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Obverse and Reverse of Electric Power Sector

Photo: Aleksandar Borovic

When it comes to fossil fuels, Serbia is a rather poor country. The main, available energy source is low-quality coal, namely lignite. Oil and gas reserves are relatively moderate, and their exploitation is about to come to an end in the coming decades. The energy potential of oil shale is beyond any question. Still, not enough researches have been made, while the existing technologies for the use of this source aren’t commercially and ecologically acceptable. At the moment, the importance of lignite for the Serbian energy sector is immeasurable. The development of the electricity sector of the Republic of Serbia has been relying, ever since the sixties, upon the available coal reserves. The coal-based thermal power stations, which generate 70 per cent of national electricity production, are the backbone of the electricity sector in Serbia.

Photo: Private archive of Dejan Ivezic

The problem with coal firing is the emission of air pollutants and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The installation of electro filter and denitrification and desulfurization unit reduce the emissions significantly, raising the price of electricity as a result. So it doesn’t make sense to install them on old power plants with lower capacity. However, the solution for carbon-dioxide emission from coal-based power plants doesn’t exist. Having in mind the emissions of this gas, coal is the least favourable of all the fossil fuels, and technologies for carbon dioxide capture and storage are still in an early developmental stage. According to the Energy sector development strategy, in the coming decade, we can have the phasing out of 1,000 MW of the oldest and the most inefficient thermal power plants. Those remaining in use (along with Kostolac B3 in construction and potentially one more power plant of the similar capacity) should meet the strictest environmental regulations.

This scenario of the electricity sector progress could be, from the perspective of coal usage, taken as pretty optimistic. In essence, coal would be exploited and used for electricity generation over the next few decades. Its share in electricity generation would probably remain more than 50 per cent. The shift in the energy sector strategy and the adoption of EU policy in the field of climate protection would undoubtedly result in a gradual reduction and, eventually, termination of the coal-based electricity production in Serbia. In order to make this scenario economically and socially sustainable, this process must be followed up by the adequate measures of economic and social policies. The price of this transition is very high, and Serbia alone can hardly pay for it. This scenario is probable only with Serbia’s full integration into the EU or at least with access to the transitional funds in the same way it is provided for the EU member states.

In focus:

Photo: Jelena Spurga

Renewable energy sources (RES), which would completely replace coal in electricity production, considering current technology development, just don’t exist. Nowadays, hydropower plants make about 30 per cent in electricity production and are considered “family heirloom” of the Serbian energy sector. There are plans for new hydropower plants on bigger watercourses (Morava, Drina, Ibar, Lim etc.), but due to many reasons, their construction is not likely. One of the reasons is pubic odium against the construction of small hydropower plants, which is something that shouldn’t have happened. It is difficult to estimate the potentials for the usage of solar and wind power. “Feed-in” tariff was effective, first when it comes to the growth of installed capacity which uses wind, whereas there has been a limitation of capacity in the solar energy field. Nevertheless, having summed up the share of electricity produced in these power plants, it won’t surpass 5 per cent of the total electricity production. It’s beyond doubt that it is technically possible to install in Serbia a few times bigger capacity in wind power plants, and tens of times bigger capacity in solar power plants, than we already have.

Photo: Ljubica Stivic

The construction of reversible hydropower plant Bistrica, and there has been a lot of talk about it before, might additionally increase the technical potential of these sources. The price of electricity at the national level doesn’t serve a stimulus for investors, and without official subsidy policy, it will be hardly possible to keep up the existing trend of construction even when it comes to wind power plants.

Theoretically, the biggest unused potential of RES in Serbia rests in biomass and particularly in agriculture biomass. Yet, it is very demanding to determine what part of that potential is truly usable for energy production, having in mind that residues from agriculture production are used for many different purposes. Biogas plants (combined with livestock production) with the capacity of several tens of megawatts are already in operation, and there we can expect, with appropriate subsidy policy (at the moment, “feed-in tariff” is in use) further growth, since this is the way to also solve the waste problem. As for wood biomass, it is mostly used for heating, and it is least expected to have a significant change there. Its use for electricity production is possible, but not in that extent as to become a genuine replacement for ongoing lignite usage.

Even organized cultivating of the fast-growing woods couldn’t provide more than a few hundred MW of new capacity for electricity production. It is important to say about wood biomass that it is CO2 neutral, only if tree cutting is followed by adequate forestation. Otherwise, from a perspective of CO2 emission, biomass is more unfavourable energy source than coal. Also, biomass firing is accompanied by the significant particle and another pollutant emission, which can be dealt with successfully only in bigger power plants. The air Ph pollution problem in Serbian cities throughout the winter of 2019/2020 is mainly caused by firing biomass in households. So, whatever progress of Serbian energy sector might be, maximum valorization of renewable energy sources should have priority. Essentially, those are our only, sustainable on a long term, energy sources. With the extensive implementation of energy efficiency measures, it would be possible to ensure that a certain portion of required energy comes from our sources. It is necessary to bear in mind that entirely clean energy sources don’t exist, and that usage of renewables doesn’t come cheap. The technical potential of RES depends on available technologies, but the level of RES usage depends on how much consumers are willing to pay for such energy.

