China's cooperation in education and training with Kenya A different model

Asia energy mixes from socio-economic and environmental perspectives

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna ?

National University of Singapore,University Hall,Singapore 117576,Singapore

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 23February 2009Accepted 11May 2009

Available online 18June 2009Keywords:

Climate change Carbon emission Renewable energy

a b s t r a c t

Sustainable clean energy is the top social,economic,and environmental agenda of political leaders,policy makers,enlightened business executives,and civil society in Asia.Strong economic growth in Asia has caused a great demand for energy which has resulted in an enormous increase in CO 2emissions.The association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN),India,China,South Korea and Japan are the most important regions in Asia as their economies have been growing steadily.These countries though heavily dependent on fossil fuels have stepped up their measures towards low-carbon society amid domestic affordability challenges and changing global mindset.This report highlights the current energy scenario in these countries and their effort towards an affordable and sustainable clean energy future.The energy policy to enhance energy security and improve environmental sustainability is also explicated in this article.

&2009Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.

1.Introduction

According to the world energy outlook reference scenario,the estimates of total reserves of oil and natural gas (NG)are suf?cient enough to supply the world for over 40years at the current rate of consumption.The volume of oil discovered each year has also been increasing.Fossil fuels,although suf?cient to meet the global energy demand,liberate carbon dioxide (CO 2)into the Earth’s atmosphere and have already worsened the greenhouse condi-tions,and given thread for irreversible catastrophic effects to the Earth.Countries around the world have stepped up their efforts on energy security and been working on the strategy to tackle the issue of climate change with the design and implementation of sustainable energy systems.

Asia is an important part of the world as it signi?cantly contributes to the sustainable development of the global econo-my.Table 1describes the socio-economical strengths and carbon emissions per capita of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN),India,China,South Korea and Japan.ASEAN comprises ten countries:Burma,Brunei Darussalam,Cambodia,Indonesia,Laos,Malaysia,Philippines,Singapore,Thailand and Vietnam.Rapid and strong economic growth of these Asian countries has fuelled the demand for energy (Saha,2003;Von Hippel et al.,2009;Zhang,2008).It has been projected that the energy demand of Asia will increase twice by 2030due to increase in population and rapid level of urbanization and industrialization,which in turn increase the CO 2level tremendously (Chow,2003;Dorian,2006;Srivastava and

Misra,2007).Nevertheless,the fossil fuels have been dominant because of affordability and existing process technologies.Hence,the policy decisions in the coming years have to be very cautious to manage that use better.The carbon footprint can be controlled by substituting natural gas for oil and coal in the primary energy mix,mixing up of renewables with fossil fuels,replacing with nuclear energy,capturing and sequestering CO 2and improving the ef?ciency of the current process technologies.Especially,the mix up of alternative sources,renewables and fossil fuels in the overall energy mix are promising options to mitigate the thread of irreversible global climate change.Countries have already started to formulate a holistic and robust energy policy and investing signi?cantly for the clean and sustainable energy programs.

This article highlights and reviews the energy policy in major Asian countries in the perspective of enhancing energy security and improving social,economic,and environmental issues.

2.Overview of major Asian countries

The ASEAN region has been endowed with 8%of the fossil fuel resources in the world.Nearly all of the coal reserves are located in Indonesia (83%)and Vietnam (10%)(Karki et al.,2005;Luukkanen and Kaivo-oja,2002).Thailand has energy reserves of natural gas.Indonesia and Philippines because of their substantial reserves of geothermal energy have been ranked as the second and fourth geothermal power producers in the world.Hydropower has been abundant in most of the ASEAN countries except Brunei and Singapore (Fig.1).Brunei is currently the 4th largest oil producer in South East Asia and the 9th largest producer of natural gas in the world.Singapore possesses world

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Energy Policy

0301-4215/$-see front matter &2009Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2009.05.061

?Corresponding author.Tel.:+6565162142;fax:+6568720830.

E-mail addresses:nnitv@https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,.sg (V.Thavasi),seeram@https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,.sg (S.Ramakrishna).

Energy Policy 37(2009)4240–4250

class re?nery facilities(1.3mb/d of crude oil)and trading about 20%of the world’s crude oil.The energy consumption in ASEAN has been mainly driven by industrialization and export-oriented technologies.Philippines and Indonesia are the two bigger countries in ASEAN region and have adopted highly liberalized economic policies in the region that have attracted many foreign investors.Singapore,Malaysia,and Thailand have been successful in electronics and information technology export business, whereas Brunei,Indonesia,and Malaysia in crude oil and liquid natural gas(LNG)export business in the region.

