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Sustainable energy: Trends and perspectives for Asia
Abstract
This paper examines the context within which the energy sector in the Asian region has evolved over the past 25 years. It aims to evaluate the sustainability of this process, in terms of the linkages of the sector with economic growth, improvements in energy access, and environmental impacts.The evaluation points to a mixed performance, with developments in the sector being driven more by political, economic, and strategic considerations and less by sustainability imperatives, even post-Rio. There has been a general decrease in the energy intensity of gross domestic product in the region, driven by structural and technological factors. Energy intensities also vary widely within the region, reflective of differences in structural composition of economies, technological factors, levels of development, dependence on traditional fuels, energy self-sufficiency, fuel mix, and so on. Sector reforms and an integrated energy vision can be catalytic in influencing each of these forces towards greater efficiency of the energy system. Prices can play an important role, encouraging not only advancements in tech technology but also structural changes that promote a pattern of growth that optimizes the use of a nation's resource endowments, both human and natural. In the areas of improving access to modern energy forms and arresting adverse environmental impacts of energy development, progress has been less impressive.The trend towards the use of economic instruments to support environmental legislation needs to be strengthened. On the other hand, the government's in improving access to energy needs to be enhanced. Finally, regional and international cooperation will remain important not only for harnessing and trading cleaner forms of energy but also for addressing trans-boundary environmental concerns.
... In PNG's country report to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the government stated that it would focus resources on appropriate renewable technologies such as micro-hydropower and solar voltaic cell programmes (Unisearch PNG undated). Nonetheless evidence from past renewable energy programs have not always been entirely successful, both globally (Datt, Kacker et al. 2002), and in PNG, thus the cautionary approach taken by the government towards inappropriate technologies. Subsidised rural electrification has been employed in other developing countries but subsidising energy has often only benefited a select group or selected activities thus further marginalizing the target population as a whole (World Bank 2001;Datt, Kacker et al. 2002;Leach undated). ...
... Nonetheless evidence from past renewable energy programs have not always been entirely successful, both globally (Datt, Kacker et al. 2002), and in PNG, thus the cautionary approach taken by the government towards inappropriate technologies. Subsidised rural electrification has been employed in other developing countries but subsidising energy has often only benefited a select group or selected activities thus further marginalizing the target population as a whole (World Bank 2001;Datt, Kacker et al. 2002;Leach undated). ...
... • women did most of the fuelwood collection; RWEDP 1997;McElwee 2001;Datt, Kacker et al. 2002); ...
The aim of this thesis is to ascertain fuelwood value at rural and peri-urban households, provincial and national levels; explore the notion of fuelwood as a gender concern, and establish fuelwood scarcity indicators. It contains 179 pages, six chapters, 64 graphs, 9 tables; a reference list and an appendix which includes the summary of the household survey, questionnaire and the list of surveyors. This study is based on a semi-structured stratified survey of 401 rural ‘Village’ and peri-urban squatter ‘Settlement’ households, field observations of five provinces and a literature review. The survey localities are the three villages of Aligaiyufa, Oiyafaiyufa and Masumabe and 45 ‘blocks’ within the Kama Settlement. All the survey localities are approximately 8km south of Goroka town in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.The study established that wood is the primary energy source for 100% of households, complemented with kerosene and electricity. The three most used and preferred wood species are Casuarina oligodon (yar) Coffea arabica (coffee) and Albizzia chinensis (marmar). The three most important collection sources are coffee gardens, river banks and general bush with river banks, coffee gardens and coffee plantations being the most intensively used. Wood collection is conducted 2-3 times a week with each wood load lasting 2-3days. Coffee wood from plantations and small holder gardens form an important wood source for both ‘Village’ and squatter ‘Settlement’ households. Gendered differentiation in wood collection, species preferences, wood purchases and perceptions are not markedly defined.A combination of direct and indirect valuation methods were utilised to calculate the fuelwood consumption of households in the study area. Based on the direct market value of Casuarina wood sold at the Mt Hagen market, the quantity of purchased fuelwood per household (household size of 4.2 persons) is 3,640 kg valued at PGK728.00 annually. Based on this market value and not accounting for other determinants of fuelwood scarcity, the quantity of wood required for the 14,433 rural households in the Eastern Highlands province is 52 million kg valued at K10.5 million annually. In reality though, the study