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Selasa, 14 Februari 2012

Greening our energy, greening the economy

How green is our economy? While there is no precise answer to this question, our economy is neither green nor grey, but remains black.
A green economy is being promoted for our future economic development. In response to recent global economic crises, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) proposed the Global Green New Deal, encouraging the world’s governments to support economic transformation toward a greener goals.
A similar concept has been adopted by Japan, which initiated the “Japan Low Carbon Society 2050” program.
A “green” economy is characterized by, among other things, primary dependence on green energy resources. This is in contrast with the existing economies of most parts of the world, fueled dominantly
by black energy sources (fossil fuels) such as coal, petroleum and natural gas.
Going green comprises two pillars: Utilizing renewable energy resources (substituting fossil fuels with alternative energy resources) and practicing energy conservation (aiming to use energy more efficiently).
Making the shifting from black to green energy resources means moving away from resources with high carbon content (higher hydrogen-to-carbon ratios), or from dirty energy resources to cleaner ones.
The progress of developing renewable energy, for example in India and China, has been notable.
A recent report shows that European Countries are on track to generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. There is even optimism that Europe could be sourcing all of its power from renewable resources by 2050: solar energy from North Africa/southern Europe, hydroelectricity from Scandinavia/the European alps, wind energy from Baltic/North Sea; as well as ocean tidal, wave power and biomass generation from the European continent.
Energy conservation is frequently cited as the “other source of energy”. Implementing energy conservation — through energy efficient technologies and changes in lifestyle — means we can produce new energy sources without adding the destructive exploration or exploitation required in the development of black energy.
In addition to preventing pollution, environmental degradation, resources depletion and global warming, green energy promises other benefits, through the creation of green jobs. These include positions in geothermal, micro-hydro, photovoltaic, wind/ocean energy, bio-diesel, biogas, desert energy and
energy farms (either from agriculture or tapping directly from the sun), as well as jobs in promoting energy efficiency.
Concerns surrounding of global warming, peak oil, resource depletion, prices increase and tougher competition to get energy has contributed to the fast development of green energy. What this implied for Indonesia?
Indonesia is a fossil fuel producing country, exporting a significant amount of its natural gas and coal to East Asian industrial nations and recently to China and India. It was also formerly an OPEC member and was known as the world’s largest exporter for LNG.
While traditional biomass energy resources are still widely used particularly in rural areas, Indonesia’s commercial energy consumption is largely dominated by fossil fuels. In electricity generation, for example, fossil fuels’ account for more than 95 percent of energy resources used to generate electricity, with coal accounting for the largest portion of this figure.
While demand for fossil fuels in Indonesia is increasing rapidly (both for domestic supply and exports), its fossil fuels reserves are on a declining trend.
On the other hand, Indonesia lies on in the equator (where there is plenty of solar energy); it also is situated on the ring of fire (a volcanic belt with enormous potential in terms of geothermal energy reserves); has fertile soils (rich for many types of bio-energy); and has vast areas of oceans — covering a broader expanse than its thousands of islands (promising for ocean and hydro energy development).
Indonesia has considerable potential in the developing its renewable energy resources and making its energy consumption more efficient. However, the country has responded slowly to the green energy movement and remains busy dealing with its black energy problems.
In an environment where energy matters have for a long time been handled by the central government, the rural electrification program — under which renewable energy would have some of its biggest benefits — has only recently become a concern of regional governments. Many regions are facing human resources, institutional and financial constraints in developing renewable energy programs (including photo-voltaic, micro-hydro and biogas systems).
Even in Indonesia’s most promising area of renewable energy development — geothermal energy — constraints are still found, for example in the number of green-collar workers to support geothermal projects. Concern for energy conservation has not been supported by adequate resources to develop action plans and implement them.
Research and fiscal incentives to accelerate the development of green energy have not been adequate in scale. In contrast, huge amounts of subsidies are still paid to support domestic consumption of black energy, particularly oil.
At the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged a 26 percent reduction in Indonesia’s carbon emissions by 2020. It is not clear how green energy may contribute to achieving this particular target, but some projects may be proposed.
On the supply side: We could accelerate geothermal development and add to this the development of hydro, solar and bio-fuels (including biogas) resources. It is also necessary to “green” our oil and gas exploration/production by enforcing regulation to reduce gas flaring and venting.
Among fossil fuels there are also different levels of pollutant contents. Indonesia needs to shift progressively from the use of dirty coal to a cleaner fuel one, while continuing to substitute oil with natural gas by accelerating its infrastructure development.
In going green, Indonesia’s options are not limited to the provision of energy, but also concern ways in which energy is used in transportation, manufacturing, etc. These sectors should be aiming to use energy more efficiently, including by promoting green transportation concepts among other things.
Subsidies for black energy must be reduced sharply because such funding discourages the development of green energy. It would be more beneficial to allocate these funds to supporting the development of green energy in Indonesia, which is still in its early stages.
Green jobs are much more labor-intensive than black energy ones. Green jobs to a greater extent promote larger poverty reduction, decent and fairer employment opportunities. This is in line with Yudhoyono’s “pro-growth, pro-jobs and pro-poor” strategies.
Greening our energy will be essential in contributing to our real green-sustainable economic growth, but more work is needed to detail this strategic option.