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.

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Jakarta hit by scheduled blackouts in bid to save power supply

February 23, 2008 (Reuters) – Jakarta’s commercial and residential districts were hit by scheduled power cuts for several hours on Saturday as part of a desperate attempt by Indonesia’s state electricity firm to save dwindling supplies. Java, Indonesia’s most heavily populated island, and Bali, the neighbouring resort island, were hit by serious outages last week as bad weather hampered coal deliveries and left two big power plants on Java with only enough coal stocks to last a day or so.

Officials warned further outages were likely over the next week if the power plants could not obtain supplies.

“It’s high time to promote renewable energy” in Indonesia

February 16, 2008 (Jakarta Post) – The idea of introducing nuclear power to Indonesia is nothing more than a vehicle for a few needy individuals to gain public attention. Any moderately educated engineer will agree that Indonesia’s need for electricity is widely decentralized so nuclear power or large coal power plants are the ideas of people lacking technical understanding.

It should be common knowledge that “the transmission of electricity over long distance comes with huge loss.” There are very few countries in the world with better chances than Indonesia to realize enormous decentralized energy generation at low cost or even free for the country.

Indonesia has a potential 27,000 MW of geothermal sources requiring low investment of which currently only 837 MW are in use. Why? Because Pertamina, PLN and the government have not, over the past 30 years, managed to give the many waiting investors investment security.

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.

Need to focus on sustainable power generation stressed (Pakistan)

February 12, 2008 (The International News) – A household can lit a candle or an emergency light to illuminate the house, but it does not work for the industry, as it requires uninterrupted power supply. Industry is facing a production loss due to current power crisis.

Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) President Shaikh Fazal Jaleel told The News that there was 50 per cent decline in production due to power breakdowns. When asked whom he considered the biggest enemy of investors in Pakistan; the so-called terrorism or energy crises; “energy crises,” he said.

Government to lift all corners of the country out of the dark (Indonesia)

February 11, 2008 (The Jakarta Post) – The government recently announced a new ambitious plan to make electricity accessible to all Indonesians by 2020. Currently only 63 percent of people enjoy access to electricity across the country, with regular blackouts occurring due to power shortages.

Under the “electricity for all” program, the government is striving to quickly make electricity available to a large number of people.

Failed policies knock biodiesel production by 85% (Indonesia)

January 24, 2008 (The Jakarta Post) – Biodiesel producers announced earlier this week that their total production has dropped by 85 percent since December.  The producers blamed the drop on “inconsistent policy making” by the government, particularly the fact that Pertamina’s total spending on biodiesel had not been defined as an expense item eligible for a government subsidy by the Finance Ministry.

“This situation has led Pertamina to reduce the portion of biodiesel in a liter of Biosolar by half,” PT Indo Biofuels Energy operational director Lucia Liemesak told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Indonesia seeks to cut fuel subsidies via biofuels

January 15, 2008 (Mongabay) – Biofuels will make up 10 percent of Indonesia’s fuel transport consumption by 2010 under a plan announced Monday by a senior government official, according to Reuters. The initiative could ease the economic impact of fuel subsidies – currently some of the highest in the world – in Indonesia, while boosting demand for locally produced bioenergy crops including palm oil, jatropha, sugar cane and cassava.”We can’t increase prices of subsidized fuel as it will hurt consumers. But we may be able to cut consumption and replace it with biofuel,” Reuters quoted Evita Legowo, secretary at the National Biofuel Development Team, as saying at the Reuters Global Agriculture and Biofuel Summit.

Presently Indonesia spends billions of dollars subsidizing and importing oil.

Avoided deforestation credits head for the voluntary carbon markets

January 4, 2008 (ClimateChangeCorp.com) – Two Indonesian states determined to halt deforestation are getting ready to sell their forest carbon credits on the voluntary markets.

The Indonesian provinces are not prepared to wait for an international agreement on forestry, they want to start selling forestry credits on the voluntary markets now.  The governors of West Papua province and Aceh signed an agreement with the governor of the Amazon region in Brazil at the UN post-Kyoto talks in Bali. They agreed to work together to preserve their rainforests and to help establish international funding to avoid deforestation.

Japan to fund green measures to reduce Indonesia emissions

December 1, 2007 (Malaysian Sun) – Japan has reached a broad agreement with Indonesia to provide financial aid for implementing measures on global warming, the first such deal to be struck under a new mechanism Tokyo unveiled in May to support developing nations, government sources said.

Japan, eager to take the lead in forming a global consensus on building a post-2012 international framework, will support Indonesia’s plans to expand geothermal power generation, address illegal logging, and establish environmental laws and regulations, the sources said.