Summary & Reader’s Response Draft #4

 

CVE1281 Effective Communication

Summary & Reader’s Response

Draft #4

Name: Nur Raudhah Binte Abdul Rahim

Student ID: 2002806

 

In the article, “How can Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition be sped up?” Daubach (2019) wrote that because of Southeast Asia (SEA) region’s varying economies, using one method to push towards clean energy is insufficient.

Daubach (2019) mentioned several experts who discussed that green technologies and remedies must be implemented in electricity production according to each country’s circumstances. For example, Singapore can alternatively generate electricity from nuclear fusion and use zero-emissions vehicles due to constraints in using wind power and solar panels extensively. Nuclear fusion can be used as it minimises land usage and is emission-free, but it requires immense heat plus pressure and is inefficient to mass produce energy. Additionally, green technologies are too costly to meet the Paris Agreement promptly. Daubach (2019) also suggested reducing energy consumption, especially since SEA still uses coal, which is a major contributor to global emissions. Accelerating the implementations on green measures can also help in curbing electricity consumption. He then concluded that SEA “needs more innovation to reduce costs in the power, industrial and transportation sectors”.

Based on what Daubach (2019) had discussed in the article, it is undeniable that SEA has a large room for improvement to tap on its implementation of renewable energy. However, other than the high cost of green technologies, he did not address the key challenges hindering the region such as countries still using traditional fuels to ensure public’s access to electricity, the lack of awareness regarding clean energy and the political choice among countries to implement renewable energy sources.

Firstly, one challenge Daubach did not address is that many countries in SEA are prioritising their citizens' access to electricity. Over the years, there have been efforts to improve to the access of electricity in SEA and the rate has significantly improved from approximately 60% in 2000 to more than 90% in 2018 (Shyu, 2020). There are still approximately 45 million people who do not have access to electricity mostly in Cambodia and Myanmar where poverty still prevails (Shyu, 2020). To provide electricity at a minimum cost to millions of people, oil and coal are still widely used to produce energy as they are the cheapest sources of fossil fuels for some countries (Ha, 2019). For example, Brunei Darussalam is continuously using natural gas and oil while Indonesia and the Philippines still use coal (Ha, 2019).  Brunei is the third largest oil producer in SEA and produces 163,000 barrels per day (United Nations, n.d.) while Indonesia contributes to nearly 75% of planned coal power in SEA is the world’s biggest coal exporter (Coca, 2021).  As such, these countries are still using traditional fossil fuels as they are the most affordable and abundant forms of energy available to cater to the demand of their people.

Secondly, that there is a lack of awareness regarding the benefits of renewable energy in SEA countries (Smith, 2019). Daubach did not mention that it becomes a challenge to implement renewable energy sources when the public have limited knowledge about the importance of sustainability and renewable energy to ensure a green future and the benefits. This is evident in the minuscule action of implementing renewable energy sources by stakeholders such as industrial players and building owners in SEA. For example, in Indonesia, there is still a lack of renewable energy subsidies by the government to promote its use, hence, renewable energy sources are still regarded to be costly (Nugraha, 2019). If more subsidies are provided, more stakeholders will be encouraged to implement the use of renewable energy. Furthermore, Indonesia still has more plans to build coal power plants (Nugraha, 2019) despite warnings from the western countries. This shows that for effective and efficient actions to be taken to implement more renewable energy sources, there should be an increase in education regarding renewable energy to entice stakeholders to be involved in the development of renewable energy in SEA.

Finally, Daubach also failed to mention that the implementation of renewable energy can be a political choice among the countries in SEA. The monopoly of certain agencies in energy production prevents potential investors of renewable energy and dominate the local energy production. For example, Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), a state-owned utility company in Indonesia, dominates the energy production sector and owns most of the coal plants there. PLN is thus not incentivised to push itself to towards using renewable energy (Ha, 2019). The domination of certain utility agencies slows down the clean energy movement due to the political influence of the giant utility companies.

In conclusion, Daubach did not discuss the other factors affecting SEA’s implementation of renewable energy source other than the high cost of green technologies.  The respective problems such as the lack of awareness priority of mass access to electricity using cheap resources, need to be addressed first for SEA to adopt more renewable energy sources as quickly as possible.

 

References

Coca, N. (2021, March 31) How Indonesia became coal's final frontier. Eco-Business. https://www.eco-business.com/news/how-indonesia-became-coals-final-frontier/

Ha, T. (2019, July 31). Power PLAY-WHO'S winning Southeast Asia's RENEWABLES race? Eco-Business. https://www.eco-business.com/news/power-play-whos-winning-southeast-asias-renewables-race/

Nugraha, I. (2019, Dec 2). Indonesia ‘must stop building new coal plants by 2020’ to meet climate goals. Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/indonesia-coal-plants-2020-climate-goals-carbon-emissions/

Smith, B. (2019, Jun 26). The Challenges Renewable Energy Sources Face. Azo Materials. https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=18220

Shyu, C. (2020).  Energy poverty alleviation in Southeast Asian countries: policy implications for improving access to electricity. https://doi.org/10.1080/17516234.2020.1770426

The ASEAN Post. Renewable energy challenges in Southeast Asia. (2021, March 14). The ASEAN Post. https://theaseanpost.com/article/renewable-energy-challenges-southeast-asia

Tun, M., Palacky, P., & Juchelkova, D. (2020). Renewable waste-to-energy in Southeast Asia: Status, challenges, opportunities, and selection of waste-to-energy technologies. Applied Sciences, 10(20), 7312. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/20/7312

United Nations. (n.d.). Permanent Mission of Brunei Darussalam to the United Nations. United Nations. https://www.un.int/brunei/brunei/country-facts

YCP Solidiance. ASEAN targets to Secure 23% sustainable renewable energy. (2019, Dec). YCP Solidiance. https://ycpsolidiance.com/article/asean-targets-to-secure-23-sustainable-renewable-energy-by-2025