Excerpts from a Technology Roadmap for Energy Security and Environment Sustainability

Speaker: Dr Michael Quah Cheng-Guan

Venue: Seminar Room II, ISEAS

When Dr Quah was a Visiting Principal Fellow at ESI, he presented an interim report on a work in progress in December, last year, at ISEAS. He has since completed his report and will discuss excerpts of the Technology Roadmap, which provides signposts and guardrails for a transition from the current dependence on fossil fuels to a far future when fossil fuels are prohibitively expensive to extract and process and thus, we will face a back-to-the-future scenario to the “Age of Renewables.”

Along this long road to the far future, near-term strategies for the next 10 years and mid-term scenarios for 10 to 50 years are discussed. Energy conservation and energy efficiency programs are paramount in the near-term because fossil fuels will continue to play a major role but carbon constraints will reveal the necessity for such programs. The need for high energy density fuels calls for a future where bio-fuels are needed with the requisite balancing act of land (and water areas) for food and fuel.

Against a backdrop of the Singapore International Energy Week (just completed in 17 – 20 November), the Copenhagen Conference (7-18 December 2009), the possible depletion of world oil resources faster than expected (Straits Times, 11 November 2009) and extreme weather events (typhoons) impacting upon Southeast Asia, this seminar is most timely and will show the “middle way.” This talk provides further elaborations on Dr. Quah’s presentations at the Shell-ESI Dialogue and the Plug-In Singapore session at the recent Singapore International Energy Week.

Details and registration at the ISEAS website.

Challenges and Prospects for a Green Economy

Speaker: Mr Pavan Sukhdev, Study Leader – TEEB; Special Advisor & Head – Green Economy Initiative, UNEP; Chairman – Global Markets Centre Mumbai (Deutsche Bank)

Venue: Theatrette, Environment Building, #04-00, Singapore 228231

Increasingly, government and business leaders all over the world recognise they need to operate differently from before to take on the greatest challenge confronting mankind in the 21st century – Climate Change. But just how different is enough? Is sustainable consumption possible? Can we wean ourselves off carbon dependency? We find we begin unravelling the answers when we take the first but essential step to redefine the prosperity agenda – to pave the way towards the makings of a ‘Green Economy’.

Greening the economy entails deliberate efforts to reconfigure business and infrastructure in order to deliver better returns on natural and economic capital investments while at the same time reducing GHGs, extracting and using less natural resources, creating less waste and reducing social disparities. At the same time, we reap benefits of creating more vibrant and sustainable living communities as enabling conditions for the green economy, are created & sustained.

Mr Pavan Sukhdev will share findings from his study highlighting the evidence of environmentally-inclusive economics to achieve both ecosystem conservation & economic development. He will discuss the challenges & prospects for the green economy in relation to climate change, carbon markets and ecological restoration, as well as recommend a global plan for a green industrial revolution and the implementation of green strategies to green national economies.

Details and registration at the SEI website.

Climate Change – An Emerging Security Threat

Speaker: Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti, Climate and Energy Security Envoy, British Government

Venue: Seminar Room 3-1, Level 3, Manasseh Meyer, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 469C Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259772

Synopsis: Internationally, there is growing interest in non-traditional threats to security. Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti is the British Government’s envoy for climate and energy security. He will examine how climate change can act as a ‘threat multiplier’ that exacerbates existing tensions and has consequences for national and international security. He will outline how countries need to ensure that their security strategies address the impact of climate change on stability. He will also emphasise the urgency of the global transition to a low carbon economy, which will limit the threat and explore possible solutions such as areas where militaries can collaborate. The session will also consider how these factors may come into play in South East Asia.

Details and registration at the LKYSPP website.

Singapore Creates First Official LOHAS Region in Asia

LOHAS Asia is pleased to announce that it is formally linking up with the Kranji Countryside Association to designate the entire Kranji Countryside a “LOHAS Region”, to promote healthy & sustainable living practices in Asia.

LOHAS stands for “Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability”, a consumer-lead movement originated in the USA in the late 1990’s. LOHAS Asia has been formed to provide a platform for businesses and consumers alike in Asia who wish to promote LOHAS as the way forward for living in Asia today.

Adam Horler, President of LOHAS Asia, remarking on this announcement said:

“LOHAS promotes consciously for the individual and corporate customer. We can buy products and services that pay no regard to the environment or we can seek out products and companies that consider their environmental impact in all they do to bring products to market.

Individual consumers are the most powerful economic force in the world, far more powerful than corporations or even governments. If we choose to support Earth-friendly companies, we can save the planet, far faster than passively waiting for legislation to force companies to change. For instance, if we choose to buy organic and locally-produced foods for health reasons, we are also supporting sustainable agriculture and buying produce that has not had to be transported miles to get to our plates.

The Kranji Countryside Association does great work in Singapore already promoting local, healthy and environmentally-sensitive production of food for the local market. We hope that by naming the area a LOHAS Region we will be able to attract even more awareness and support to this jewel that exists in Singapore.

We shall be establishing our Asian HQ in Kranji, and hope to create a LOHAS Centre to showcase the region’s products and a better way of living for all Singaporeans, giving them the chance to become Lohasian consumers and save the planet, one purchase at a time.”

Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim, President of the Kranji Countryside Association, commented:

“The Kranji Countryside Association is ecstatic with this link-up with LOHAS as it is the most appropriate platform to further strengthen our vision. We are encouraging people to be aware of nature in the quest for human progress. There is an urgent need to be aware that the impact of the carelessness of our behavior can destroy our very existence on this earth.

As such all of us farmers are 100% behind LOHAS Asia and look forward to the great changes we can make together.”

World Toilet Summit and Expo 2009

World experts to deliberate on issues of sanitation and toilets

World Toilet Summit returns to Singapore since inauguration in 2001

World experts on sanitation and toilets will converge in Singapore in December to deliberate on almost every aspect of this once-taboo subject.

High on their agenda will be the urgent issue of bringing sanitation to 2.5 billion people who live without having toilets, a market worth an estimated US$1 trillion.

The occasion will be the three-day World Toilet Summit and Expo 2009 (WTSE 2009) to be held from December 2-4 at Suntec Singapore. It will be opened by Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister (Prime Minister’s Office).

The ninth in the series, the event is organised by the locally-based World Toilet Organization (WTO) founded by Singaporean Jack Sim in 2001, and MP Asia, in partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB). It has the strong local support of the Economic Development Board (EDB), PUB – The National Water Agency, the Restroom Association (Singapore), Singapore Institute of Architects, Singapore Institute of Planners and Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau. Read more

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