A Split Decision

I am not talking about jury's decision of any kind.

It's about my decision to separate my hunger for 'green' and my passion for photography that lead to my setting up of another blog. That's specifically for my expensive hobby - photography. I have to split the two, that is.

If you have the time please visit my photography page at JDfloyd-pictures. Thanks.



Please read/view here for the full story.

Till then, happy shooting and let's enjoy our hobby.

UNDUK NGADAU 2011

The most anticipated peak to the harvest festival celebration is the crowning of the festival queen, known as Unduk Ngadau in the Kadazandusun language. I will not elaborate on its significance but if you have the time you can find further readings on Unduk Ngadau here.

Unduk Ngadau 2011: Miss Bo Tiza A. Disimon. She's said to have received prizes totalling not less than RM38,000.00


The final of the 2011 Unduk Ngadau pageant was held as follows:

Date : 31 May 2011
Venue: Hongkod Koisaan KDCA, Penampang, Sabah
Time : 12.00 noon - 4.30pm


Enjoy some of the many pics captured during the final. Please ask for permission should you like to use any of them in your online or writings and or publications.



The seven vying for the seat currently occupied by Miss Crystal Eve Huminodun.



The seven unduk ngadau's waiting anxiously for the winners announcement.

One UN after another left the group, to be considered unlucky this time around.
Here, Miss Sophie Angela Kutam of Ranau in the 4th place proceed to receive her trophy from Her Majesty the wife of Sabah TYT.

Then it was down to the three of them.

"Constant, cukup-cukup lah bah ko kasi tambah nervous dia orang tu.."
Constantine (teasing Bo Tiza and Jovenea) and Lalita (not in the pic) were the masters of ceremony that day.

1st Runner Up: Miss Jovenea Jim Lajim (Tamparuli)

2nd Runner Up: Miss Caroline Anthony (Tuaran)

Unduk Ngadau, Miss Bo Tiza Disimon of Penampang is flanked by Miss Jovenea Jim Lajim of Tamparuli (left) and Miss Caroline Anthony of Tuaran (right).

Congratulations!

The 7 recepients of the main prizes:

1st Runner Up: Jovenea Jim Lajim (Tamparuli)

2nd Runner Up: Caroline Anthony (Tuaran)

4th Place: Sophie Angela Kutam (Ranau)

5th Place: Rachel M. Alliun (Kota Kinabalu)

6th Place: Alvera Raymond Kisil (Sandakan)

7th Place: Adeline Joyce Masidah (Likas)

And...last but not the least,

Not forgetting Miss Crystal Eve Huminodun the reigning 2010 Unduk Ngadau. Today is the final day of official duties for her.

Congratulation to all the winners & Kotobian tadau tagayo do Kaamatan.

Note: I'm not a professional photographer meaning I don't make money out of photography and I know these images aren't as great but they are copyrighted and under no circumstances should they be used or caused to be used without prior and informed consent from me, the rightful owner.

FIT - Critical Success Factors

The above illustrates the premium rate paid by the utility company for each unit of energy produced by your home Solar PV. This is the case for solar photovoltaic; there are three other renewable energy sources that enjoy the feed-in tariff (FiT) under the newly passed Renewal Energy Act, namely small hydro, biomass and biogas. For a complete guideline of the different rate, refer to the Feed-in Tariff Update by KeTTHA.

With this attractive FiT rate, the government hopes to solve the slow implementation and take up of renewable energy generation in the country. Remember how many signed up for the Suria 1000 incentive that the government mooted not too long ago? Only a handful.


Will the FiT for RE suffers the same fate as Suria 1000? Yes and No, but before we tick any of the two answers there are several critical factors that need to be closely monitored and or adhered to:

1. Feed-in tariff rates need to be high enough to produce ROI. Put in some carrot in the form of profit to woo takers. Where there is opportunity/profit there is risk worth taken.

2. "High enough" is not attractive if it is not coupled with a "long enough" period to make business sense. The RE Act provide for 21 years. I think that's long enough for any business venture.

3. Ready buyers. No worries there; TNB, SESB and SESCO are obliged to purchase all electricity generated.

4. Fund to finance FiT cost. I think it is the responsibility of everyone to make RE energy a success, and what a better way to take part than to contribute through your utility bills. Yes, we are expected to pay higher electricity tariff in a near future - maybe not all of us - and the extra money we pay to the utility companies can be used to finance the FiT cost.

5. Clear procedure on local approval. Not like the process you have to go through land applications in Sabah.

6. Transparency in implementation such as involvement of only competent persons, constant monitoring, periodical reporting of progress, etc. We do not want to see sudden mushrooming of Jacks and Joe's who know little about things but get the upper hands on what to implement.

7. Calculated degression. Degression means gradual decrease in the FiT rates until they come to parity with the prevailing electricity tariff. This way people are forced to improve such technology to lower the manufacturing cost. For solar PV, degression rate is 8%, a bit steep in my opinion but let's take this as a challenge and beat that figure with even cheaper solar panels!

8. There is an old Malay saying "Ukur baju di badan sendiri". We know the RE Act was adopted from what has been in practice by several Western countries. What we need is to carefully customise it to Malaysian context. A u-turn of decision after a couple of years down the line would not look impressive to say the least.

Let's hope the premium FiT rates spurs us on to achieve the country's goal to lower carbon emission, starting this 3rd Q of  2011. Fingers crossed we do not have to go through the 'brilliant' u-turn decisions on Teaching Maths & Science in English. No, the FiT has nothing to do with that.