In India,the rapid economic expansion continues to drive up energy needs(Dechezlepre?tre et al.,2009).Coal has been the India’s most important fuel.Two thirds of total carbon emissions in India have been due to burning of coal,mainly in power stations.The renewable sources presently contribute8%of grid capacity in India. About83%of Japan’s primary energy supply has been from fossil fuels.Japan’s energy consumption has been rated the highest in the world,despite its poor energy resources.This has made Japan the world’s largest importer of LNG.Japan has planned to strengthen its focus on clean and renewable energy.Currently,the renewable energy sources including hydropower to primary energy mix has been4%.Japan has targeted to produce more than60%of its electricity from renewable energy sources by2050in order to establish the country less dependent on imported fossil fuels.China is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world and the coal makes up over70%of its primary energy consumption(Fig.1). Currently,renewables account for7.5%of China’s energy supplies. China has been rated the world’s third largest oil consumer,behind Japan.It has been expected that China’s growing energy demand would impose it to exceed Japan around2010and make it the biggest oil importing country in Asia.Natural gas has currently accounted for slightly more than3%of the total energy consump-tion in China,but consumption has been expected to be more than triple by2010(Yang,2008).South Korea utilizes a combination of oil,gas,coal,nuclear,and hydroelectric capacity to meet its demand for electric power.It has been the seventh largest oil consumer and fourth largest crude oil importer in the world.Coal and oil have accounted25%and43%of South Korea’s primary energy mix. Presently,South Korea has been receiving LNG from Indonesia, Malaysia,Qatar,Brunei,and Oman.South Korea has projected to reduce its dependency on oil to35%of its energy needs by2030.

3.Countries overview:socio-economical perspectives

World population prospects project that the population of Asian countries will grow around3billion by2010.The socio-demography has the strong in?uence on energy demand(Ibrahim Dincer,1997;Siddayao,1986).The population in various cate-gories consumes the energy through residential and commercial, industrial,academic and transportation activities as shown in the Fig.2.Hence,countries with large populations may contribute to more carbon emissions.In India,the population has already reached beyond a billion and China alone represents20%of the world’s population with its over 1.3billion people.China has been ranked99in the world based on its CO2emissions per capita. The one-child policy in China has successfully controlled the population,which will let India to surpass China by2030(Fig.3) that eventually leads to more energy demand in India.South Korea’s population density is one of the highest in the world. Japan is currently the world’s tenth most populated country with population of around127million.Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world,at81.25years of age as of2006because of the healthy diet and strong medical infrastructure.The World population outlook has predicted that Japan’s long-run population would be lower than the current level due to the current trend of falling birth rates,and the share of65–85year old residents would rise from6%to15%by2025.Such older population group could consume energy through residential sector.Younger and working populations consume greater amount of electricity,but mostly

Table1

Socio-economic information of countries in Asia.

Country a GDP per head

(US$;purchasing

power parity),

2007b Total emissions

(1000tonnes of

C),2003c

Per capita emissions

per capita,metric

tonnes in2002(and

rank in the bracket)c

Total population

in2010

(millions)a

Population of

ages15–24in

2010(%)a

Population of

ages between

15–64in2010

(%)a

Population

of ages

Z65in

2010(%)a

Indonesia3570307,700(121)239.617.64024 Malaysia13,220153,600 5.627.9218.639 5.5 Thailand7816218,600 3.365.1214.827.810.3 Philippines329078,0600.993.0119.726.2 4.7 Singapore41,750d41,52213.1(18) 4.5914.330.310.3 Myanmar NA e NA e NA e 5.018.527 5.7 Vietnam2600NA e NA e90.84520.328.1 5.6

Brunei NA e NA e NA e0.41417.723.4 3.4 Cambodia NA e NA e NA e15.22423.228.9 3.5

Laos NA e NA e NA e 6.17323.228.7 3.5

India27401,112,800 1.1(129)122019.320.1 6.1

China54805,322,690 2.9(99)135116.228.79.8

South Korea24,550496,80010.6(33)4813.629.613.2

Japan33,5501,230,400(39)1279.940.228.8

Median18.128.7 5.9

Average17.6429.869.6

Standard

deviation

0.98 1.59 2.08

a Reference:World Population Prospects.

b All?gures are from the2007IMF list published in October2008.

c Source:Marland,G.,T.A.Boden,R.J.Andres.2004.Global,regional,an

d national CO

2

emissions.In trends:a compendium of data on global change.Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center,Oak Ridge National Laboratory,US Department of Energy,Oak Ridge,TN,USA(at https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,/trends/emis/tre_coun.htm);Sources: PRB2007World Population Data Sheet;Energy information administration,Of?cial Energy Statistics from the US government.

d https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,.sg/web/Common/homepage.aspx.

e Not available.

