How Green Are You? A Simple Way to Measure Your Carbon Footprint....

The million dollar question.... I want to be green but I dont know how. What do I do? The best way for you to start is first to measure your carbon footprint.... This will give a rough indication on how green or blue? (I dont like red :p) you are.

I've got this Carbon Calculator that you can use....

Let's go...

A) Electricity at home: Multiply your monthly electricity bill by 105

B) Gas Usage at home: Multiply your monthly gas bill by 105

C) Additional Fuel Oil Usage at home: Multiply your monthly fuel bill by 113 (N/A to Malaysian)

D) Your Car's km's: Multiply total yearly km's by 4.94

E) Flights (Less than 4 hours): Multiply the number of flights by 500

F) Flights (More than 4 hours): Multiply the number of flights by 1995

G) Recycling: Do you recycle paper? If no add 85. If yes add 0.

H) Recycling: DO you recycle glass and cans? If no add 75. If yes add 0.

How do you measure up??? Total: Add A to H.

Below 2500 kg/yr Excellent
2500 to 6999 kg/yr Good
7000 to 10,000 kg/yr Average
Over 10,000 Poor

On Average Americans release 20,000 kg/year of CO2 and European release 12,000 kg/year.

p.s. if you more than 1 person in your household, then divide A, B and C by the number of adults in the household.

Alternatively, there's another calculator available online which results are pretty more accurate.... check it out...

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

It says Malaysian's average is around 7,000 kg/yr. Do try it out!

Mine is around 9,700 kg/yr. Average but still above the Malaysian average. Such a disgraced..... Time to reduce it to below 7,000 at least.

Good Luck!!

Future Entries I will List Down 10 things around the house that you can do to offset (minimise) your carbon footprint.... stay tune!

Our Efforts in Melaka...Greening Malaysia One State at A Time...

The Chief Minister touched on local content as essence of sustainable development in Melaka

We were in Melaka yesterday presenting to the Alor Gajah Council and ultimately to the State Government of Melaka and the whole people on Melaka what's green is all about. What strikes me was the vision of the CM. He summed up what we had in mine during his opening speech to the delegates. My hats to you CM. Indeed you are singing the tune of 1Malaysia and a friend of Sustainable Development....

English Source: NST
Bahasa Malay Source: Source : BERITA HARIAN

Rembia-Melaka Pindah kawasan pembangunan teknologi hijau


2010/05/28
MELAKA: Kerajaan Melaka bakal mewartakan tanah seluas 7,246.43 hektar di kawasan Rembia-Melaka Pindah di daerah Alor Gajah, dekat sini sebagai kawasan pembangunan teknologi hijau pertama di negara ini dan terbesar di dunia.


Ketua Menteri, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam berkata, Blok Perancangan Rembia 4 itu akan dinamakan sebagai Lembah Solar Melaka iaitu kawasan yang khusus dimajukan bagi menempatkan pelabur dalam bidang pengeluaran bahan tenaga suria sama ada dari dalam atau luar negara.
Katanya, langkah itu diambil selepas mendapat maklumat balas positif daripada pemilik kilang solar pertama di negeri ini iaitu Sunpower dari Amerika Syarikat yang berminat memperluaskan operasinya di Taman Perindustrian Zarina di sini, menerusi pelaburan tambahan sebanyak RM2 bilion.
“Kerajaan Melaka bersetuju membesarkan lagi kawasan Taman Perindustrian Zarina di Rembia sebagai Lembah Solar Melaka membabitkan pembangunan Fasa I dan Fasa II menerusi pembangunan selama 10 tahun,“ katanya selepas mendengar taklimat pendekatan pembangunan Melaka World Solar Valley, di Puteri Resort Ayer Keroh, di sini, semalam.


Taklimat itu disampaikan oleh tiga pakar bidang teknologi hijau iaitu Pengarah Institut Penyelidikan Tenaga Suria (Seri) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Prof Dr Kamaruzzaman Sopian; Pengasas Green Earth Design Solution Sdn Bhd, Dr Nurul Muiz Murad dan Farouk Abdul Khalid dari SD Malaysia.


