Committee of Supply Debate 2010: Environmental Policies under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, and Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, gave their speeches during the Committee of Supply Debate under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) yesterday. The speeches address various environmental policies, including:

• Sustainable Development – Overall Approach to Resource Efficiency and Mitigating Climate Change
• Improving Energy Efficiency
• Singapore’s Vulnerability to Climate Change
• Managing Our Water Resources
• Recycling and Waste Minimisation
• Building Up R&D and Manpower Capabilities in Clean Environment and Water Sectors
• Dengue
• Sustaining Public Cleanliness
• Licensing Elderly Tissue Paper Peddlers
• Noise
• Enhancements to Food Hygiene Regime
• ABC Waters Programme

Here are some key points that they raised: Read more

Committee of Supply Debate 2010: Energy Policies under the Ministry of Trade and Industry

Mr S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, gave his speech during the Committee of Supply Debate under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) yesterday. The speech addresses questions related to Singapore’s energy policy, and can be downloaded from the MTI website.

Here are some key points that he raised:

Our goal is to make Singapore a Smart Energy Economy with an energy ecosystem that is secure, sustainable and competitive. Our strategy to meet the global energy challenges rests on two key thrusts: diversification and competitive energy markets.

The Government agrees with the Economic Strategies Committee’s (ESC) recommendation to adopt a portfolio approach towards energy – in other words, no one energy option will be adequate to meet our varied energy objectives.

We will adopt a pragmatic approach by evaluating the alternatives on the basis of energy security, economic viability and environmental sustainability.

Among the renewable energy sources currently available, solar is one of the most promising in our context for electricity generation. While still relatively expensive today, solar energy prices could achieve grid parity in the medium term.

… why are we prepared to study nuclear energy as an option now. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, it can potentially enhance energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and mitigate the impact of volatile oil and gas prices – thus it could meet, potentially all our objectives embedded in the national energy policy.

The aim is to ensure that we fully understand, and objectively evaluate from all perspectives, the opportunities, challenges and risks involved with nuclear energy. The study will commence later this year. It will entail a careful, deliberate and rigorous examination of the technical, economic and safety aspects of nuclear energy.

Clean coal could be a component of our energy diversification strategy. Currently, coal makes up more than 40 per cent of global power generation. And, it is expected to remain at this level until at least 2030 given the relative abundance of coal sources in the world. Coal also has a cost advantage though this may be eroded by any future global carbon pricing regime. However, combustion technology is evolving, making coal cleaner than before and we must, therefore, keep this option open.

We are price-takers in the global energy market because we are small and import almost all our energy requirements. We therefore must allow the full cost of energy to be reflected in prices. Subsidising energy would be encouraging wasteful consumption and it will also be a drain on public finances.

Source: MTI

A Smart Energy Economy: Panel Discussion on ESC’s Recommendations on Energy Resilience and Sustainable Growth

March 22, 2010
9:30 am	to	10:45 am

Venue: National University of Singapore, The Auditorium, University Hall, Lee Kong Chian Wing, Level 2, 21 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119077

Join the panel discussion on the Economic Strategies Committee’s (ESC) recent recommendations on Energy Resilience and Sustainable Growth, moderated by Jessica Cheam, Correspondent, Straits Times, Money Desk. The panelists include:

• Prof. Linda Yuen-Ching Lim: Professor of Strategy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan
• Dr. Natasha Hamilton-Hart: Associate Professor and Deputy Head in the Southeast Asian Studies Programme of the National University of Singapore
• Dr. Tilak Doshi: Chief Economist and Principal Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute
• Dr. Cheng-Guan Michael Quah: Chief Scientist and Principal Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute

Visit the Energy Studies Institute (ESI) website for details and registration.

The Water-Energy Nexus: Saving Water and Energy in Rice Production

March 10, 2010
10:00 am	to	12:00 pm

Venue: ESI Conference Room, 29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Block A #10-01, Singapore 119620

Speaker: Dr. Bas Bouman, International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines

The water-energy nexus is an understudied field. To oversimplify the issue, water is needed to produce en-ergy and energy is required to process and move water. Given this reality, there is a positive co-relation be-tween water and energy and thus, by default, between water consumption and greenhouse emissions. Con-sequently, efforts to decrease water consumption globally must be an integral part of the global efforts for mitigating the devastating greenhouse emissions and particularly global warming.

Added to growing consumption of water for personal and industrial purposes, food production is account-ing for major global water requirements. While many varieties of agricultural products of global demand (e.g., wheat and corn) are water-intensive, rice is especially so requiring much larger amount of water dur-ing the course of its production. It is therefore more energy-intensive than many other crops. Against this background, efforts to reduce water consumption for cultivating rice are especially important given the sheer size of the undertaking as the land used globally for such cultivation is about 150 million hectares producing around 600 million tons of rice for global consumption.

Visit the Energy Studies Institute (ESI) website for details and registration.

Source: Energy Studies Institute

Biofuels in Asia 2010

April 28, 2010

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April 29, 2010

Venue: Bangkok, Thailand

The Biofuels in Asia 2010 Conference:

• Focuses on the knowledge-transfer and introduction of innovative technologies and applications to match the needs of the Asian market and the Asian industry
• Analyze possibilities to improve the quality and stability of the biofuels to reach highest customer satisfaction and public trust
• Identify current trends and future perspectives to optimize the business strategies and business development and ecological businesses

Visit the conference website for details and registration.

