traditional biofuel feedstock, including palm oil, the nuts from the perennial bush are now being eyed as a possible sustainable alternative throughout South and Southeast Asia.

Several governments in the region have announced plans for massive planting programs. The Indian government is targeting 13.5 million hectares, or 33.5 million acres, for jatropha cultivation by 2012; in the Philippines, a British firm, NRG Chemical Engineering, has set up a joint venture with the state-owned Philippine National Oil to construct a biodiesel refinery and two ethanol distilleries.

Jatropha Spreading Regionally

August 29, 2007 (EnergyCurrent.com) – MYANMAR: Myanmar plans to cultivate jatropha on 7 million acres of land as feedstock for biodiesel plants around the country as part of a move to diversify into alternative energy sources, Director General of the Energy Department U Soe Myint said at a forum held in Singapore.Each of the seven states and seven divisions in Myanmar is expected to plant jatropha on 500,000 acres of unused land and build their own biodiesel processing plants, Myint said, adding that a large portion of the biodiesel produced is likely to be exported to other countries.

Myanmar will also be investing in hydropower and wind energy projects. The junta-led government had earlier indicated plans to implement six hydropower projects with a total capacity of more than 4,000 MW in the country’s Shan and Kachin states to help meet the country’s power demand.