found that only 5% of households purchased wood. Of the 5% of households who purchased wood, over 60% purchased once a week, spending K2.00 for each purchase. Therefore based on the market value of wood, the potion of the rural population in the EHP purchasing wood once a week, equates to only 721 households that purchased 374,920 kg of wood valued at K74,984.00.The study also established that households spend up to a total of 8 hours or the equivalent of a day per week on wood collection. Two ‘day values’ were determined by the study. The first ‘day value’ of K5.00 was derived from the 1992 national minimum rural weekly wage rate of K24.20.The second ‘day value’ is based on the income from coffee which ranged from K7.00 to K15.00/week. Annually each household spends an equivalent of 52 days in fuelwood collection. This equates to K260.00/household/year based on the ‘day value’ of K5.00 or K140.00- K300.00/household/year based on the ‘day value’ derived from coffee income. Using the average of the ‘day values’ of K233.33, the national value of ‘days spent on fuelwood collecting’ for the 754,909 rural households in PNG is around K9,146 million (US176 million) for 2.75 million tons of wood annually. However, because only 5% of households buy wood; the market based wood economy nationally is worth K3.9 million. Combined with the value of collected wood the most likely value of the fuelwood use in PNG is K9,150 million (US$2,928 million). The study recommended that establishing people’s perceptions is the fundamental indicator of fuelwood scarcities followed by other indicators such as times and distances, substitution for lesser fuels, blurring of gendered lines and accessibility of fuelwood/biomass resources.
... Universities in Malaysia are also impressed and burdened by the increasing in electricity tariffs. The previous research findings noted that the current problem facing by all the country around world is no sustainable source of energy that does not interfere with the country's ecosystem [4]. According to a study by [5], 68% electricity generation nowadays relies on the fuel-burning which have long-term effects on the country's ecosystem. ...
Green energy is the energy generated from nature such as water, wind, solar and wave that aimed to reduce environmental damage or destruction, sustain the use of energy and natural resources as well as promote the use of renewable energy. This study aimed to analyse the electrical energy generated by the three types of living plants selected at the parking area of the Faculty of Technical and Vocational Education and design a lighting system for the parking area by using living plants as the source of energy generation. This study consisted two phases, Phase I: Analysing the energy generated from the living plants; and Phase II: designing the lighting system for the parking area phase using living plants. The result of the analysis of the energy produced by living plants showed that the selected living plants are able to produce energy with the sufficient amount needed by the lighting system at the parking area. Based on the analysis of the generation of energy from living plants, the lighting system was designed by using step-up circuit and the charging circuit. In conclusion, living plants should be fully utilized as part of the energy resources to generate energy.
... The production, generation, distribution and use of energy is one of the main factors that is increasing the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. This has made many industrialized countries, including Asia, turn towards energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies (or 'sustainable energy'), which causes less adverse environmental impact (Datt et al., 2002). The estimated reduction of operating costs for recycling scrap metal at remelter B is 20% less than that of remelter A. However, based on an environmental and sustainable point of view, this cost saving may not be as meaningful as the incentives derived from energy and CO 2 reductions. ...
This paper seeks to establish a practical definition of the term sustainable development, and relate it to a company's performance. Simulation and modelling tools are applied to gain a holistic view of the activities associated with a metal casting company, which includes production, transportation and recycling. In the simulation model, four case scenarios are investigated, including the comparison of original and re-designed cast products of 20% runner weight reduction, and the recycling of scrap metal at two different remelters. The focus of the case study is to monitor the amount of scrap, dross, carbon dioxide emissions from both energy consumption and transportation, productivity and costs during the metal material cycle. From the case study, various 'sustainability indicators' are highlighted. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
The effect of nuclear power as a energy resource on the global climate change and security concerns of Asian developing countries are discussed. Nuclear power generation doed not involves carbon dioxide emissions, but the current use of nuclear energy cannot be considered for sustainable development. Efforts to control climate change are becoming important as nuclear energy can contribute to the maximum in global warming. It is pointed that the development of nuclear energy in countries like India and China will not only determine domestic economic prosperity and security but also affect the global economy and environment.
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