Hadir sama, Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Perindustrian, Perdagangan, Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi negeri, Datuk Md Yunos Husin dan Yang Dipertua Majlis Perbandaran Alor Gajah (MPAG), Nordin Ali.


Mohd Ali berkata, bagi memastikan hasrat pembangunan itu tercapai, kerajaan negeri mempelawa usahawan tempatan memulakan operasi pengeluaran komponen bahan penjana tenaga suria di kawasan itu bagi menampung keperluan SunPower.
Katanya, syarikat berkenaan dijangka mengeluarkan produk pertamanya September ini selepas melabur lebih RM2 bilion pada pembangunan fasa I.


Beliau berkata, bidang pengeluaran komponen itu perlu diterokai segera oleh pelabur tempatan kerana kerajaan negeri mahu melihat sektor yang menjanjikan pulangan RM177 bilion setahun itu turut dinikmati rakyat tempatan sama ada sebagai pekerja, pengguna dan pengeluar.


"Pengurusan SunPower sendiri mengalukan-alukan kerjasama pengilang komponen tempatan untuk membekalkan panel sel suria yang dihasilkan tanpa perlu mengimportnya daripada firma Filipina.


"Selain itu, ia akan menambah pelaburan RM2 bilion lagi dalam pembangunan fasa II dengan mengambil seramai 1,500 jurutera dan ini menjanjikan peluang ekonomi yang sangat baik kepada rakyat dan pelabur tempatan,” katanya.


Sementara itu, Kamaruzzaman berkata, komitmen dari kerajaan negeri Melaka itu menjanjikan peluang terbaik untuk semua pihak di negara ini menikmati kemudahan tenaga diperbaharui (RE) dengan lebih cekap dalam tempoh 10 tahun akan datang.


"Pelaburan dalam bidang tenaga diperbaharui ini amat luas untuk diterokai. Paling menarik kerajaan turut serius menyokong perkembangan industri ini dengan memperkenalkan dasar baru membolehkan usahawan bebas menjual RE kepada Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) dalam usaha mengurangkan kebergantungan kepada sumber fosil untuk menghasilkan tenaga elektrik,” katanya.

Melaka is The First State to Champion the Green Efforts... Other states are too slow.... If this is the way... the future looks bleak for Malaysia....

Source: Melaka Hari Ini 

Komited Bangunkan Teknologi Hijau
MELAKA BINA WORLD SOLAR VALLEY-MOHD ALI


Handing Over A Framed Souvenir of The First Green Building in Melaka to the Chief Minister YAB Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam


AYER KEROH, 27 Mei- Kerajaan negeri begitu komited dalam usahanya untuk membangunkan teknologi hijau dengan merancang pembinaan 'Melaka Solar Valley' di Kawasan Perindustrian Rembia.

Ketua Menteri, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam berkata, Melaka akan bergerak ke arah penggunaan teknologi hijau secara progresif dan holistik sebagai asas pembangunan perbandaran dan komuniti di masa depan.

Beliau memberitahu, fasa pertama pembangunan Melaka Solar Valley kini membabitkan pembinaan kilang Solar Cell milik Sunpower Malaysia Sdn Bhd di tapak seluas 144 hektar di Kawasan Perindustrian Rembia dengan pelaburan RM2.5 bilion untuk fasa pertama yang dijangka siap pada September ini dan RM2 bilion lagi untuk fasa kedua.

Katanya, Melaka World Solar Valley yang membabitkan kawasan seluas 7,248.43 hektar bukan sahaja bakal memiliki kawasan perindustrian berasaskan solar, bahkan ia akan melibatkan pembangunan kawasan perdagangan dan perumahan yang dirancang dengan mengaplikasikan pengunaan teknologi hijau sepenuhnya.

"Kita mensasarkan untuk menjadikan Melaka World Solar Valley sebagai pengeluar utama panel solar dan menggunakan sepenuhnya teknologi hijau menjelang tahun 2020," kata Mohd Ali dalam sidang media selepas berucap di Taklimat Pendekatan Pembangunan 'Melaka World Solar Valley', hari ini.