Dejan Ivezic

This article was published in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine NATURAL RESOURCES, march – may, 2020

Blanketing the United States in Solar Panels and Pollinator-Friendly Plants

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

It started as a trickle and now the floodgates are open. Solar arrays that once sat on barren ground are now festooned with plants that attract bees, birds, and butterflies. Even the US Energy Department is getting into the act. With that in mind, let’s take a look at four newly minted solar power plants that have built-in benefits for pollinators, too.

1. Beauty Co. Aims For Carbon-Positivity With Solar Panels

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The natural hair care company Aveda already keeps beehives on its Blaine campus in Minnesota, and a new 3.6 acre, 900 kilowatt array of solar panels will enable it to add more hives because it is planted with pollinator-friendly plants, not gravel or ground cover. If that sounds like having your solar cake and eating it, too, it is.

The new array is also part of the company’s plans for generating more energy than it consumes.

Aveda was one of the first leading US manufacturers to dip into wind power, and the new foray into the solar + pollinator field puts it smack in the middle of a statewide, accelerating trend.

Here’s another way to look at the big picture: 900 kilowatts of renewable energy is small potatoes, but Aveda’s parent company Estée Lauder is roping in 22 megawatts of wind power for 2020 alone.

2. 120-Year-Old Coal Power Plant Out, Solar + Pollinators In

The city of Logansport, Indiana retired its ancient coal power plant a while back, and now the Logansport Municipal Utility is replacing it with the help of 16 megawatts worth of solar panels.

“Financed by a power purchase agreement (PPA), the solar installation will reduce LMU’s carbon emissions, help to stabilize energy costs for LMU’s customers, and also host a bee and butterfly habitat that will benefit agriculture in the surrounding area,” explains the developer, Inovateus Solar.

Logansport Municipal Utility partnered the organizations Fresh Energy and the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund to create a pollinator-friendly field. The new array will include a solar education element for local schools and a college scholarship for whoever comes up with the best name for the new solar park.

Of interest to tree lovers, the array will be surrounded with a buffer zone of native trees and other plants.

Speaking of having your cake and eating it, too, the PPA deal enables Logansport to get all those green goodies with no money down, thanks to a 30-year contract financed by the firm Alchemy Renewable Energy.

3. More Pollinators + Solar Panels For Green Mountain State

The solar + pollinator field is rapidly maturing, and as more results trickle in the case for new projects grows.

Back in 2017, the solar developer Green Lantern Solar partnered with Bee the Change to build a pollinator-friendly solar array in New Haven, Vermont. The project garnered praise from the Pollinator-Friendly Solar Initiative at the University of Vermont, and now the partners are back at it again with a second solar installation in New Haven.

The two arrays step up the pollinator game for Green Lantern. The company used to rely on clover for ground cover, which is all well and good, but the new arrays support far more pollinator diversity with dozens of different species of plants.

4. GIANT Step For Solar + Pollinators

In terms of industry-wide influence, this next one is probably the most significant. Last month The GIANT Company put the finishing touches on a 7-acre field of solar panels at its corporate headquarters in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

GIANT lives up to its name. Coming up on its 100-year anniversary in 2023, it blankets Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia with hundreds of grocery stores,  pharmacies, fuel stations, and online pickup hubs in addition to grocery delivery services.

The GIANT headquarters already sports a rooftop solar array, but rooftop solar is old hat. The new solar array gives GIANT bragging rights to be the first major grocery retailer in the nation to dip in to the solar panels-plus-pollinators field, and it also supports the connection between food retailers and agricultural health. Ernst Conservation Seeds is the company that will populate the new array with pollinator-friendly plants.

The project also connects GIANT with the organization Planet Bee Foundation.

US Energy Department Hearts Bees, Birds, & Butterflies

If this is beginning to sound like agrivoltaics, run right out and buy yourself a cigar. Agrivoltaics is a new field that aims at designing low-impact solar arrays that are compatible with agriculture, including livestock and food crops in addition to pollinator habitats.

So, what does the Energy Department have to do with agrivoltaics? Plenty! The GIANT Company is participating in a major nationwide, 20-state solar-plus-pollinators project under the agency’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Called InSPIRE for Innovative Site Preparation and Impact Reductions on the Environment, the project connects NREL and Argonne National Laboratory with other stakeholders in academia and local governments as well as environmental and clean energy organizations, with funding from the DOE Solar Technologies Office.

Part of the aim is to conserve land for food production while also enabling farmers to benefit from the cash flow of renewable energy.

There’s plenty of material to chew on, as the field of regenerative agriculture is also discovering that solar panels can do some of the things that regenerative agriculture aims to do for soil and water conservation.