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna/Energy Policy37(2009)4240–42504241

contribute to the industrial economy at subsistence level and hence,their energy consumption is compensated by gross domestic product (GDP)growth.

The levels of energy demand and carbon emissions are closely related to GDP per capita.GDP growth and levels of GDP per capita are the two most important ways by which a country’s economic performance can be judged.The economy of South Korea relies heavily on technology for growth.The per capita of South Korea has been around $24,550.The GDP per capita purchasing power parity of India has been estimated at $2740.Singapore has the highest GDP per capita,followed by Malaysia and Thailand.China’s GDP per capita has been $5480.In general,wealthier countries have higher emissions per capita due to more energy-intensive lifestyles.The ensuing growth in per capita income will in turn create additional demand for energy.Simultaneously,it has to be noted that the negative impact on the GDP growth will immediately undermine the investment for sustainable energy development.

4.Strategies towards low-carbon society (LCS)

To achieve the low-carbon society,the energy policy should emphasize six strategies to strengthen the economic competi-

tiveness,enhance energy security and improve environmental sustainability.

4.1.Promote competitive markets

Firstly competitive markets have to be fostered to keep energy affordable and ensure competitiveness.Market liberalization and privatization have been promoted as viable policy options for developing countries mainly because the increased competition and improved market structures should spur investments (Haselip,2007).Most of the Asian countries have successfully opened up the market for telecommunication and electricity.India’s telecommunication market has received greater levels of competition —particularly mobile operators.Singapore has liber-alized its electricity and gas markets to enable full competition in the electricity retail market.Likewise in South Korea the petroleum downstream activities have been largely privatized in the retail https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,ernments have to be cautious in devising such liberalization process.It is important to monitor that the liberalization actually demonstrates the bene?ts such as both goods and services at lower prices,higher investments while providing competition.

Fig.1.Primary energy mix in major Asian countries.

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna /Energy Policy 37(2009)4240–4250

4242

4.2.Improve energy ef?ciency

Energy ef?ciency has received great attention in recent years among governments and private enterprises in Asia (Fig.4).Asian countries have focused to improve the energy ef?ciency of the energy conversion,transmission,and distribution systems as there has been ef?ciency gap in the respective sectors in the region.

Not only can energy ef?ciency improve a nation’s energy security but also increase the competitiveness of private entities.Song (2006)has suggested that more than half of the global energy demand could be met by improving the energy ef?ciency alone.It has been suggested that 20%of energy savings can be achieved through reduced output of energy-intensive raw materi-als and energy ef?ciency improvements.Energy ef?ciencies of the technologies in process and mechanical industries such as furnaces,boilers,and motors have great potential in terms of energy ef?ciency improvements (Garcia and Zorraquino,2002).In process plants,the ef?ciency can be improved by adapting ef?cient technologies such as integrated gasi?cation combined cycle (IGCC)and pressurized ?uidized bed combustion (PFBC)(McMahon,1998;Wilen and Rautalin,1999).The increased use of combined heat and power (CHP)generation in the industrial sector will improve the supply system’s energy conversion ef?ciency (Ahrenfeldt et al.,2006;Bourgeois et al.,2003).Singapore has taken appreciable measures in maintenance and operating practices.

The average ef?ciency of the oil-?red plants in Singapore has been comparable to OECD countries.For example,from 2000to 2006,the overall power generation ef?ciency has been raised from 38%to 44%through the adoption of combined cycle using steam and gas turbines.This strategy has accounted for 15.8%reduction in CO 2emission.A switch from the fuel oil-?red power plants to dual-fuel plants with 75.8%share of natural gas has reduced the CO 2emission by another 25%.The combined effect of these above measures has contributed to 37%reduction of CO 2from the electric power generation plants.Fig.5shows that the Singapore’s energy intensity (an indicator of energy ef?ciency)has improved by 15%between 1990and 2005.

