Upside Down: What's the Fuss About?

People like to make assumption rather than fact finding when exercising their right of freedom of speech nowadays. Nothing's wrong with that.

The issue is that when we offer opinion without really knowing, (or in the case of Rumah Terbalik in Tamparuli), and having no personal experience about the subject we are commenting. And because of that, people develop negative perception towards the subject matter.

My wife and I had an early breakfast this morning and while reading the Daily Express I saw another article about the Upside-down House of Borneo in Tamparuli. This time the owner and the architect came out addressing the concerns of the public - or rather few individuals - pertaining to health and safety of patrons.

For the record, few days ago PAM Sabah past chairman questioned the qualification of the architect involved in designing the house. Reporters on the other side question the so-called dizziness one would feel after being in the house for 10 minutes.

Read today's copy of the local papers yourself.

While having no vested interest whatsoever in the property and getting no monetary gain writing this, I would say those allegations are a complete NONSENSE! Go there and feel it yourself and tick me if you feel dizzy. If anything, the lack of air-conditioning is the reason you'll feel stuffy after 5 minutes. Temperature inside the house heats up during sunny days and that stresses the body a bit. I felt nothing unusual and the hanging upside-down stuffs don't confuse my vestibular system into coaxing me to lose my balance.

You are allowed to walk only on the dedicated carpet walkway to avoid bodily injury caused by impact from objects that might fall off. If that is your concern then your safety risk is higher back home where fluorescent lamps, ceiling fan, air-conditioners, or your lantern decors are hanging. Paul Yap is the engineer who made sure of the integrity of the structure and he is a well-known local consultant.

What's the fuss about? This house is as good as, if not better than the houses built within the area, except that it is artificially made to look upside down. Remove the roof-like fittings below the floor level and it looks no different from any house.

To the owner, Mr. Yee as the paper quoted him as, this is a great place to 'pit-stop' before continuing with a long journey to, say, Mt.Kinabalu, Kundasang, Ranau or Sandakan/Tawau in the East Coast. Since this is just part of the Tuaran Craft Centre as mentioned, it would be a good idea if you fill the 'tamu' with more handicraft sourced from the folks.

The bakery offers great foods but they come only in small quantity. The trays ran out stock of my favorite tuna and chicken curry puff. It was a weekend, so it could be due to that.

The Upside-down House of Borneo

Environmentally friendly building versus dizziness? Not in my dictionary. I am a strong advocate for the preservation of the nature but feeling dizzy when entering certain house cannot be in the same equation with environmental friendliness.

If you fancy getting dizzy, try driving further towards Tamparuli town and taste the famous Jambatan Gantung Tamparuli. It is a suspension bridge built with sturdier material compared to the old one but chances are many would feel uncomfortable walking on it simply due to the height and the structural sway.

Jambatan Tamparuli. Down below is the pipe & concrete bridge built during British colonial times

Good luck, and happy travelling.

FIRST solar thermal Power Plant in Southeast Asia

As posted in my December 2011 entry: Parabolic mirrors that produce electricity, harnessing of energy is done indirectly by converting concentrated sunlight into heat. This heat will be used by a steam turbine or a heat driving generator to generate electricity.

Hence, the name solar thermal.

TSE1 plant in Thailand. Credit: CSP Today

It is a known fact that Thailand is ahead of all other Southeast Asia nations in terms of renewable energy initiatives. Recently, Solarlite - a German concentrated solar power technology provider - commissioned Southeast Asia's first direct steam generation parabolic trough plant called TSE1, to supply 5 MW of electrical power to Thailand's public power network.

TSE1 is the first of 15 CSP stations planned by Thai Solar Energy and when completed, total generating capacity will be 135 MW. There is a feed-in tariff, FIT, scheme in Thailand for small energy generation system of up to a capacity of 10 MW.

Similar to Malaysia's initiative through SEDA, Thailand's aim is to give opportunity to people in the remote areas to participate in electricity generation, especially from renewable sources.

What makes Solarlite installation in Thailand special is that this is world's first in Direct Steam Generation. Instead of heating a thermal oil, the solar energy heats up the water that flows through the parabolic trough collectors receiver tubes. Therefore, no heat transfer oil is needed and heat exchanger - one of the expensive components in the CSP plants - becomes redundant. This means that the CSP plant is more ecological and safe as it uses only water.

Second plant, TSE2 is currently under construction and all of Thailand’s current Solar Program is targeted to be completed by 2015. New program was recently announced, under which 2GW of solar capacity from both solar thermal and Photovoltaic must be installed by 2020 as part of Thailand’s commitment to sourcing 25% of it total energy requirement from renewable energy sources.

Solarlite's solar thermal parabolic trough plant in Thailand. Image credit: solarthermalmagazine.com

The TSE1 plant does not have energy storage capacity as it is not economical to install storage system for small plants. Meaning, every time clouds shade the plant there would be power outage. Furthermore, Thailand's FIT which has a framework of 10 years and maximum 10MW of plant generating capacity deprive Solarlite the benefit of economic of scale. The current feed-in tariff for energy generated from CSP is 11.5Baht/kwh (about RM1.12/kwh).

Compared with Thailand, FIT scheme in Malaysia is structured to run longer i.e. up to 21-year with more competitive rate, especially Solar PV. This scheme is however limited to only 4 sources of renewable energy, not including CSP. To recall, the four energy sources that enjoy the Malaysian FIT scheme are Solar PV, Biomass, Mini Hydro and Biogas.

Solarlite in an interview with CSP Today stated that if they can make it and be successful in Thailand, they can make it anywhere, and that include Malaysia. They have the advantage of producing components in Southeast Asia (Thailand) and with the right approach with our government, there's no reason why can't CSP be implemented in our country. We can start with the remote areas to power up the rural population.

Why not!


Abbreviations
CSP - concentrated solar power
FIT - feed-in tariff
PV - photovoltaic
SEDA - Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Malaysia)

Car Insurance

Earlier this month I posted an article about  the 150 cars stolen everyday in our country. Unfortunately this trend is going to continue for sometime until some bold measures are taken holistically by both drivers and the authority. Well, insurers included.

I had an experience whereby my existing car insurer refused to renew my car insurance policy on grounds that my four-wheel vehicle was one of the hot items in car thieves list. It did not make sense to me as consumer, as I felt I was denied my right to have my property protected. But of course it made business sense to the insurance companies. After all they are here to make money, not to do charity work.

I read one of the online insurance services provider, Multi car insurance and not only did I realised that I could insure multiple cars in a single policy and save on premium but I came to understand the fact that under normal circumstances you have the right to be insured. Being the thieves' favourite does not make your car un-insurable.

However, if one insurer does not intend to provide the service to you,  it's just too bad you have to move on and find another that would shoulder the risk. Ask around or rather shop around on the net. That was what I did and on the second insurance company that I approached, my application was approved. Without loading!