Turut hadir, Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Negeri Perindustrian, Perdagangan, Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi, Datuk Md Yunos Husin; Yang DiPertua Majlis Perbandaran Alor Gajah, Nordin Ali; Pengurus Besar Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Melaka (PKNM), Zainal Abu serta Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif, Jabatan Penyelidikan dan Pembangunan Jabatan Ketua Menteri Melaka (JPPJKMM), Prof. Madya Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah.

Katanya, pembangunan Melaka World Solar Valley juga bakal meningkatkan tahap ekonomi di Daerah Alor Gajah dengan melahirkan ramai usahawan industri solar dan membuka lebih banyak peluang pekerjaan baru.

"Walaupun kos membangunkan tenaga solar dijangka lebih tinggi iaitu empat kali ganda berbanding tenaga elektrik, namun kita perlu bersungguh-sungguh menerokai industri yang berpotensi untuk pasaran dunia ini dengan terbabit secara langsung sebagai pengeluar panel solar sebagai melengkapi produk solar cell yang dihasilkan oleh Sunpower," kata Ketua Menteri.

Mohd Ali memberitahu, selain melihat kepentingan ekonomi untuk jangka panjang, pembinaan Melaka World Solar Valley juga mempunyai banyak kepentingan yang akan diperolehi oleh penduduk di kawasan tersebut termasuk alam sekitarnya yang lebih bersih dan tahap kesihatan yang lebih baik.

Kepada soalan lain, Ketua Menteri berkata, Melaka sanggup menjadi pembekal tenaga elektrik yang dijana oleh tenaga solar atau toknologi hijau yang lain sekiranya ada permintaan dari Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB)

"Adalah satu langkah yang bijak sekiranya tenaga solar dibangunkan seiring dengan pembangunan tenaga nuklear yang sedang dirancang olehkerajaan kerana dengan sumber uranium yang terhad, dua sumber ini dapat membantu antara satu sama lain dalam menjana tenaga elektrik untuk keperluan rakyat selaras dengan Kerajaan membangunkan sektor teknologi hijau di Malaysia seperti yang ditekankan oleh Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak," kata Mohd Ali.

Sebanyak tiga kertas kerja dibentangkan pada taklimat tersebut iaitu 'Introduction to Sustainable Development & Alternative Energy' (Dr. Nurul Muiz Murad) ; 'Solar Valley- Local Implementation & Role of Locan Government' (Farouk Abdul Khalid) dan 'Solar Power & Solar Vally' (Prof. Dr. Kamaruzzaman Sopian).

why i came back after 13 years living abroad? because green is the new gold....

me and my colleagues have been following the development in malaysia closely since 2006... that was three years before i decided to come back to malaysia. yes i am one of malaysia's brain gain. i registered when i was in melbourne... and i came back home without claiming any one of the incentives.... why? because there is a big pot of gold in malaysia... and the colour of that gold? GREEN....

the real reason why GREEN is HUGE is the number NINE. Why nine? because sustainable development and green technology is divided into nine areas.... what are these areas? well... you have:

1. management
2. indoor environment quality
3. energy
4. water
5. transportation
6. waste
7. materials
8. ecology
9. emission

and if you think and look closely... each area is its own pot of green gold... based on my last article... i mentioned that the education industry alone is worth RM10 billion.... an article published by the star said that Renewable Energy industry alone is worth RM70 billion....

this is just probably 1.3 of the total 9. someone told me that the whole Sustainable development and green technology industry is worth at least 1 trillion dollars. Gosh... that is more money than anyone can ever imagine....

so there you have it.... one of the main reason i came back. and to think we have 2 plane loads of brain drain every day leaving malaysia. i say good luck to them.... after all... its going to be more opportunities for me!

take care and be green...

52,000 new jobs in the RE industry... potentially half a million job in SD and green technology industry... potential candidates....

Something catched my eye when I was reading an article published by Star on the 17/04/2010 on renewable energy.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/17/business/

What was interesting was the last paragraph thay says along the line that...