4.3.Diversify energy supplies

Diversi?cation of energy supplies is the cornerstone to protect against supply disruptions and price hike.About 90%of the ASEAN primary energy supply has been ful?lled by fossil fuels (coal,oil,and gas),of which nearly 60%is imported from the Middle East.This import level has been expected to increase more by 2020,placing energy stability at greater risk in ASEAN.China and India would account for 27%and 12%of the global energy demand in 2030,respectively,which in turn will raise CO 2emissions.Fuel switching or mixing with renewable energy sources in the primary energy leads to the reduction of carbon emissions.Natural gas has been considered as a cleaner fossil fuel.Countries like Japan and Singapore have preferred switching from coal to NG though the average price natural gas is about three times higher than that of coal to reduce the carbon intensity.Malaysia has proposed four fuel strategies,i.e.the utilization of oil,hydropower,coal,and natural gas in the national energy supply.

4.3.1.Nuclear energy

It has been widely recognized that the nuclear energy could solve the problems of energy security and global warming effectively (Minato and Sugiyama,2000;Yamaji,1997).In strong economic countries like Japan,China,India,and South Korea,the nuclear electricity has been playing a signi?cant role in the overall energy supply (Lee,2002).China and India have been working all-out efforts to push the development of nuclear power generation forward to increase the share of nuclear power in the overall energy mix.The China national nuclear corporation and its provincial counterparts (especially Guangdong)have taken charge of the in-country R&D,engineering design,mining,enrichment,fuel fabrication,reprocessing,and waste disposal (Van Noorden,2007).In China,several nuclear projects have been kicked off with the involvement of Russian,French,and Canadian ?rms.China has developed its own pebble-bed reactors (from the spherical packing of fuel)design,a fourth-generation technology that improves ef?ciency and safety (Wu and Yu,2007).ASEAN have announced that they would diversify energy supplies by devel-oping biofuels and civilian nuclear power (Lasijo et al.,1994;Lee,

Society

Energy

consuming sectors

Residential

Commercial

Academic

Industry

Transport

Workers

Working

Population Young Education

Aged

Home makers

Fig.2.In?uence of socio-demography on energy use in various sectors.

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna /Energy Policy 37(2009)4240–4250

4243

2002;Tan,1996).Indonesia,Vietnam,Philippines,and Thailand have revived to build nuclear power plants (Banaga,1998).Major ASEAN except Myanmar and Singapore have already owned nuclear research reactors mainly for the production of radio-isotopes (Fig.6).Myanmar has recently announced that it would build a small research reactor with the help of Russia.Nuclear energy is still not been feasible in Singapore,nonetheless such energy options may be viable in future as the technology and regional level agreement and cooperation have been improving tremendously.Nuclear safety that includes containment building,radiation protection and nuclear criticality safety are not only the national but also trans-border issues (Van Noorden,2007).Hazards to public health and environment can occur if radiation leak occurs from reactor core or fuel elements.Nuclear wastes,

although contained within spent fuel rods,can pose health risk if they are not stored and contained properly.Such factors will in?uence the policy makers and governments to be more cautious in supporting its development.

4.3.2.Renewable energies and R&D

A combination of renewable energy sources and energy ef?ciency could provide the safer and cost effective way to combat climate change,enhance energy security and establish long-term sustainable energy development in the region.Geother-mal energy has been the major abundant energy resource in Indonesia and Philippines for power https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html, has been pursuing opportunities in clean energy,including photovoltaics (PV)(Gunerhan et al.,2009;Pearce,2008),building integrated PV

1800

1600140012001000800350300250200150100

5080706050403020100P o p u l a t i o n (m i l l i o n s ) →

2000

20102020

2030204020502060

Year →

Thailand Myanmar

Korea Malaysia

Cambodia

Laos Singapore Brunei Indonesia Philippines

Vietnam Japan India

China

Fig.3.Population growth trend in major Asian countries between 2000–2050(compiled from the data available in World Population Prospects).

