Singapore taskforce set up to coordinate energy efficiency efforts

October 31, 2007 (ChannelNewsAsia) – A new funding scheme, managed by a new taskforce called the Energy Efficiency Programme Office, may be set up to promote projects that are energy efficient.

Singapore has become more energy efficient over the years, but the National Environment Agency (NEA) said it is time to take a more integrated approach.

It is setting up a taskforce to coordinate efforts between the five biggest energy-consuming sectors – power generation, industries, transport, buildings and households.

These sectors are represented by the NEA, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the Economic Development Board (EDB), the Energy Market Authority (EMA), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

Singapore launches S$50MM fund for clean energy research

October 31, 2007 (AFP) – The government said Tuesday it has earmarked 50 million Singapore dollars (34.5 million US) to fund research on clean energy, such as solar power, over the next five years.  Under the programme, Singapore-based local and foreign research and development organisations, public sector agencies, private firms and non-profit research laboratories are encouraged to bid competitively for funding.

Malaysian palm oil earnings to hit new record in 2007 (Report)

October 16, 2007 (AFP) – The value of Malaysia’s palm oil exports is expected to reach a record of 40 billion ringgit (11.84 billion dollars) this year as prices soar, a report said Wednesday.Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin said the forecast had been lifted from an earlier figure of 35 billion ringgit, and compared to 31.81 billion ringgit earned from palm oil exports last year.

“We had initially projected a conservative 10 percent jump in export values for this year,” Chin told the New Straits Times.

“But looking at the figures for the first nine months of this year, we are optimistic and have revised upwards our projections, predicting a 25 percent growth from last year,” he said.

Exports for the first nine months of this year were worth 30.44 billion ringgit, he said.

“This year, palm oil prices have been phenomenal compared with last year. And lately prices are on the uptrend again as we are at the tail end of the peak harvesting season,” he said.

Palm oil prices have been surging as high prices for crude oil cause demand for alternative fuels to soar.

Malaysia and Indonesia account for 85 percent of world production, and Indonesia is on track to claim the mantle of top producer as it expands the area of land it has under plantation.

Mass production of Malaysian biodiesel slow on soaring palm oil prices

October 31, 2007 (Forbes) – The mass production of palm oil-based biodiesel in Malaysia has been slow in taking off as the current high price of crude palm oil has made the use of the alternative energy source uncompetitive, a local daily reported Wednesday. Malaysia has approved 91 projects to build biodiesel plants at end-September but so far only four plants have begun operations, Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry parliamentary secretary S Vijayaratnam was quoted by the Edge Financial Daily as saying.

Meanwhile, another four plants are in the midst of a trial phase for mass production, said Vijayaratnam.

‘Based on the high price of palm oil — which is the raw material feedstock of the biofuel at the moment — the use of biofuel is not competitive,’ he said.

Filipino and Chinese venture to build US$30 million ethanol plant

October 29, 2007 (BioPact) – US$ 30 million ethanol plant will be put up next year by independent oil player Eastern Petroleum and a Chinese partner in Sarangani province (→Flash Earth) in south-central Mindanao. Fernando Martinez, president of Eastern Petroleum, said the multi-million dollar ethanol plant would be a joint venture between his company and China’s Guangxi Estates.

The ethanol plant with construction expected to take place in the last quarter of 2008 and to be completed in 2009 will have a capacity of 150,000-200,000 metric tonnes per year (520,000 to 690,000 liters per day / 137,400 to 182,300 gallons US per day). The primary feedstock will be cassava.

Australia: ‘Strong position needed’ for Kyoto talks

October 31, 2007 (News.com.au) – AUSTRALIA needs to adopt a strong negotiating position for fresh Kyoto talks which balance carbon emission reductions while protecting jobs and economic growth, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

Mr Downer said the Government signed the Kyoto Protocol but refused to ratify it because the obligations imposed on developed countries to stabilise and reduce emissions didn’t apply to developing countries.

The old Kyoto agreement had pretty much come to the end of its life, he said.

Merkel asks India to do more on climate change

October 30, 2007 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged India, one of the world’s biggest polluters, to do more to combat climate change on Tuesday, saying her country was willing to help New Delhi make progress.

Merkel, a former environment minister who has pushed global warming to the top of her international agenda, said rich nations and emerging economies needed to strike a balance over the amount of responsibility they need to shoulder to prevent climate change and not fight over it.

“We have to prove that we are willing to strike a balance,” Merkel told business leaders in New Delhi during a four-day visit to India. “Multilateral agreements are of the essence.”

91 Malaysian Biodiesel Projects Approved At End-September 2007

October 30, 2007 (Bernama.com) – A total of 91 biodiesel projects with production capacity of 10.193 million tonnes per year were approved by end-September this year, Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry’s Parliamentary Secretary Senator Datuk Dr S. Vijayaratnam said Tuesday.

From the number, four biodiesel plants with production capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year have started operations while another six plants with capacity of 471,000 tonnes have been completed and were undergoing trial runs, he said.

Singapore Strives to Lead Next Round of Biofuels Race

October 29, 2007 (IHT) Second-generation biofuels, made from products like waste from agriculture and forestry, may not yet be a commercial reality, but that is not preventing Singapore from trying to position itself to become a major processing and trading hub in Asia for new clean energies. “We feel that if we’re going to focus on a sustainable type of activity we need to look beyond first-generation biofuels: Those made from food crops,” Julian Ho, executive director for energy, chemical and engineering services at Singapore’s Economic Development Board, said.

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.