In addition, the InSPIRE project dovetails with two other overlapping initiatives that DOE is heavily promoting, community solar and commercial-scale solar. The agency is aiming at 100% community solar access for every household in the US by 2025 (yes, for real), and the commercial-scale initiative has the aim of tapping into the underdeveloped middle ground of the solar market.

There is also an interesting connection with solar cell efficiency. Evidence is growing, so to speak, that agrivoltaic solar arrays benefit from the cool microclimate under the solar panels, and as everybody knows, solar cells function more efficiently when they are cool — even on Mount Everest, as the case may be. That’s a win-win for livestock farmers, whose stock can benefit from the additional shade.

Hold on to your hats, this whole thing could blow up quickly. It’s not just the small-scale solar developers that are getting into the agrivoltaic act. The global solar developer Lightsource, which is now part of BP, has a whole package dedicated to solar panels with farmer benefits.

Author: Tina Casey

Source: Clean Technica

Connecting Protected Areas With Green Infrastructure Would Strengthen Europe’s Ecosystems

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The European Union’s (EU) network of protected sites, Natura 2000, could be further connected with green infrastructure to create a trans-European nature network. According to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing highways and other infrastructure currently disconnect about 15 % of the Natura 2000 sites from other nature areas, reducing their capacity for ecosystem services.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The EEA briefing ‘Building a Trans-European Nature Network’ analyses the potential of using green infrastructure to connect protected Natura 2000 sites with other natural and semi-natural landscapes. Green infrastructure networks consist of natural and man-made green structures, such as forests, parks, wildlife overpasses or hedgerows, and they are designed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services, including as water and air purification, space for recreation and climate mitigation and adaptation.

According to the EEA briefing, about 80 % of the current Natura 2000 sites are already connected through natural or semi-natural areas. Around 15 % of the disconnected Natura 2000 sites are less than 1 kilometre apart but intersected by, for example, highways, agricultural land, or urban areas that limit species movement and the area’s capacity to offer ecosystem services.

Connecting nature sites with green infrastructure could boost ecosystem services by about 10 % within the protected network and in its surrounding areas. These benefits could be expanded by connecting EU sites with neighbouring regions, which could done with little or very little management intervention, the EEA briefing states.

The EEA briefing is based on a technical report developed by the EEA and its European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil Systems. This work contributes to approaches to extending the network of protected areas to meet the 30 % target of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, which calls for investments in green and blue infrastructure and cooperation across borders to set up ecological corridors.

Source: EEA

Clean Air and Green Jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean Thanks to E-Mobility

Photo: UNEP
  • The transport sector is responsible for 15 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in the region.
  • New report calls to prioritize the electrification of public transport, especially when updating old bus fleets.
  • Electric mobility could foster new investments and jobs, which are key to COVID-19 recovery efforts.

The transition to electric mobility could help Latin America and Caribbean countries to reduce emissions and fulfill their commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change, while generating green jobs as part of their recovery plans from the COVID-19 crisis, according to a new study.

Photo: UNEP

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, “Electric Mobility 2019: Status and Opportunities for Regional Collaboration in Latin America and the Caribbean,” analyzes the latest developments in 20 countries in the region and highlights the growing leadership of cities, companies, and civil associations in promoting new e-mobility technologies.

Though still a recent development, electrification of the public transport sector is happening at high speed in several countries in the region, says the study financed by the European Commission through the EUROCLIMA+ Programme and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and renewable energy company Acciona.

Chile stands outs with the largest fleet of electric buses in the region, with more than 400 units, while Colombia is expected to incorporate almost 500 electric buses in Bogotá, its capital. Other Colombian cities, like Cali and Medellín, have join Ecuador’s Guayaquil and Brazil’s Sao Paulo in introducing electric buses.

Increased efficiency, lower operation and maintenance costs of electric buses, as well as growing public concern around the impacts of road transport-related emissions on human health and the environment are the main drivers behind this transition in public transport, according to the study.

The transport sector is responsible for 15 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Latin America and the Caribbean and is one of the main drivers of poor air quality in cities, which causes more than 300,000 premature deaths a year in the Americas, according to the World Health Organization.

“In recent months we have seen a reduction of air pollution in cities in the region due to lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But these improvements are only temporary. We must undertake a structural change so that our transportation systems contribute to the sustainability of our cities,” says Leo Heileman, UNEP Regional Director in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The report calls on decision-makers to prioritize the electrification of public transport, especially when updating the old bus fleets that run through the large cities in the region. There is fear of a “technology lock-in” over the next 7 to 15 years if authorities choose to renew old fleets with new internal combustion vehicles that will continue to pollute the air and cause severe health damages.

Some countries are already paving the way to ensure a transition to sustainable transport. Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panamá have designed national strategies on electric mobility, while Argentina, Dominican Republic, México, Paraguay are finalizing their own plans, according to the report.