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna /Energy Policy 37(2009)4240–4250

4244

(BIPV)(Frankl et al.,1998),fuel cells and biofuels (Ramachandra et al.,2000).PV including silicon,thin ?lm,polymer cells,tandem cells and concentration system directly convert solar radiation into electricity (Jackson and Oliver,2000).Silicon PV has been successful as the conversion ef?ciency is quite high and very promising because of longer (20years)life time.China has been one of the leading producers of silicon photovoltaics with more than 200manufacturers creating 1700MW of the panels in 2007.In Singapore,the solar power has been very much feasible.Singapore has attracted Norway’s Renewable Energy Corporation (REC)to build a $6.3billion solar complex for silicon wafer and thin-?lm production.Biomass contributes a signi?cant proportion to energy use in ASEAN region because most of the rural people have been still dependent upon biomass for energy (Menu et al.,1997).The share of biomass has been as high as 73.8%in Cambodia,followed by Myanmar (64%),Vietnam (60%),and Laos (54.2%).Singapore’s biodiesel industries have committed to produce 1million tonnes per annum by 2010and 3million

Energy savings by new processes & Regeneration Energy from Recycling

Sustainable energy and Environment

Energy savings from Plant process control

Energy from Waste treatment

Fig.4.Process engineering to recover/save the

energy.

Fig.5.Energy intensity in Singapore between 1990and

2005.

2468101214161820I n d o n e s i a

M a l a y s i a

T h a i l a n d

P h i l i p p i n e s

S i n g a p o r e

V i e t n a m

I n d i a

C h i n a

K o r e a

J a p a n

N u m b e r o f r e s e a r c h r e a c t o r s

Fig.6.Research nuclear reactors in Asia (Source :World Nuclear Association).

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna /Energy Policy 37(2009)4240–4250

4245

tonnes by2015.Wind power has been viewed as the cheaper and low-risk option among the renewables that could make the wind power a major source of electricity in the future.It has been predicted that the wind power contributes for29%of global power generation by2030.South Korea has planned to increase its use of renewable energy from its current2.28%to10%by2020and has already started to build the world’s largest tidal power plant ($1.9billion)which will have a capacity of812MW.China has targeted to increase wind power generating capacity from1.3to 30million kW by2020(Ackermann,1998).China has also planned to increase its annual hydropower generating capacity from170 million kW in2005to300million kW by2020.With large hydropower in India,the total shares of renewables in power generation have been expected to increase to40%by2030.

4.4.Carbon sinks

The forest ecosystem also plays a signi?cant role in the carbon cycling process.Forests can capture and store CO2because they use CO2as the building blocks for organic molecules and store it in woody tissues(Kurz et al.,2008;Scholze et al.,2006).Hence forests are the most important carbon sinks on Earth,and

involved in mitigating the climate change at lower cost.Hence, the Kyoto Protocol allows counting certain carbon sinks as part of a nation’s emissions reduction commitment,within some limits, and even trading of carbon sinks between nations.Most Asian countries are rainforest countries,hence decreasing the defor-estation and increasing the reforestation should lead to an increased capacity to absorb carbon.ASEAN and also Japan,Korea, China,India,Australia,and New Zealand have signed during the Third East Asia Summit(EAS)to increase the cumulative forest cover in the East Asian region by15million ha by2020.Brunei Darussalam,Indonesia,and Malaysia in2007have declared that 24million ha would be designated as protected area,production forests and sustainable land-use areas.The palm plantations in Malaysia have been considered as the better carbon sink. Indonesia has targeted for large-scale tree plantations in order to promote carbon sinks.South Korea has targeted for4.9million ha of forest lands for greenhouse gas sinks by2022(Han and Youn,2009;Zhang et al.,2006).Japan’s forest vegetation is a signi?cant carbon sink(Wang et al.,2004).The expansion and re-growth of planted forests have increased the carbon uptake and contribute about80%of the total carbon sinks in Japan.The rate of afforestation in India is one of the highest among the tropical countries(Lal and Singh,2000),currently estimated to be2Mha per annum.India has planned to increase its carbon stocks from forests to9.75billion tonnes by2030from the present level of 8.79billion tonnes.Terrestrial ecosystems in Southern China are signi?cant carbon sinks for atmospheric CO2and accounts for more than65%of the carbon sink(Piao et al.,2009).The aboveground biomass of China’s grasslands have been functioning as the carbon sinks in the past2decades(Wang et al.,2007).Asia has therefore to strengthen its measures to reduce deforestation and forest degradation,also preventing forest?res,and combating illegal logging.

