Singapore Energy – Is Renewable an Option?
MEETING STORY by Gabriele Chlevickaite
The future of Singapore’s green efforts was debated this Saturday at National University of Singapore where Energy Carta hosted “Singapore Energy: Challenges, Choices and Change” panel discussion. Part of the Experience Energy 2011 event series, it aims to reach out to students and engage them in discussions on energy, focusing on whether Singapore can actually make use of sustainable energy resources feasibly and profitably.
William Byun, managing director of Asia renewable, commenced the speeches by giving the private sector perspective, and pointing out the fact that “green” has become a business in itself, with “green products”, “green lifestyles”.
“What does this green label mean? I have no idea how come the cleaning products are green, in my eyes it is just the package color. I’ve even seen Swiss bank with a slogan “we are sustainable”, but what are they sustaining – profits? ”said Mr. Byun while explaining how sustainability is used as a marketing gimmick.
Michael Quah had a similar take on the view that sustainability cannot be seen as a business opportunity, especially in Singapore. Representing the academic world, the NUS professor and executive advisor of NUS Enterprise claimed that Singapore is disadvantaged in the alternative energy sphere simply because it is too small. Thus, it would not actually be feasible for Singapore to employ renewable energy sources, and it should focus on conservation, energy efficiency and reducing energy intensity, while helping other countries in the region get their electricity supplies.
Quite a different perspective was provided by Alvin Kiang, a student from Nanyang Technological University and an employee for Alpha Biodiesel, as he gave his fired-up opinion on what the obstacles to a clean future of Singapore are. After introducing simple ways of manufacturing and using clean bio fuels, he provided an insight into the backyard of the industry – including sabotage, theft, corruption, physical violence. “From the façade, Singapore looks squeaky clean, but if you see how oil is being collected for fuel, you would think it is happening in Indonesia.” Even though he also agreed that it is not possible to meet the demand of fossil diesel in Singapore using bio fuels, in his opinion the sector can still grow substantially.
Overall, the speakers agreed that the main obstacles to a greener Singapore were the government’s decisions, and that technology here is really not the problem. Policies are the main challenge together with the industry driven by profits, and as long as the government does not subsidize or in any other way encourage businesses to turn to renewable energy, it will be extremely difficult for Singapore to make any changes in its energy sector.
The future of Singapore’s green efforts was debated this Saturday at National University of Singapore where Energy Carta hosted “Singapore Energy: Challenges, Choices and Change” panel discussion. Part of the Experience Energy 2011 event series, it aims to reach out to students and engage them in discussions on energy, focusing on whether Singapore can actually make use of sustainable energy resources feasibly and profitably.
William Byun, managing director of Asia renewable, commenced the speeches by giving the private sector perspective, and pointing out the fact that “green” has become a business in itself, with “green products”, “green lifestyles”.
“What does this green label mean? I have no idea how come the cleaning products are green, in my eyes it is just the package color. I’ve even seen Swiss bank with a slogan “we are sustainable”, but what are they sustaining – profits? ”said Mr. Byun while explaining how sustainability is used as a marketing gimmick.
Michael Quah had a similar take on the view that sustainability cannot be seen as a business opportunity, especially in Singapore. Representing the academic world, the NUS professor and executive advisor of NUS Enterprise claimed that Singapore is disadvantaged in the alternative energy sphere simply because it is too small. Thus, it would not actually be feasible for Singapore to employ renewable energy sources, and it should focus on conservation, energy efficiency and reducing energy intensity, while helping other countries in the region get their electricity supplies.
Quite a different perspective was provided by Alvin Kiang, a student from Nanyang Technological University and an employee for Alpha Biodiesel, as he gave his fired-up opinion on what the obstacles to a clean future of Singapore are. After introducing simple ways of manufacturing and using clean bio fuels, he provided an insight into the backyard of the industry – including sabotage, theft, corruption, physical violence. “From the façade, Singapore looks squeaky clean, but if you see how oil is being collected for fuel, you would think it is happening in Indonesia.” Even though he also agreed that it is not possible to meet the demand of fossil diesel in Singapore using bio fuels, in his opinion the sector can still grow substantially.
Overall, the speakers agreed that the main obstacles to a greener Singapore were the government’s decisions, and that technology here is really not the problem. Policies are the main challenge together with the industry driven by profits, and as long as the government does not subsidize or in any other way encourage businesses to turn to renewable energy, it will be extremely difficult for Singapore to make any changes in its energy sector.