"....another economic and social benefit arising from the renewable energy sector is job creation. Experts have estimated that at least 52,000 jobs could be created from the construction, operation and maintenance of renewable energy plants by 2020...."

There's 9 branch of SD and energy is one of them. If we conservatively assume the same job creation applies to the 9 branches, we potentially will need half a million workers in the SD and green technology industry.

Where are we going to get these people? At the moment there's no REAL degree programme whatsoever being offered in the country on SD and green tech.

If we calculate the numbers of revenue that can be potentially generated from creation of education programmes on SD and GT, the figure comes out to at around 10 billion ringgit.

Anyone wants to be my partner on this one??

Najib proposes Malaysia-led Clean Energy Development Bank

YAB PM has been very consistent in his message and aggressive in his approach with regards to Malaysia's position in rolling out Clean Energy Agenda. The latest proposal to set up Clean Energy Development Bank in this region will open up possibilities for many small-medium players to embrace clean energy technology in their businesses. Government from federal to local level must also see the benefit from this proposal. I can now imagine it would not be impossible to see such things like solar valley development in this country one day. He can't do this alone. The success in any Sustainable Development initiatives must be supported at all levels.  Kudos Mr. Prime Minister !   

Najib proposes Malaysia-led Clean Energy Development Bank

JOSEPH KAOS JR

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 13:59:00

ALLIES: Najib (left) and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at KL convention center this morning — Pic: Razak Ghazali

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia wants to spearhead a Clean Energy Development Bank for the benefit of Muslim countries, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said at the opening ceremony of the sixth World Islamic Economic Forum (6th WIEF) this morning.

Addressing leaders and delegates from all over the world Najib stressed the need to develop alternative energy sources such as clean energy.

“There is tremendous potential in the development of alternative energy resources,” said Najib in his keynote speech.

“Clean energy is being pursued by governments. In countries where hydrocarbon resources are scarce, the security of energy supply has become a top priority.

In this regard, I would like to propose that a 'Clean Energy Development Bank' be established to accelerate the development of clean energy-related industries,” he said, adding that it will be for the benefit of countries affiliated with the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

Najib, who is also the WIEF foundation patron, offered Malaysia’s service in leading the initiative, should it be implemented.

“Malaysia is prepared to spearhead this initiative. I hope this can be discussed during the Forum’s Special Leadership Dialogue Session on Climate Change. The subject of energy security is pertinent in this day and age,” Najib said. “We need to make the green agenda central to policy making. The current reality is that we all stand accused of doing too little too late.”

He added that more should be done to develop alternative energy sources that address growing requirements and prevent further degradation of the environment.

“More inter-governmental collaboration is required to formulate policies and initiate programmes that promote renewable energy options such as biofuels.”

The Prime Minister told the leaders present – among them the Sultan of Brunei Darussallam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesia President Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade – on the measures that Malaysia have taken in formulating green-centric policies.

“In Malaysia, we have taken a number of actions. We established a Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, that is dedicated to addressing environmental issues. At the policy level, Malaysia has formulated a National Biotechnology Policy and a National Biofuel Policy. This is to leverage the natural strengths of Malaysia, such as its vast biodiversity and abundance of rainwater and sunshine for energy generation. At the practical level, we have introduced the Small Renewable Energy Programme. For example, the Suria 1000 programme offers incentives for corporations to invest in green energy such as solar power.”

Other world leaders present at this morning’s ceremony were the Kosovo President Dr Fatmir Sejdiu, the President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and first vice-president of Iran Mohammad Resa Rahimi.

The WIEF is an annual event which brings together world leaders and business leaders from the Muslim and non-Muslim world to network in the name of business.

The conference, held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, started yesterday and ends tomorrow.

The WIEF is headed by its chairman Tun Musa Hitam, who was also present this morning.

malaysia green building industry needs at least 10,000 graduates that it does not have now....

I was at an international conference recently in Putrajaya on Green Cities. At one of the breakout session I chatted with this guy who is suppose to be an authority on SD and Green Technology in Malaysia.

Since our GEDS is a start-up company doing everything that is green, my obvious question was on funding... how to get them, what's available and so on. This guy ask me why I require such funding.