4.5.Investment in renewable energy development plan

Science and technology are the driving force for innovation and development.Scienti?c researchers,engineers,entrepreneurs,and funding agencies have to work together to develop solutions that address the energy needs.Numerous technologies have to be developed for implementing and integrating renewables such as wind,solar,and tidal power to meet up with the enormous energy demands currently as well as in https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html, has strengthened up its R&D in energy and effectively promoted the overall develop-ment of the energy industry.An analysis of research publications in renewable energy in Asia over the past10years(Fig.7)has indicated that the impact R&D has been substantial in the recent years.The investment in sustainable energy in Asia has already soared very high.Any breakthrough in the scienti?c?ndings not only contributes to solving the energy crisis but also supports the country’s economy.For instance,South Korea has been particularly impressive in the domain of technology patents. South Korea’s total investment in R&D has been$28.5billion in the year2007.South Korea has registered7061patents in2007, placing it fourth-highest worldwide behind the US,Japan,and Germany but ahead of France,the UK and China.Singapore has budgeted more than S$300million under clean energy program, which enabled to increase the value-added of the energy industry and the employment opportunities in Singapore.

Table2shows the investment across the Asian countries on renewables for the focus period of5–15years.As shown in the Table2,Japan has been the dominant supporter of renewable energy in Asia.Indonesia has intended to invest$22billion over the next5years to promote the use of alternative fuels using crops such as palm oil,cassava,and sugar cane for the production of biodiesel and ethanol.Philippines and Indonesia have adopted the most diverse non-conventional energy mix,spanning geothermal,hydroelectric,solar,wind,and biomass and hence made renewable energy as the cornerstone for their rural electri?cation.Philippines has planned to reach nearly9.4GW renewable installed capacity by2010,whereas Indonesia would achieve5GW during the same period.China has allocated a$266billion package to utilize15%of its primary energy from renewable sources by2020.China has announced to increase plant-based ethanol(biodiesel)production from1.02to 10million tonnes,and wind power capacity from 1.26to30 million kW by2020.With the completion of such efforts in the sustainable energy direction by2010,it has been expected that China would reduce its carbon(CO2)emissions per annum considerably.

4.6.Regional and international cooperation

While it is inevitable for each country to pursue its national interests,efforts are also needed to avoid an undue scramble for

13

34

13

39

55

58

59

141

258 2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Y

e

a

r

Number of publications

Fig.7.Statistics on the literatures published by Asian universities in the?eld of renewable energy.(Search made through Scopus as of14February2009).

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna/Energy Policy37(2009)4240–4250 4246

resources.As such,the energy cooperation programs have been accelerated in recent years(Siddiqi Tou?q,2008).Collaboration with other Asian countries will strengthen the domestic energy reserves and improve energy security through diversi?cation of resources.Singapore has been maintaining stronger relations with neighboring countries in energy-related programs and on climate change.Japan has established joint energy collaborative projects such as the Energy Silk Road project(China,Japan,and Turkmenistan)and trans-Asian gas pipeline network.The trans-ASEAN gas pipeline and the ASEAN power grid projects have been set up to ensure complete regional access of the gas reserves and promise greater stability and security of energy supply within ASEAN.Thailand and Myanmar have been cooperating in natural gas exports.Philippines and Thailand have agreed for bilateral cooperation in maximizing the use of existing oil storage to boost energy security in the region.Chinese,Indian,and South Korean oil companies have undertaken joint exploration projects in Myanmar and Vietnam.The BIMST-EC countries(i.e.Bangladesh, India,Myanmar,Sri Lanka,Thailand Economic cooperation)have proposed to explore the vast but untapped energy resources for the development,distribution and ef?cient utilization through cooperation and trade among the countries of the region.Malaysia and Japan have initiated with an initial invest-ment of$308million on biofuel joint-venture with the target of producing annual capacity of about240,000tonnes per year.

International?nance institutions such as World Bank(WB) and the Asian Development Bank(ADB)have been encouraging the Asian countries for clean energy and other necessary infrastructure projects.The World Bank has funded approximately $5.9billion in this region over the period1999–2005through a wide range of development projects including:infrastructure and energy,private sector development,poverty reduction and economic management,social sectors,rural development and the https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html, paci?c partnership on clean development and climate(AP6)has been launched in2006with member as India,China,Japan,South Korea,Australia and the United States, to promote technology transfer,demonstration and investment in clean energy and more ef?cient industrial technologies.In2007,a joint summit that comprised of ASEAN countries,together with Australia,China,India,Japan,Korea,and New Zealand has announced to endorse the urgent need to address climate change and energy security.United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO),the one of the lead agencies in the?eld of energy has been promoting renewable energy for rural electri?cation and industrial applications and supporting training and capacity building for manufacture,local assembly and maintenance of renewable energy technologies,also organizing global forum activities and providing strategic expert advice on renewable energy technologies.UNIDO has also launched a major solar technology project in China(Lanzhou)and is promoting the exchange of solar technology among developing countries.In India,UNIDO has been supporting wind energy projects and solar photovoltaics projects.UNIDO has also been promoting bioenergy projects in India and Sri Lanka.Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)has been promoting the adoption of improved bioenergy technologies for heat applications in the domestic and small, medium and micro enterprises in South Asian countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.International?nance corporation(IFC), a member of the World Bank Group has been playing a pioneer role in developing and investing the commercially proven business models in the domain of renewable energy and energy ef?ciency.IFC partner banks(such as Minsheng Bank in China) have been supportive by providing loans for energy equipment such as natural gas boilers.IFC has also been guiding local commercial banks to improve their lending on energy ef?ciency projects and risk management practices.IFC has teamed up with China in2006to generate$150million in energy ef?ciency projects over the next six years,while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by5–10million tonnes.

