Asean nations must connect its economies and energy networks to meet the bloc’s future energy needs, said experts at the fourth Asean and Asia conference yesterday.
With Asean’s energy demand projected to grow nearly 50 per cent by 2030, the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations need to take bold action to manage energy requirements in a sustainable way, said panellists at the conference organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA).
Singapore’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr S Iswaran, told the 300-strong audience at the Capella Singapore hotel that the case for regional energy cooperation has never been stronger.
He noted that countries with access to a reliable energy supply had a competitive advantage. Cooperation on energy supply would boost regional investment and lead to new innovations and collaborations, he added. New energy sources combined with energy imports could provide reliability, and with shared gas pipelines, Asean would collectively obtain better terms for imports, said Mr Iswaran, who is also the Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade and Industry.
Speaking at one of the panel discussions, executive director of the Energy Studies Institute (ESI), Chou Siaw Kiang. said that although Asean governments may favour the idea of integrated power grids, the reality is still quite far off.
He said that Asean needed a platform for energy and environment activities that would help bridge development gaps and transfer knowledge and technology where needed. There is lots of opportunity for cooperation, he added, cautioning that Asean would have to address the ability of countries to protect intellectual property (IP).
Panellists said potential areas for cooperation include research and development in renewable energies and more efficient coal and gas-fired power plants, increased training and skills in the energy sector, and shared infrastructure such as electricity grids and a trans-Asian natural gas pipeline.
Experts at the forum also stressed the need for action on energy demand - the other side of the energy security equation.
Chief executive of the China-based think-tank Civic Exchange, Christine Loh, noted that energy policy is dominated by a supply-led mind set whereby the default response to energy shortages is building more power plants. This has led to a range of exploitative industries to fix energy problems, and to the neglect of a “demand-led mindset” which requires reducing the amount of energy needed, she said.
The region “must improve energy literacy,” said Ms Loh, adding that Asean ministers should listen to what scientists are saying about limited resources. She noted that with peak oil widely accepted as imminent, experts are now beginning to talk about the eventuality of peak coal and peak natural gas supply.
Ms Loh noted that politicians support the idea of bold action, but tend to act more conservatively. They have opportunities to take bold action by addressing energy demand, she said, citing government regulations that require public buildings to be reviewed every five years on energy efficiency standards.
According to Ms Loh, better building management can save 10 to 15 per cent of energy consumption without added costs. The concepts are there, she said, “we need to incorporate what we already know.”
A recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) further found that government policies promoting energy efficient technologies in the building sector could save 710 million tons oil equivalent (Mtoe) of energy globally by 2050.
Raman Letchumanan, head of the environment division of the Asean secretariat, said that while regulation is needed to improve energy efficiency, rising consumer demand for energy efficient and environmentally-friendly products provides the biggest motivator for reducing energy consumption.
However, other concepts such as eco-labelling, a method of assessing the eco-friendliness of a product, present challenges to Asean countries, said panellists at the event.
Many developing countries are against eco-labelling, they added, because it is sometimes viewed as green protectionism, especially coming from the European Union (EU) where countries are mulling a tax on goods that it deems to be less environment-friendly.
Hidetoshi Nishimura, executive director of the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia (ERIA), said for example, that Asean’s palm oil exporters were facing trade barriers resulting from a recent decision by the EU to disqualify palm oil as a biodiesel. He suggested that Asia needs its own assessment for biomass energy use and sustainability.
Professor Chou said that the practice of eco-labelling to drive market demand, such as the energy efficiency labels used in Singapore, is not working well because pricing still dominates consumer choices. He added that consumer behaviour needed to be driven by strong government policy and investment from industry.
Strong government policy could develop with help from an East Asian energy agency similar to the IEA, said Mr Nishimura. With 75 per cent of the world’s increase in energy demand coming from the region, Asean needs a fundamental review of its energy policies, he added.
SIIA yesterday conducted a survey at the conference which found that 45 per cent of participants felt that Asean was not prepared for the future rise in energy demand.
The vast majority, 84 per cent, of participants believed that Southeast Asian governments should turn to nuclear energy as a last resort, after exhausting options for energy sourced from fossil fuels, renewable energy and biofuels.
The top concerns relating to nuclear energy were listed as the threat of natural disasters to nuclear power plants and the negative environmental impacts of the nuclear industry.
Wan Portia Hamzah, senior fellow at Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), said, “Anything we do to enable us to delay the introduction of nuclear power is not only the correct thing but the preferred thing to do.”
“If we want nuclear power plants within the region, we have to go through all the various steps first. Don’t abandon it, but be prepared,” she added.
With or without nuclear power, Asean is targeting an eight per cent reduction in energy intensity - the amount of energy required to produce a unit of GDP, and a common measure of energy efficiency - by 2015.
SIIA chairman Simon Tay said at the conference that economy, energy and the environment are “locked together in a dangerous triangle” and urged greater Asean cooperation to address the issue of sustainable growth.