I told him that it is because of the nature of my company being a startup and we're in the process of trying to get jobs especially those elusive GBI jobs. To my surprise, he told me that I don't need such funding because its something that I can do alone. Dont need an office, dont need anything... just a one man job to design and facilitate the construction and verification of a green building.

I let a big WOW in my heart... either this guy is super human or he is totally ignorant for thinking that its a one man job.

And he is suppose to be an authority in Green Building in Malaysia... pretty scary isnt it?

To those who are still new in SD and Green Building design....for your information, you need a team of ESD consultants to facilitate the design, construction and verification of a green building. These team of ESD consultants will work with all the other services consultants in the project team such as M&E, CnS etc.

The main keyword here is TEAMWORK...

Having worked with a few ESD consultancies, we normally have a pool of people from such diversed background. A typical ESD consultancy will have engineers (mechanical and electrical), architects and technologist.

Reason being is that in a typical green building design, we will have to design elements that involves energy efficiencies, water saving and passive design of a building. To be able to do this properly you will need a team and theres no way you can do it alone.

We will normally start off a project by sitting down as a team and brainstorming to see which green design features that we can put in the project that will have minimum impact on the added construction cost.

Once we have identified what we want to do on that particular project.... the mech engineers will start on the modelling of the building. Computational modelling for green building will normally investigate daylight properties, building cooling load demand, air flow analysis... and so on.

The Archie boys will sit down in a group tinkering with the design often coming up with the best green feature for the building by playing around with space area within the building and at very low cost.

With this in mind, the ESD consultants will keep on working as a team until project reaches completion.

Ideally an ESD consultancy would need to hire someone with an SD qualification. At the moment, diploma or degree courses on SD and Green Technology is still currently being developed in Malaysia. Learning institution such as Open University Malaysia is championing the cause, looking to capitalise on enrolling working students to take up these courses.

In the mean time.... ESD consultancies will need to hire graduates from engineering or architecture background. They will face a steep learning curve in order to fully understand the business of green building design. The challenges is rewarding and fun.

Its good being the ESD guy... at least you will never be ALONE.... :)

PS. ESD stands for Environmental Sustainable Design.

Who are EcoKnights?

Today I discovered this wonderful site : http://www.ecoknights.com/ on a movement in Malaysia that champions one of the three branches of SD i.e. Planet. They call themselves the EcoKnights ! Extracted from the site:

EcoKnights was formed in 2006 as part of a collective effort to provide environmental outreach programmes for communities and industry players.

EcoKnights is made up of professional individuals with a great passion for the environment. We are biologists, creative designers, engineers, business man and women, professional tennis players, stay-at-home moms, retirees, college students, film makers, journalists, communication experts, you name it! Our goals are all the same - to advance the cause of environmental issues through better and wider dissemination of environmental news and views, assisting in CSR initiatives, or developing programmes for advocacy and lobbying of urgent environmental matters. 

My first impression of the website: very informative, well designed and up-to-date. Keep up the good job. I hope to see you some of you in person one day :)

Making green a reality: More coverage for the LOCALS please !

The Star news last week printed an interesting article on companies in Malaysia that actively participate in green initiatives. Please refer below for the full write up.

"Making green a reality"

Representatives from a several companies were interviewed in the article. Without a doubt, the role of the main stream media is very important in disseminating Malaysia SD success and failure stories. This time, Monier, Digi, GAB and the only truly Malaysian company YTL had the opportunity to showcase their SD milestones.Here is a big irony: Why can't we have more local companies to champion the cause of Malaysia SD?  As what was mentioned in the article, there are more western based companies who are actually a strong proponent on SD related subjects. My view is that it is not entirely accurate because of two reasons. 