Developing a network connecting all ASEAN countries with high-voltage transmission lines could not only resolve problems of energy shortage,but also bring revenue from cross-border sale of electricity.Such scenario may also provide low CO2emissions in ASEAN https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,os and Thailand had exchanged electricity on a commercial basis in1966.Thailand,Malaysia and Singapore had also signed for bilateral agreements for power exchange in1978. Malaysia and Thailand have focused on grid-connected biomass-based renewable energy programs.Given the70%biomass-based renewable energy source,Laos has targeted to increase its renewable capacity5-fold by2010,from its current capacity of 620MW,and export the remaining excess power to its neighbor-ing countries such as Thailand and Cambodia(Fig.8).Such scenario would avoid the operation of high-cost thermal plants in Thailand and Cambodia,thus bring signi?cant operation and maintenance costs down for the electrical system in these https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,working the hydro-based northern ASEAN,and the coal as well as oil-based southern ASEAN through a common electricity transmission grid could provide energy stability and low carbon emissions.For example,Vietnam possesses huge hydropower potential and their excess hydropower could be exported to other countries of the region(Fig.8).Power grid interconnection in ASEAN is technically possible,but challenging. Technical and political barriers have to be overcome to make such interconnection a possible one.Another challenge lies in the ?nancing of the power grid interconnection project in the Asia region.The price of electricity to a consumer has been in?uenced by fuel mix and related costs,government subsidies,?xed and variable costs of generation/transmission infrastructure,taxation,

Table2

Major investments by Asian countries for renewable energy development.

Countries Investments

(in million

US dollars)Start–end

period

Comments

Singapore a2282007–2015Main focus on photovoltaics Malaysia b232008–2012Mainly for biodiesel(fuels)

production

103,0002009–not

available

Indonesia c22,0002008–2010Largest investment for

biofuels

Thailand d1002005–2015Mainly focus on biofuels and

solar technologies

Japan e255,0002009–2020Largest investment among

Asian countries.Mainly on

photovoltaics

India f21,0002008–2012Mainly on wind,solar

biofuels,and hydro projects

China g 12,0002007–not

available Mainly on wind,and solar technologies

Korea h38,0002009–2012Second largest investment in

Asia.Mainly on hydro and

solar projects

a https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,.sg.

b Malaysia biodiesel palm oil industry2Q2007.

c https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,/bioenergy/2006/07/indonesia-to-spend-massive-

us-22.html;accessed on9February2009.

d Published in September2005by th

e Australian Business Council for

Sustainable Energy.

e https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,/2009/01/08/japan-south-korea-to-invest-billions-

in-green-projects-aimed-at-economic-resurgence/;accessed on9Feb2009.

f US Government data on energy–renewable–India2008marketing

research.

g https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,/id/25948232.

h https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,/2009/01/08/japan-south-korea-to-invest-billions-

in-green-projects-aimed-at-economic-resurgence/;accessed on9February2009.

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna/Energy Policy37(2009)4240–42504247

levies and duties.During the implementation of cross-border electricity the taxation plays a critical role in ?xing up the pricing.As there are fundamental differences in the taxation systems of the Asian countries,it is likely that the share of taxes imputed in the potential selling price of electricity will vary widely,and hence the tariff structure needs to be transparent across countries.

5.Energy,environment and health

The absence of clean energy would impose unhealthy environment.Energy,environment and health are therefore intrinsically linked in the modern society (Fig.9).Rapid increase in the population,standard of living,and thus energy demand in Asia has created a negative impact on the environment.