ESC Sub-Committee on Energy Resilience and Sustainable Growth

The Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) Sub-Committee on Energy Resilience and Sustainable Growth has published its detailed report on its aim to:

recommend strategies to achieve our national energy objectives: economic competitiveness, energy security and environmental sustainability.

Here are the 5 strategies and 11 recommendations to help Singapore build a Smart Energy Economy:

Strategy 1: Diversifying our Energy Sources

1. Allow entry of new energy options on a market basis

2. Develop renewable energy sources

3. Study the feasibility of the nuclear energy option and develop expertise in nuclear energy technologies

Strategy 2: Enhancing Infrastructure and Systems

4. Invest in critical energy infrastructure ahead of demand

5. Develop Jurong Island as an energy-optimised industrial cluster

Strategy 3: Increasing Energy Efficiency

6. Promote energy efficiency for buildings, industry and in homes

7. Support clean and efficient technologies in transportation

Strategy 4: Strengthening the Green Economy

8. Establish energy as a key national R&D priority

9. Build capabilities for the green economy

10. Apply a green lens to government procurement

Strategy 5: Pricing Energy Right

11. Price energy to reflect its total cost

Recommendations and Strategies by the Economic Strategies Committee

The Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) has completed its work and has submitted the report of its key recommendations to the Prime Minister. The report is released today and can be downloaded at the ESC website.

The ESC was formed in May 2009 to:

develop strategies for Singapore to build capabilities and maximise opportunities as a global city in a new world environment, so as to achieve sustained and inclusive growth.

The ESC is chaired by Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Finance, and comprises members from the government, the labour movement, the private sector as well as academia.

Key Recommendations:

We must achieve higher productivity growth of 2 to 3 percent per year, enabling our GDP to grow on average by 3 to 5 percent per year over the next decade.

Increased productivity is not achieved merely through increased efficiency, but restructuring our economy to provide more room for rapidly growing and innovative enterprises.

7 Key Strategies:

1. Growing through skills and innovation
2. Anchor Singapore as a Global-Asia Hub
3. Build a Vibrant and Diverse Corporate Ecosystem
4. Make Innovation Pervasive, and Strengthen Commercialisation of R&D
5. Become a Smart Energy Economy
6. Enhance Land Productivity to Secure Future Growth
7. Build a Distinctive Global City and an Endearing Home

Here’s the ESC’s recommendations on Smart Energy Economy in the report: Read more

Standard Chartered Gives You the Perfect Excuse to Want a New Car

We saw this ad by Standard Chartered Bank on Sunday in the newspaper – “You want a new car we give you the perfect excuse”. Standard Chartered is giving away 5 Audi cars to customers who deposit or invest with them.

What’s wrong with giving away cars as a promotion? What’s wrong with showing a picture of a car being dumped?

This is probably no big deal to the public, except that we have always read that Standard Chartered is concerned about the environment and climate change.

Standard Chartered claims on their website that:

We are conscious of our responsibility to cut the carbon dioxide emissions caused by our operations and have exceeded our reduction targets for 2008. But we can do much more to deal with the business and other risks that we all face. We work with employees, customers and other stakeholders to raise awareness, stimulate action and reduce their impact on the environment. We set ambitious targets to minimise our own carbon footprint and paper use. And we finance businesses and projects that will reduce emissions and help people adapt to climate change.

So, is this the perfect excuse for you to want a car?

Alternative Energy Thailand Forum 2010

March 24, 2010

to

March 25, 2010

Thailand faces serious energy security issues in the wake of volatile oil prices and the limit to the traditional sources of energy such as oil, gas, coal, etc. Placing importance on this energy policy, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that the Government would provide support for the promotion of alternative energy sources. The Government has placed the use of alternative energy in the national agenda. In response to this aims, it will encourage the production and use of alternative energy such as biomass, biogas, ethanol-based oil, biodiesel, natural gas for vehicles, wind, solar and waste energy to enhance energy security.

In response to the nation’s energy security challenges, this first-time Alternative Energy Thailand Forum 2010 aims to provide participants with a platform to keep abreast with government policies & regulatory updates, latest market developments, practical insights, and regional/international trends and perspectives on alternative energy development.

Download the event info here.

Energy Storage Forum

March 30, 2010

to

March 31, 2010

How do you integrate cost effective energy storage solutions and renewable power into the smart grid?

Come to Beijing on 30-31 March 2010 and join in Asia’s one and only comprehensive conference that has been thoroughly researched to include and examine all aspects of optimising Energy Storage. Tap into over 30 key expert speakers from utilities and suppliers such as ABB, EDF, CHINA LONGYUAN ELECTRIC POWER, ENERGIAS DU PORTUGAL, STATE GRID CORPORATION OF CHINA and CHINA HUADIAN NEW ENERGY to gain insights on:

- Forecasting Energy Storage Return On Investment

- Examining How Energy Storage Can Facilitate The Deployment Of The Smart Grid

- Maximising and Integrating Renewable Resources With Energy Storage

- Examining the CapEx and OpEx Of Flywheel Based Energy Storage Systems

Click Energy Storage for more information.

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