More than 6,000 new light-duty electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in Latin America and the Caribbean, between January 2016 and September 2019, according to the report. The need for charging infrastructure has boosted new ventures and services. For example, e-corridors, already running in Brazil, Chile, México, and Uruguay, allow users to extend the autonomy of their EVs by making use of public fast charging point networks.

Shared mobility businesses focusing on electric bicycles and skateboards are also being developed in at least nine countries in the region.

The development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure has the potential to foster new investments and jobs, which are key to COVID-19 recovery efforts in the region.

The report calls on governments to develop a clear medium- and long-term roadmap that provides legal certainty for private investment and highlights the role of sustainable mobility in power grid expansion plans, in line with climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.

The 2015 Agreement, signed to date by nearly 200 countries, aims to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The report was produced with inputs from the Latin American Association for Sustainable Mobility (ALAMOS) and contributions from the Center for Urban Sustainability in Costa Rica.

Source: UNEP

EU Met Air Pollution Limits for Four Key Pollutants, Including Ammonia, in 2018

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

In 2018, the European Union met all air pollution limit ceilings set for total emissions of the four key pollutants monitored under EU rules. Emissions of nitrogen oxides and ammonia levelled off after five years of increases, according to updated data released by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The news for 2018 is more positive than previous years, according to the yearly EEA briefing ‘National Emission reduction Commitments Directive reporting status 2020. The EU as  whole (28 Member States, including then member the United Kingdom) met the 2010 emission ceilings of the four main air pollutants; nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ammonia (NH3).

While total EU emissions of ammonia emissions plateaued, five Member States (Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Spain) exceeded their 2010 national emission ceilings for ammonia and one (Czechia) also exceeded its ceiling for NMVOCs. Ammonia emissions lead to increased acid depositions and excessive levels of nutrients in soil, rivers or lakes, damaging aquatic ecosystems as well as  forests, crops and other vegetation. NMVOCs are emitted into the atmosphere from a large number of sources, including combustion activities, solvent use and industrial production. These compounds contribute to ground level ozone, with certain NMVOCs posing risks to human health.

Since 2016, all Member States have been in compliance with their national emission ceilings for nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide.

The EEA briefing also assesses the reduction against 2018 emission levels required for Member States to meet their individual reduction commitments set under the EU’s National Emissions reduction Commitments (NEC) Directive for 2020 and 2030.

The majority of Member States must make additional efforts to reduce emission levels to meet their 2020 reduction commitments and in particular, ammonia emissions which remain a problem. The slowdown in economic activity across Europe in 2020 associated with the COVID-19 lockdowns is expected to lower emissions of several pollutants and may result in more countries meeting their 2020 commitments. However, without additional efforts, such COVID-19 related reductions might be reversed as the economy starts to recover.

All EU Member States will need to reduce their NOx emissions on 2018 levels to achieve the 2030 reduction commitments. Moreover, half of the Member States will need to reduce fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions by more than 30 % to meet future commitments. Moreover, ammonia (NH3) will still remain a challenge with 25 Member States required to further lower their emissions.

Efforts required by Member States to reduce their emission levels was confirmed by the NEC Implementation report recently published by the European Commission where the risk of not compliance for many Member States (based on their National Air Pollution Control Programmes and their projections) was assessed.

Source: EEA

WMO Launches E-Learning Platform for Hazard Alerts

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Josep Castells)

WMO has developed a set of E-learning resources and courses for the Common Alerting Protocol, which is an internationally-recognized standard for dissemination of warnings of extreme weather hazards to the public and to disaster management authorities.

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Josep Castells)

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a data format for exchanging public warnings of hazards such as floods, landslides, tropical cyclones, strong winds, drought and heatwaves. It enables an easy, automated transmission of warnings overall communication platforms in order to better reach all users.

The CAP standard is also an important component of the WMO Global Multi-hazard Alert System (GMAS), a platform that WMO is developing for collecting and displaying all warnings issued by authorized sources, on a real time basis. GMAS is expected to markedly improve access to vital warnings information by United Nations organizations that deal with hazards and disasters, globally.

WMO has  made available this new set of CAP E-learning resources and courses offered on the Moodle platform. These resources will enable Members to develop their skills for the implementation of the CAP standard in an easy and cost-effective manner, which is especially important during the COVID-19 era.

The CAP courses and resources provided on the platform are designed to enhance the understanding of CAP, including what CAP is, what it does, how it works, how to issue CAP alerts, and how to manage and set up CAP for NMHSs and other relevant organizations.

Three separate courses are offered within the platform and can be selected based on the role and responsibilities of the participant in administering and maintaining CAP alert systems. In addition to the courses, a collection of free and documented IT resources is also provided.

The courses are self-directed, meaning that participants can follow them at their own pace with all resources and learning activities available online.  A WMO-certified badge will be granted to each participant upon successful completion of a course.