Coal by far has been the most polluting fossil fuel because it releases large quantities of SO 2,NOx,particulate matter,CO 2and other pollutants during burning.Trans-boundary pollution has been a major concern in the ASEAN region.In Indonesia and Malaysia,the burning of tropical rainforest has been growing to make way for palm trees to produce oil and biodiesel.Such process has been emitting a huge pulse of carbon that spreads to neighboring countries and causes adverse effects to human health.The policies therefore have to be formulated to prevent degenerative diseases that results out of cross-border pollution (Haines et al.,2007).It has been reported that macro-sized hydropower plants emit signi?cant amount of CO 2and methane

(CH 4)gases (Gagnon and van de Vate,1997).Biodiesel production has resulted in release of ?ne particles which cause potential health bene?ts (Fargione et al.,2008;Qureshi and Ahmad,2007).Renewable energies such as solar thermal,geothermal,and wind-based technologies have showed no adverse consequences for health while reducing emission of greenhouse gases (GHG).Asian countries that have about 50%population in urban areas (Table 3)have been affected by both outdoor and indoor pollution.In cities,the pollution has been due to cooking,lighting,heating/cooling and electric appliances in households (indoor pollution)and commercial sectors,transportation and industries (outdoor pollution).Such activities consume coal,oil,electricity,and natural gas,which are sources of GHG.Therefore the population increase in the cities has deteriorated the environmental situation and been affecting the health of urban dwellers through indoor and outdoor pollution.The indoor pollution has been the major problem in countries like India and China.It has been warned that it causes lung cancer,tuberculosis,heart disease,blindness,cataract,immune and metabolic changes (Padma,2007).A biomass-cooking stove has been reported to release 6–20%of the carbon as pollutant and thus cause chronic ill-effects on human health upon ingestion (Padma,2007).

The vehicle population has been growing at an unprecedented rate in Asia.Reductions in the volume of traf?c,especially in cities,would improve air quality.Singapore has taken positive measures which include the plan of implementing numerous mass rapid transport (MRT)downtown lines to curb transportation in order

Fig.8.ASEAN regional grid connectivity opportunities.

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna /Energy Policy 37(2009)4240–4250

4248

to control CO https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html, has also been focusing on critical issues surrounding the built environment because any inef?cient design of building would account for enormous energy consump-tion and GHG emission.

6.Conclusion

The goal of limiting the concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere while satisfying a continued growth in energy demand presents a huge but vital challenge for Asian countries.The ASEAN,Japan,China,India,and South Korea should play a leading role in Asia in promoting a common vision towards low-carbon society (LCS)because of the rapid economic developments.Fossil fuels have been currently dominant in the primary energy

mix presently in these countries,which leads for more carbon emissions.Policies have to be strengthened to reduce the dependence of the fossil fuels and adopt the renewable energy sources.The use of renewables such as wind,solar,and biofuels in the primary energy mix has already been growing up,which will offer signi?cant environmental,health,and economical advan-tages.The policy makers should also encourage green residential,of?cial,and industrial buildings by providing low interest rate loans for equipments and installation.Public and private invest-ments on research and development should be increased to develop the newer and cleaner/renewable energy technologies as well as energy-ef?cient methodologies.The worsening of the current ?nancial crisis would likely depress economic activity;however,governments should not delay/refrain in taking action to address climate change challenges.

Fig.9.Interconnectivity of energy,environment,?nance and health.

Table 3

Total population and population in cities in each major Asian country in the year 2005.Country

Population in cities in year 2005a Total population in year 2005b

%of people in cities of each country,in 2005Comments

Singapore 4,327,0004,327,000100Health hazards mainly by outdoor pollution

Brunei 374,000374,000100Japan 68,527,101127,897,00053.58Malaysia 11,237,77025,653,00043.81Thailand 26,919,26363,003,00042.73Philippines 27,112,99984,566,00032.06Health hazards by indoor

pollution by coal stoves,?ring woods,biomass etc.

Vietnam 25,553,30385,029,00030.05India

321,981,3961,134,403,00028.38Cambodia 2,950,44413,956,00021.14China 183,170,2121,312,979,00013.95Laos

630,3025,664,00011.12Myanmar NA 4,796,700NA South Korea

NA

47,870,000

NA

a https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html, .

b

World population prospects at https://www.360docs.net/doc/516396619.html,/.

V.Thavasi,S.Ramakrishna /Energy Policy 37(2009)4240–4250

4249

Acknowledgment

Dr.Velmurugan Thavasi acknowledges the National University of Singapore Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative(NUSN-NI)for providing the opportunity and facility.

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