Mt. Kinabalu from Tuaran

Not the most glamorous town around, but Tuaran is a great stopover if you are traveling to the east coast of Sabah or on your way up to Kinabalu National Parks where Mt. Kinabalu is located.

Mt. Kinabalu is on the background. Taken at a location just before arriving the town from Kota Kinabalu, with iPhone cam and tweaked with in-phone App, Snapseed


About Tuaran

The name Tuaran is believed to have come from the Malay word tawaran which means 'bargaining' or 'sale'. This presumably reflects on the town's earlier role as a market where natives from the hillside villages brought their produce for trading with the coastal Chinese and other indigenous peoples.

It is a town as well as a district located in West Coast Division, in the northwest of Sabah, East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Tuaran district has an area of 1,166 square kilometres and an estimated population of 105,453 in 2010.

About half the population consists of ethnic Dusun, a third ethnic Bajau, and some Chinese. It has a distinctive nine-story Chinese pagoda as a prominent landmark.

Nearby tourist attractions are the Mengkabong Water Village and the Penimbawan Water Village, with stilt houses built by the Bajaus over the shore.


Also read: TuaranTourism, Sabah.

Crows can recognise human faces!

Yes they can.

In fact, scientists say many birds recognise individual humans but they probably do this by using a variety of cues, including height, build, colour, clothes or ways of walking. Crows, however, can actually recognise faces. Amazing, isn't it.

Red-eyed crows of Nexus Resort Karambunai, Sabah. Photo by de engineur

This has been confirmed by experiments in which scientists put on various masks and then trapped a group of wild crows and fixed rings to their legs. After letting the birds go, they walked around recording whom the crows mobbed or scolded with their harsh, warning cries.

The trapped crows, which had previously ignored these individuals, now reacted aggressively to anyone wearing the trappers’ masks, regardless of their size, clothes, or gait.

So, don't underestimate the statement by movie makers who portrayed crow's presence as bad omen and its aggression towards human. LOL, that's from me - don't be bothered.


ref - Sciencefocus

Renewable energy FiT rates await Sabah state government nod

I remember when we engaged the services of a Peninsula-based Renewable Energy consulting company in 2011 in anticipation of the FiT scheme set to be implemented beginning 2012, everyone was very excited about the prospect of second source of revenue for the company.

The potential was to install at least 700kWp of solar PV each at several existing structures under our jurisdiction. Indications are very much pointing to a total capacity of 2 MW. In the end we learnt that the quota for non-individual Solar PV was snapped within the first couple of hours of the opening of online bidding carried out by SEDA Malaysia.

Later we found out that a JV between Sabah Energy Corp. and SESB secured portion of the quota and news were going around that they were set to build the first commercial solar farm in Sabah.

Sadly, until today this has not materialised yet partly because FiT for Renewable Energy was suspended indefinately in Sabah.

No. Not until we start paying the 1% levy on our electricity bills!

A the moment, renewable energy (RE) producers in Sabah, mostly biomass and biogas plant operators at palm oil mills, are not able to subscribe to the feed-in tariff (FiT).

Unlike in Peninsular Malaysia, RE producers in Sabah have to be contented with TNB's Small Renewable Energy Projects (SREP) rate of 21 sen per kWh, instead of the 32 sen per kWh under the FiT.

This is because under the law, RE producers in Sabah will only be eligible for FiT when the 1% RE levy is collected by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, a 70% subsidiary of TNB, from heavy power users in Sabah.

FiT essentially guarantees RE producers a premium selling price over that generated from depleting and finite sources such as oil, gas and coal. Power generated from sustainable sources that benefits from FiT includes:

• Biomass (oil palm, etc)
• Biogas (methane from landfill, etc)
• Small hydro power, and
• Solar PV

Since December 2011, heavy power users in Peninsular Malaysia using more than 350kWh or whose monthly bills exceed RM77, have been paying the one per cent RE levy to TNB.

The Sabah government, however, had appealed against collection of RE levy, saying it would be too taxing on heavy power users here. Now that it has been over a year, the federal government indicated that the Sabah government seemed to have come around.

Business Times reported on March 27, 2013 that Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry secretary general Datuk Loo Took Gee as saying "the Sabah government has verbally agreed, we met up this week." She was speaking to reporters after representing Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin in officiating at the launch of the Eco-B workshop organised by Malaysia Green Building Confederation.

Asked when Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman will sign on and allow TNB to collect RE levy from heavy power users in Sabah, Loo replied: "We'll have to wait for the official letter from the Sabah state government".


TheGreenMechanics: Why not. With the implementation of the FiT scheme in Sabah, we'll get to enjoy the premium rates of, say, electricity generated from solar PV on our rooftops.


Reference: Business Times