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas has encouraged Members to facilitate NMHS staff to register for the courses.

The CAP platform is accessible at cap.wmo.int

Source: WMO

Experience Your Carbon Footprint in Virtual Reality

Photo: UNEP

Bush fires in Australia, typhoons in the Pacific, droughts in Africa, melting glaciers in the Arctic. Climate change continues to make headlines across the globe yet many people still find it hard to understand it as many of these events are remote from their daily lives.

But every single person contributes to climate change, with the average carbon footprint of a person equaling 6 tonnes annually. One tonne is what each of us should produce if the world is to stay within the 1.5-degree climate change limit recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

That’s why the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has teamed up with Sony PlayStation platform ‘Dreams’ to create an immersive virtual reality experience about climate change.  The experience includes technological features that heighten the experience for viewers: three-dimensional graphics and ambisonic audio that positions sound around the user.  The experience portrays carbon footprint as an 18-meter-high orange ball of gas that leads viewers through different daily scenes including breakfast that then transforms into sea level rise.

The creators hope to challenge lack of awareness about the scale of individual emissions by allowing users to live a lifestyle compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5oC, above which the threats of climate change become increasingly devastating.

Photo: UNEP

Ligia Noronha, director of the economy division at UNEP said that 2.6 billion people play games, which makes it one of the biggest communication mediums on the planet. Seeing as one in five gamers are under the age of 21 and many young people today are concerned about the issue of climate change, there is a great opportunity to spur environmental and nature-related action with gaming.

“To keep the world in a 1.5 degree safe-zone, we must take innovative approaches to tackle the barriers holding people back from understanding their role in climate change,” she said. “By placing this story in a virtual reality format, we hope to memorably challenge some common misperceptions and inspire people to think differently about the choices they make each day.

Explaining the project’s approach, lead illustrator Martin Nebelong said that virtual reality was the perfect storytelling medium to explain climate change. “As an artist, I wanted to design a beautiful and sometimes frightening experience that shows the true scale of our emissions and the impacts we should expect to see. This is not possible in two dimensions.”

Although Virtual Reality usually requires goggles, UNEP has made it possible for those without them to still see the experience as it will be available on YouTube. The video experience will also be shared via Earth School, UNEP’s collaboration with TED-Ed for students and educators currently under lockdown.

“Gaming reaches a huge audience worldwide, and has the power to bring social change,” said Kieren Mayers, director of environment and technical compliance at Sony Interactive Entertainment. “Following our commitment at the September 2019 UN Climate Summit in New York, we have partnered with UNEP to explore various ways to use gaming and VR to educate and bring messages of hope – and are excited to see this video using Dreams as one of the first initiatives from this.”

Why virtual reality? 

Virtual reality is the right medium to allow people to experience climate change for these reasons:

  • VR can let us see things in their true size. Your carbon footprint is actually huge – 6 tonnes on average and up to around 30 if you are from a developed country or have a higher income.  But seeing numbers on a screen doesn’t make us feel how big these numbers are.
  • Captive audience. When you remove your real world and replace it with a virtual one, you are immersed in the message.  You can’t check your phone, you can’t look out the window.  If the artist does their job right, you are simply engrossed in the new world around you.
  • Sound.  When you mix immersion with the right audio, the experience creates a heightened emotional reaction.  A wildfire that is roaring.  A plane flying past.  In our video, we have gone further with 8D sound – a trick of the audio engineers to make sounds seem outside of your head.  See if it makes you look in that direction.
  • Magic.  Virtual reality doesn’t need to be zombie games and space wars.  It can be beauty, and wonder.  By engaging artists to create virtual worlds, we harness the power of art and storytelling.

Source: UNEP

 

Small Solar Systems Save Your Money and Nerves!

Photo-illustration: PIxabay

As electricity prices in Serbia have increased several times since 2000, and future potential price increases have been announced, partial energy independence for consumers is becoming more and more attractive. They most often put their trust in the sun – as an unlimited, renewable energy source.

Photo: Marko Berkes

In order to fulfill their wishes for lower electricity bills, citizens need the help of reliable constructors to build a small solar power plant and, at times, bank to back them up. MT-Komex and ProCredit Bank have provided them with just what they need, through a special offer to buy solar systems with the most financially advantageous conditions on the domestic market – interest-free loans without an origination fee.

Interest-free loans are intended for citizens and all interested companies. Besides, agricultural holdings also have the opportunity to receive funding. The experience of the owner of a property in Dec, a small village in the Srem district in Vojvodina, on whose object a small solar power plant was installed, shows that it is also very profitable for farmers to use clean energy from solar panels. He wanted his products to be worthy of the Ecolabel, increasingly valued among consumers. He, therefore, contacted MT-Komex workers with years of experience in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency. They are fully trained and certified for the installation of photovoltaic modules with associated equipment, as well as voltage converters and inverters, and they have once again proven their expertise with this unique project – and in the future, they will demonstrate it on the projects of ProCredit Bank clients.

