The Green Crusade

The green crusade has to continue. Malaysia is a blessed country, with so many lush green forest, flowing rivers and seas full of thriving lifes. However, the people are unfortunately forget to appreciate the endowments of God and to look after the gifts of nature. As a results, we had seen the disasters,  such as the collapse of the Highland Tower, landslides, polluted rivers that kill the fish population. The worst environmental disaster, in my view was the case of rare earth mining in Bukit Merah  Perak.

The history of green crusade taken by one of the paper stretched back to the earlier years. These are some of the records:

1977 - the nation was informed about the "rape of endau rompin".  Endau Rompin is under 2 states of Pahang and Johor, designated as the national park. However the illegal logging is threatening the environment.

2004 - the story about the fate of fireflies in Kampong Kuantan in Malaysia, the number of the inspects is fast fading. This is due to the destruction of the habitat and the encroachment of the population into the breeding ground of the fireflies.

 

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China Green Energy

China, being the most populated nation and stand to be consuming the most energy, targeting to have to non-fossil fuel to be at least at 15% level. The energy sources will be mainly the green resources of solar, wind and hydro-electric and the other "non-green", the nuclear energy.

The development of hydro-power is gaining popularity but not without the problem. In developed nations, this can be producing about 80% of the nations' energy, while in China, it is still at the infant stage.

China is currently the number 1 solar energy producer in the world. This include the productions of the electricity and the solar equipment. The capacity of solar energy is about 2.2 million kw out of the 450 million kw of the total, this making it to be about 0.4%. The country fares better in the production of the solar energy equipment. It is currently producing 50% of the worlds outputs. One of the issues faced in promoting the use of solar energy is the higher unit cost of solar power. The solar power is costed at 1.15 yuan per kW/H and the wind is at cheaper 0.57 yuan. Currently, the country does not have the subsidy system to promote the alternative energy production.

The wind energy production had a better growth lately. Last year, the statics shows that the wind power produces a total of 47 million kw. Most of the power is produced in the Mongolian Desert where the strong wind is in abundant. However the poor distribution network, makes it less valuable.

As a whole, China has made a tremendous growth in its green energy drive, in line with its effort to industrialize and contribute to the world's economy.

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Solar Energy Challenges

As part of the efforts to reduce the dependence of fossil energy, many of the EU countries provide a generous subsidies to both the manufacturers and the consumers. The argument was solid.. sooner or later, the fossil energy will run out, the effect by be fatal for the nation. It make sense to prepare in advance.

The problem is, the solar energy is more expensive. The payback period is more than 10 years. You can make more profit by putting your money in the fix deposit rather than investing in solar energy. To overcome this, the subsidy system was introduced.

When the subsidy was announced years ago, many of the big companies jumped into the bandwagon and produced the solar cells. The sector is facing the problem of overcapacity and many of them cannot survive. It make it worst by the announcement of the cut in subsidy.

Germany just announced the reduction of subsidy of 20 to 30%. Projects above 10 MW will get no subsidy at all, those between 1 to 10 will get 13.5 euro for kilowatt-hour. UK is thinking of the same move, and signaled of cutting the subsidy by 50%.

Currently, the solar energy is facing two main challenges. Within the green energy concept, it has to compete with the off shore wind turbine. Many argue that the solar should be supported as the preferred source of alternate energy, it is easier to install and the maintenance cost is much lower that wind turbine.

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