Friday, March 8, 2013

Natural Gas As An Alternative Energy Source For Sabah

As the scarcity of energy becomes increasingly more pressing worldwide today, the search for an alternative and renewable energy source intensifies.

Sabah Energy Corporation, a Sabah government-linked agency, organized a talk on the "Alternative Energy Source - Compressed Natural Gas" recently.

In his welcoming remarks, The state Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Resource Development and Information Technolgy Datuk Dr. Yee Moh Chai said the discussion on finding an alternative source of energy is is particularly relevant for Sabah as the state has a large natural gas reserve.

He said with more than 12 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, Sabah is able to fuel the growth of various industries over a few decades.

Datuk Dr. Yee told the meeting that a renewable energy source is not only important in the light of the increased cost of energy, it is also in line with the growing environmental awareness of the  need to switch to energy that is environmentally friendly.

Natural gas is a hydrocarbon gas that is lighter than air. It is a cleaner alternative as it produces relatively low pollutants and has fewer emissions than coal or oil. According to the number published by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of United Nations in 2011, greenhouse-gases emission from burning natural gas is half less than coal for electricity. Below table shows the result published by IPCC for various technologies.


Natural gas is relatively cheap as the natural gas market is still not a global one. The promotion of natural gas usage is consistent with the Malaysia Government's five-fuel policy that is aimed at avoiding over dependence on a single energy source.

2 comments:

  1. Great statistics. it's important not to miss out on biomass, a swiftly emerging renewable energy source, that can be used on a grand scale or a even installed into homes of any size.

    Great work.

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  2. Thank you. Definitely, Sabah does have a huge potential on biomass, like EFP. Just need a push for it.

    ReplyDelete