In focus:

The average price of electricity in our country has increased nine times since the beginning of the century but is still much lower than in other European countries, which makes its further growth more certain. The amount in your monthly electricity bill could, therefore, be more than double. You have the opportunity to prevent this by using solar energy. Don’t miss it!

In addition to economic reasons, small solar power plants have environmental justification as well. When deciding between generating electricity from a thermal power plant and a solar power plant, it is clear which one is more environmentally friendly. Also, the latter could be much closer than the former – literally above your head. It reduces technical losses in the transmission of electricity from the thermal power plant to consumers by almost 20 per cent.

Prepared by: Jelena Kozbasic

This article was published in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine NATURAL RESOURCES, march – may, 2020

A Kenyan Entrepreneur Fights Deforestation With a New Energy Solution

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

When Leroy Mwasaru was in his teens, he noticed a major problem at his Kenyan boarding school. Ageing pipes were leaking sewage directly into a nearby stream, which was a source of water for a neighbouring community.

Mwasaru, now 22, says he could not sit idly by and watch that happen. Armed with a few textbooks, he and several classmates set about building a system that would turn human waste into energy. The first prototype “blew up”, says Mwasaru, but the team eventually developed a working model that today powers the school.

That success would lead Mwasaru to found Greenpact, a start-up that produces affordable, high-quality waste-to-energy systems known as biogas digesters. The work would make Mwasaru the youngest entrepreneur on the Forbes Africa 30 under 30 list in 2018.

“Our goal is to become the leading provider of biogas energy solutions across Africa,” says Mwasaru, who is aiming to make the systems available to farmers, institutions and children’s homes.

Greenpact’s systems are used by 15,000 Kenyans. Its equipment connects to household sewage systems, traps waste and, through a simple chemical reaction, converts it into a gas that can be used for cooking. The system means Kenyans do not need to chop down trees for firewood, one of the leading causes of deforestation in a country that has lost over a third of its forest cover in the last 60 years.

“These people can now cook without having to use firewood or charcoal, all of which are harmful to their health and the environment,” says Mwasaru. “By using clean and renewable energy, we are taking steps towards a better environment. And every little step counts.”

Mwasaru’s work is a prime example of how young entrepreneurs can help tackle pressing environmental threats, says Gabriel Labbate, the team leader of the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. The body is major supporter of a movement known as REDD+, an international effort to combat the loss of forest cover in developing countries.

“The link with REDD+ is clear,” says Labbate. “Waste-to-energy systems help reduce one of the drivers of deforestation by providing sustainable energy, reducing the need to cut trees while at the same time, reducing carbon emissions.”

Mwasaru’s work with Greenpact has been sidetracked by COVID-19. He is now teaming with his mother, a fashion designer, to produce face masks for hospitals and clinics. But once the pandemic has passed, he wants to expand Greenpact into the restaurant business, helping urban eateries use organic waste to generate power.

“We Africans need to solve our problems ourselves,” he says. “And by doing this, I hope to inspire youth to value their environment and think of ways to save it.”

Source: UNEP

IRENA Puts Energy Transformation at Heart of Sustainable Recovery Agenda

Photo-illustration: Unsplah (Karsten Wurth)

Governments can align immediate economic stimulus needs with medium to long-term decarbonisation and sustainable development objectives by targeting policy measures and public spending towards the energy transformation, a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published recently finds.

Post-COVID recovery: An agenda for resilience, development and equality outlines immediate stimulus action for the next three years (2021-2023) as well as measures for a mid-term 2030 recovery perspective over the next decade. It provides practical insights and recommendations for governments as they drive investment and policy actions for post-COVID-19 economies. The report shows that on an annual basis, scaling-up public and private energy spending to USD 4.5 trillion per year would boost the world economy by an additional 1.3%, creating 19 million additional energy transition-related jobs by 2030. Jobs in renewables alone could triple to 30 million by 2030. Every million dollars (USD) invested in renewables would create three times more jobs than in fossil fuels.

“Renewables have proven to be the most resilient energy sources throughout the current crisis”, said Francesco La Camera, Director-General of IRENA. “This evidence should allow governments to take immediate investment decisions and policy responses to overcome the crisis. With today’s recovery plan for governments, IRENA uses its global mandate on energy transitions to inform decision-making at this critical time, while staying on course toward a fully decarbonised system by 2050.

Photo-illustration: Unsplah (Karsten Wurth)

Doubling annual transition investments to USD 2 trillion over the next three years will provide an effective stimulus and can leverage private sector investments by a factor 3-4. Reforming fossil fuel prices, retiring fossil fuel assets, driving green financing and bailouts, and strategically investing in energy transition must be immediate priorities, IRENA’s report advises.

