Energy Efficient Singapore

.
In my previous postings It Pays to Go Green and 5-Star Appliances and Rebates for You, I mentioned rebates of up to RM200 for energy-efficient appliances.

For the time being these rebates are for air-conditioners and refrigerators with 5-Star labels. This is one of the steps taken by Malaysia government towards wider usage of household appliances with high efficiency.

For Malaysia, energy-efficient equipment requirement is voluntary.

Singapore is a step further. The city state has imposed standards for minimum energy performance (MEPS) and it is now mandatory for exporters and manufacturers, including Malaysia, to comply with new standards if they want to continue selling these products there.

Among the specifications in these standards are types of goods, cooling capacity (in kW), minimum coefficient of performance, adjusted volume and maximum annual energy consumption (in kW).

What does that mean to our many manufacturing companies and consumers in Malaysia? A handful, both negatives and positives:

1. Higher production cost, product differentiation between export quality and 'local use'. Expect lower efficiency for local market. Remember, our carrots (rebates) are based on voluntary participation from manufacturers.
2. Accelerated acceptance of green technology. Manufacturers will now have to innovate to produce goods that are more efficient but cheaper in order to stay competitive.
3. Malaysia will have to come up with MEPS sooner than later. This should fulfill the government's pledge to reduce carbon emission.
   

My opinion: Incentives are good, it helps in many instances and no doubt it can spur the advancement of green technology on to certain feel-good level. But couple with regulatory measures, the pace of such growth will certainly be better.

Read about the imposition of new standards here.

Buy 5-Star Appliances and get some Rebates for yourself

I recall my previous post in June 2011, titled It Pays to Go Green and very little information was available about the SAVE program back then.

I know this piece of info has since been updated by by the government for a while now but I'll mention it here anyway. 

The RM200 rebate for refrigerators and RM100 for air-conditioners is currently on going on a first-come-first-served basis.

If you are currently living in Sabah, the quota is 3,670 units (refrigerator) and 3,946 units (air-con). The biggest beneficiaries are those living in Selangor (17,315 and 11,601 units respectively). Not that many but if you are an early bird chances are you will benefit from this initiative.


HOW DO I QUALIFY?

This is the excerpt from a lengthy PDF document produced by the ministry. To qualify, the applicant must be:

i) a Malaysian, and
ii) a domestic electricity user. That's all!

a) Refrigerators:

• Peninsular Malaysia – domestic consumers using an average of 6 months electricity consumption between 200 to 400 kWh per month

• Sabah and Sarawak - open to all domestic consumers

b) Air conditioners – open to all domestic consumers in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.


You are entitled to the rebate only once for each appliance, and this is valid for purchase of 5-Star refrigerators and air conditioners approved by Energy Commission. So, look out for the following labels:



If RM200 is not of an issue to you (it is to me), than this is obviously not for you but please help me and our mother earth to spread the news. Energy efficient equipment use less energy to produce the same level of comfort and they definitely leave less carbon footprint.

For complete list of appliances (Brands) that qualify for the rebate, visit EE Appliance Listing. The recommended retail prices are quite competitive.

To view the detailed information on the SAVE program and how you can claim your rebate, take a look at the ministry's SAVE Program Guidelines For Consumers.

Buy 5-Star aircon/fridge, save some money + pay less monthly utility bill = help mother earth survive another day.


Happy Saving!

It pays to go Green

Do you have electricity supply at your area? If yes, chances are you have some air-conditioners and fridges at home, or at least any of these two. If that is the case, the next piece of information might be of interest to you.

According to Bernama, the consumers can expect to get some kind of rebates for the purchase of high efficiency refrigerators, air-conditioners and chillers.

It is a Government initiative to encourage the use of energy-efficient appliances and to improve energy efficiency in Malaysia. Qualified consumers get a rebate of RM200 for new refrigerator and RM100 for an air-cond. It is said to cost the Government more than RM50 mil. in 2011, so I recon it will be going on for some time.

Energy-efficient household items are substantially more expensive - 30% to 50% more - but the rebates and the electricity consumed  could well justify purchase of such appliances.

The financial benefit can be realised (or ROI if you like) within two to four years depending on the level of efficiency of the item concerned. It mentioned qualified  in the press release but did not elaborate on the criteria for an item, or a consumer to be deemed qualified. My guess is that the Government will come out with the details in July 2011 when it announce the rebate for chillers in the commercial sector.

Let support the initiative and help mother earth avoid a little carbon emission. At the some time helping ourselves patching some small holes in our pockets. Our family currently uses nominal efficiency (non energy-efficient) air-conditioners and refrigerators but would seriously consider the high efficiency variants when the current ones are due for replacement.


Source: Up to RM200 rebates for energy-efficient appliances

CAR AIR-COND ALERT? What's the fuss about?

Shalom everyone, I'm posting this not because I support it, but I'm beginning to grow tired of receiving more and more e-mails these few days; they came like horde of buffalo and they keep coming! So, off I went and did a little diggings and true enough, some fact findings yield some startling views.

I am talking about the apparent chain e-mail titled "Car Air-Cond Alert", "Do not turn on A/C immediately as soon as you enter the car!" or anything to that meaning. So eye-and-mind catching to readers that everyone seem to be forwarding it.

I reproduce the content as follow:

"Please open the windows after you enter your car and do not turn ON the air-conditioning immediately. According to a research done, the car dashboard, sofa, air freshener emits Benzene, a Cancer causing toxin (carcinogen- take note of the heated plastic smell in your car).

In addition to causing cancer, it poisons your bones, causes anemia, and reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure will cause Leukemia, increasing the risk of cancer may also cause miscarriage.

Acceptable Benzene level indoors is 50 mg per sq. ft. A car parked indoors with the windows closed will contain 400-800 mg of Benzene. If parked outdoors under the sun at a temperature above 60 degrees F, the Benzene level goes up to 2000-4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level... & the people inside the car will inevitably inhale an excess amount of the toxins.

It is recommended that you open the windows and door to give time for the interior to air out before you enter. Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidney and liver, and is very difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Consider these few questions before you jump into believing such claim:

1. Research - who did the research, and where are the details and statistics?
2. Benzene - what type of benzene? I'm not a chemist but I came to know that benzene exist in many forms, some of which are harmless. We are looking at which benzene in our cars?
3. 60^o F is equivalent to15.5^o Celsius. My office is air-conditioned at 24^o Celsius, so, if that's the case I may have to start throwing away anything plastic in my office (and home). I'd definitely love to leave my car in the sun and temperature is kept at a 60^o F. Then again, perhaps the writer is talking about sunlight in the North pole.
   
4. And finally, as long as there is no verifiable fact attached to such claim/email, it most probably is plain hoax. Err, this one isn't really a question.
   

The only good thing it did to a layman such as myself is the fact that I am now clear about the layout & schematic diagram of a car air-condition system. Much clearer now I must say.

The final point about opening the window and door is a plain common sense I suppose, but do be careful about leaving your door open when you are parked at secluded places. Your cancer concern may leave you a victim to burglars. And when that happen, there is a possibility that you may be gone sooner than if it was due to cancer itself.

Check this out to get more readings. Good points by some, and you know you'll never be blindly jumping into conclusion anymore.