First is the fact that SD is something like an old wine in a new bottle. Whilst the history of SD goes back to the earliest known civilization, the term Sustainable Development itself was clearly defined in the Brundtland Report, commissioned in 1987. This report was named after the Norwegian Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland. SD became and instant buzzword but in reality, there are many companies all over the world who practice double standard. In SD jargon, we call them greenwashers..in Malaysia it is something like "cakap tak serupa bikin".  You can read some examples of  such act here: 


The “Green” Hypocrisy: America’s Corporate Environment Champions Pollute The World


My second reasoning is very straight forward and it goes back to the responsibility of the mainstream media to report more stories about Malaysian local companies championing SD. The lack of publicity on their effort will always result several disadvantages to compete with the western based players. For example, more publicity for a company correlates to greater attraction for top local talents to work in the organisation. Sustainability in publicity will eventually provide sustainability in competent workforce for the country. All this will be inline with the New Economic Model as announced by Prime Minister Najib.


So in the name of advocating Malaysia SD, we ask that mainstream to provide more coverage to the Malaysian based companies !

the secret of green technology... what the rich actually is paying for... is now yours for free.....the key is to know how air, water and earth...

A colleague of mine recently pointed out that a showcase sustainable house in Malaysia costs MYR9 million to be built. It has all the state of the art technology and design..but c'mon... MYR9million? You must be kidding me.

From my opinion, SD in built environment is all about low cost and simple simple solution utilising locally sourced materials. Our grandparents in the 'kampungs' applied SD principles in the constructions of the their dwellings and did not even have to cough out MYR1000 for it. Let alone MYR9 million???

This is the classic case where [technology = products = $$$]. Lets be realistic. No one can afford a MYR9million house. Maybe only a few of us in Malaysia. But SD is suppose to enjoyed by everyone and not only for the privilaged few.

I pointed out to this colleague that I can do that same house for less than MYR1million. He was surprised when I told him that. In my mind... the MYR figure was very much less.

How can this be possible? Well.. lets go back to SD 101. It's all about creating a built environment that churns out the most optimum thermal comfort for its occupants. Its not rocket science here.... all it is is recognizing that we only have to play with three basic elements.... EARTH, AIR and WATER....

Get this three basic elements right and optimal thermal comfort is there for everyone to enjoy....
Lets go into a bit more detail. What does all these three elements have in common? Simple.. they can all capture heat. Given the difference in density for each element, their thermal storage capacity is different.

I use the term earth loosely since it does not have to mean rock and sand.... Earth comprises of any natural ecological element such as plants...etc.

Lets put on a scenario where you want to design an SD house that will give you the most optimum thermal comfort for you and your family....

The figure below sums up this entry perfectly....




By applying simple design principle for your new house... even for rennovating your existing house... you can achieve 14 degrees in temperature difference. As a result you will live in a condition 3 degrees below the optimum thermal comfort condition for a tropical climate.

Will all these cost you MYR9million??? I dont think so.....

Next time you want to go SD... all you need to do is to think EARTH, AIR and WATER...

Have a good Sunday...

Malaysia condititional voluntary target: Is it achievable?

Based on the UN Development Report, Malaysia was known to be the fastest growing emitter of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions (between 1990 and 2004.). In simple terms, we have developed the country so fast without considering the health state of mother nature. Although it is very small compared to countries like USA and China in terms of absolute value of CO2 chiefly emitted from the industrialization process, we should not be proud of this record. We should also not give that lame excuse that developed countries have done it in the past hence we should be able to pollute too. There is no room to be selfish when it comes to ensure sustainability of life for future generation.Rising concentration of GHG is the main culprit for the global warming,. We need to continue to develop the country but strong will and effective execution is required in incorporating low carbon growth plan.

The commitment to cut the GHG level made by YAB Prime Minister during the COP 15 last year is timely and encouraging. If  you get the chance to read the details ( http://mycjn.org/blog/?p=1091) , one can argue that the "voluntary" target reduction by 2020 is very ambitious and open to many interpretation. While I am optimistic that we need to make this happen, being critical is important to ensure that we are serious about this. We are after all too familiar on the notion that Malaysia is very good at planning but poor in execution.

So is the target achievable? My answer is 50/50 for now, especially since we were once labelled the fastest growing polluter in the world. Can we increase the probability of success? Yes we can, provided that we really walk the talk on this agenda. This blog will continue to monitor the progress of this target. This blog will contribute to make this target a reality.
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