The annual USD 2 trillion invested would boost GDP by 1% and create additional 5.5 million transition-related jobs in three years. Underpinning labour and industrial policies are required to leverage local capacities and skills and create industries and jobs across the value chain.

Any recovery strategy should include innovative solutions and emerging technologies such as green hydrogen with the potential to eventually deliver a net zero energy system. By investing in their commercialisation, governments and businesses can ensure sustained long-term growth.

Renewable-based power generation would become the backbone of future energy markets, supported by transition-related industries like battery storage. But renewable heating and cooling must also be scaled up along with energy efficiency. Renewable-based transport scan expand with incentives for electric vehicles (EVs) and continued infrastructure investment (including smart grids and EV charging stations), as well as emerging fuel solutions.

“Now is the time to invest in a better future”, said La Camera. “Government policies and investment choices can create the necessary momentum to enact systemic change and deliver the energy transformation away from fossil fuels. Driving a structural shift towards cleaner energy systems and more resilient economies and societies is more urgent than ever. Most of all, this is a global agenda, and we must leave no one behind.”

Rooted in IRENA’s first Global Renewables Outlook, which shows that transforming the global energy system in line with the Paris Agreement is possible, the new report focuses on how and where investments and policy interventions can accelerate economic recovery while simultaneously steering the way to a decarbonised energy system.

Read Post-COVID recovery: An agenda for resilience, development and equality

Source: IRENA

Iceland, a World Leader in Clean Energy, Supports Africa’s Push for Geothermal Power

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

At the beginning of the 20th century, Iceland was one of Europe’s poorest countries, its people relying on a precarious and polluting mix of imported coal and local peat for electricity.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

But over the next century, the island nation would pull off one of the great energy makeovers in history, casting off fossil fuels and embracing geothermal power. Today, nearly 100 percent of Iceland’s electricity comes from renewable sources, a transformation that has helped make its 366,000 people some of the wealthiest in Europe.

For the last decade, Iceland has been working with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to spark a similar energy revolution in Eastern Africa. Iceland has done everything from financing exploration projects to training future geothermal engineers.

“We are a small country, but we try to focus our efforts in certain areas and this is one of them,” said Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, Iceland’s Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources. He called the country’s partnership with UNEP “fruitful”.

Harnessing geothermal energy means harnessing the heat from within the Earth, which is carried by water or steam onto the surface. There are many ways in which the hot water can be released – through geysers, hot springs, steam vents, underwater hydrothermal vents – and they are all potential sources of geothermal energy.

Iceland, a pioneer in the use of geothermal energy, is home to more than 200 volcanoes and a large number of hot springs, and therefore has an abundant source of hot, easily accessible underground water. This is converted to energy both for power generation and direct use applications.

Half a world away, East African countries are sitting atop a similar bounty. They line the Great East African Rift System, a 6,500-kilometre depression that stretches from northern Syria to central Mozambique. The rift is a hub of tectonic activity. Along much of its length, heat from the interior of the earth bursts to the surface. It’s estimated that if Eastern Africa could harness that energy, it could generate 20 gigawatts of electricity. That is significant in a region plagued by energy shortages, where – depending on the country – 25 to 89 percent of the population did not have access to energy in 2018.

Iceland is an important partner and co-financier of the UNEP African Rift Geothermal Development Facility Project. The effort, launched in 2010, is designed to spur geothermal investments in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Between 2012 and 2019, Iceland also helped seven countries in East Africa develop their expertise in geothermal energy through the Geothermal Exploration Project.

“Geothermal is hundred percent indigenous, environmentally friendly and a technology that has been under-utilized for too long in the continent,” said Meseret Teklemariam Zemedkun, Energy Programme Manager at UNEP. “It is time to take this technology off the back burner in order to power livelihoods, fuel development and reduce dependence on polluting and unpredictable fossil fuels.”

Iceland is also home to the Geothermal Training Programme of the United Nations University (UNU-GTP). Established in 1978, it has graduated more than 1,300 fellows from 100 developing countries. About 39 percent of the trainees during 1979-2016 have come from 17 African countries. This indicates a significant contribution of UNU-GTP in enhancing the capacities of the region.

Along with several partners, including the UNEP, the country is also helping to establish the African Geothermal Center of Excellence. To be based in Kenya, which has been developing geothermal power since the 1970s, the centre will help train young African geothermal scientists, engineers, drillers, technicians and financiers to ensure secured and sustainable geothermal development in Africa.

In the energy sector, the partnership between Iceland and UNEP is expanding to support women through the African Women Energy Entrepreneurs Framework. The aim is to overcome the main barriers and challenges that hinder the establishment, growth and development of women entrepreneurs in the energy sector in Africa.

“Iceland has been a steadfast and important partner to UNEP in bringing geothermal expertise to East Africa,” said Meseret Teklemariam Zemedkun. “We are proud of the partnership and the results we have achieved, and happy to be expanding the partnership to support women and youth in the energy sector.”

