Ministerial Meeting: Golden Opportunity for ASEAN Energy Connectivity October 3, 2011
Posted by benisuryadi in 02 - Weekly Features.add a comment
Energy plays a crucial role in economic development and will remain critical to the continued economic growth of the ASEAN region. Recognised this issue and the greater volatility in global energy markets due to economic uncertainty in several developed countries, political instability in the Middle East and North Africa, and renewed concerns over the use of nuclear power following the March 2011 earthquake and nuclear accidents in Japan, ten Ministers on energy from ten ASEAN Member Countries were met in Jerudong, Brunei Darussalam, on 20 September 2011, on the occasion of the 29th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM). This meeting was very crucial as this was the first ministerial meeting since the adoption of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity by the ASEAN Leaders at the 17th ASEAN Summit on 28 October 2010. As ASEAN steps up efforts on regional integration and connectivity activities, the Ministers re-affirmed the ASEAN Leaders’ statement to collaborate on more concrete and action oriented programs to boost energy efficiency and conservation, and find viable renewable energy sources, so as to reduce the region’s dependence on oil and other fossil fuels.
ASEAN was located at the crossroads of an economically vibrant and growing region bounded by India in the west; China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea in the Northeast; and Australia and New Zealand in the South. ASEAN thus has the potential to physically anchor itself as the hub of this region. ASEAN recognized by enhancing intra-regional connectivity within ASEAN and its subregional grouping would benefit all ASEAN Member States and would significantly narrow the development gap within ASEAN. Hence it is important for AMEM to discuss directions and targets of key energy matters crucial to the realisation of both the ASEAN Connectivity and eventually the aspiration of an ASEAN Community by 2015. (more…)
Brunei Darussalam : Energy Overview July 20, 2011
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Located in Southeast Asia, bordering the South China Sea and Malaysia, Brunei is geographically divided by Malaysia into 2 unconnected parts. Brunei has an area of 5,765 square kilometers. Administratively, it is divided into four districts and namely Brunei-Muara, Tutong, Belait and Temburong. The capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan, is located in the Brunei-Muara districts and is where the government operations and major business activities take place.
The population of Brunei is 390 thousand as of 1 July 2007 with a growth rate estimated at 1.8 percent from previous year.
Economy of Brunei is almost totally supported by exports of crude oil and natural gas, with revenues from the petroleum sector accounting for over half of GDP. The GDP at Current market Prices reached US$ 12,317 Million in 2007, or 0.6 percent hiked compare to 2006. It’s equal to US$ 31,582 of GDP per Capita at Current market Prices that makes this country become the 2nd highest per capita incomes among ASEAN countries after Singapore.
Rural Electrification in Southeast Asia July 9, 2011
Posted by benisuryadi in 02 - Weekly Features, Electricity.Tags: Electricity, Energy for All, Rural, Rural Electrification
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Around 160.3 million people in Southeast Asia haven’t had any access to electricity and almost 80% of them live in rural and remote areas.
Rural electrification is the process of bringing electricity to rural and remote areas. Electricity is being used not only for lighting and household purposes, but it also allows people to perform mechanization of many farming operations, such as threshing, milking, and hoisting grain for storage; in areas facing labor shortages, it resulted greater productivity at lower cost.
Energy alone is insufficient to maintain economic growth, but it is certainly necessary and access to electricity is one of the clearest and undistorted indications of a country’s energy poverty status.
Southeast Asia has made dramatic efforts in increasing the electrification rates in both rural and urban areas with an electrification rate jumping from 42.8% to 60.2% in only 6 years. Singapore led the progress by reaching full electrification of 100%, followed by Brunei Darussalam (99.7%), Malaysia (99.4%), Thailand (99.3%), and Vietnam (89.30%). However, Myanmar still stays at very low rate of 13%, Cambodia at 24% and Indonesia alone has more than 80 million people without access to electricity. In total, there are still 160.3 million people in the region has no access to electricity and almost 80% of them live in rural and remote areas.
Importance of Energy Data and Statistics May 26, 2011
Posted by benisuryadi in 02 - Weekly Features, Data and Statistic.Tags: AEDS, AER
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How can wise decisions be made on how energy is consumed if there is no data to back up those decisions?
Energy statistics and consumption data are of paramount importance. Energy consumption statistics and indicators allow for monitoring and analysis of energy consumption trends. Energy statistic would be useful to government energy agencies, analysts, oil companies, traders provides a strategic importance in the dissemination of up-to-date and relevant information on the current energy situation.
Statistics, data, analysis on resources, supply, and production of energy sources are usually available from national energy administrations, as well as from international bodies. Ideally statistical data covers origins, uses and supply of all sources and carriers of energy, as well as transfers and transformations. When it comes to energy consumption statistics – consumption of energy by end-use sector and especially by end-use application – data can be patchy, hard to obtain and compare among others due to different definitions and coverage of end-use sectors across countries.