Iceland is not only an important partner to UNEP because of the technical and financial support provided to energy projects. It is also one of the Member States that has consistently paid their “fair share” to the Environment Fund of UNEP – thereby supporting all of UNEP’s work.

Source: UNEP

 

Public Invitation for Qualified Engineers to Participate in Training on Energy Management Systems

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Tetra Tech ES, Inc. (Tetra Tech) is implementing a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) project to promote the use of Energy Management Systems (EMS) for industries and public or private commercial buildings in the Balkans, with the objective of improving energy measurement, reducing energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency and optimizing production processes.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

In partnership with Honeywell, Tetra Tech is building a network of qualified engineers in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia with capabilities to design and install field measurement meters and process controls, in order to expand the market for EMS. Tetra Tech and Honeywell invite you to participate in a cost-shared training program designed to enhance your skills for design and implementation of Honeywell EMS systems.

Two training options will be offered, each consisting of multiple phases. Training Option A is targeted to qualified engineers for the design and implementation of Honeywell field instrumentation. Training Option B is targeted towards more experienced engineers and focuses on software integration. Option B requires at least 10 years of experience in process controls and automation, in addition to the other requirements listed. Training options are described below.

Training Option A (location + dates)

1. Introductory Honeywell EMS Training held virtually, August 11-12, 2020

2. ControlEdge: Fundamentals – PLC (with Experion PKS Integration) Implementation (10% cost-share) held virtually, September 7-8, 2020

3. Hands-On Honeywell Installation Training, Site TBC, 3-4 days TBC

Training Option B (location + dates)

1. Introductory Honeywell EMS Training, held virtually, August 11-12, 2020

2. ControlEdge: Fundamentals – PLC (with Experion PKS Integration) Implementation (10% cost-share) *not required but highly recommended, held virtually September 7-8, 2020

3. Experion PKS: Fundamentals – Configuration, Graphics Building and Control Strategy Implementation (10% cost-share), held in Brussels, Belgium or virtually (TBC), October 19-30, 2020

4. Hands-On Honeywell Installation Training, Site TBC, 3-4 days TBC

Qualifications and Skills

All trainees are expected to be engineers with the following characteristics:

  • A minimum 5 years of experience and proven track record working in process automation, process measurement, software engineering, hardware technologies, building automation and data integration
  • At least 2 references of projects in the areas of control systems and/or process measurement in the last 3 years
  • Experience in implementation of DCS is a plus
  • Strong critical-thinking and problem-solving skills
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills in native language and in English
  • Ability to troubleshoot software and hardware issues

USAID will cover 90% of tuition costs. Selected participants will be expected to cover the remaining 10%, as well as any associated travel costs (airfare, lodging, per diem and transportation). Cost-share details can be found in the application form.
​
​Tetra Tech now invites qualified engineers to apply to this training program by submitting an application (HERE), resume/CV (in English) and company profile to drembids@tetratech.com  by July 10, 2020.  The number of training spots is limited.  Only selected candidates will be contacted for a brief interview.

Source: Tetra Tech

Shenzhen Gives Residents Incentives To Buy Electric Vehicles

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The city of Shenzhen in China has long been an electric vehicle leader. Its bus fleet went 100% electric in 2017, and its taxi fleet followed in 2018. Now, it is pushing electric vehicle sales (including Tesla sales) just in time for the end of Q2 2020.

Residents can receive 20,000 yuan (2,500 euros) if they buy new fully electric vehicles. Plug-in-hybrids are also being subsidized, with 10,000 yuan (1,250 euros) per purchase.

These incentives started in May and will last until December 21, 2020. All Tesla vehicles are eligible, Tesmanian noted.

Who Can Apply?

Shenzhen is relaxing the application measures that were in place due to COVID-19. Citizens can apply, but so can:

  • Nonresidents with a valid residence permit.
  • Chinese citizens living overseas.
  • Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents.
  • Foreigners with valid visas or residence permits.

They can directly apply for either the Shenzhen Hybrid Electric Vehicle Incremental Index or Pure Electric Car Incremental Index.

If a citizen of Shenzhen already owns an EV or plug-in hybrid and has it registered in their name, they can purchase another new one (either a new EV or a new plug-in hybrid) and still qualify for the incentives.

Parking

Another thing that Shenzhen wants to do is incentivize the parking of new energy vehicles. This will include free parking for the first hour of on-street parking throughout the city.

It will be exciting to see the Q2 sales numbers. The population of Shenzhen is 12.53 million. The new subsidies, on top of federal Chinese subsidies, should stimulate a large number of new electric vehicle sales.

Author: Johnna Crider

Source: Clean Technica

Six Ways Nature Can Protect Us from Climate Change

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Restoring and protecting nature is one of the greatest strategies for tackling climate change, but not just for the obvious reason that it sucks carbon out the air. Forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems act as buffers against extreme weather, protecting houses, crops, water supplies and vital infrastructure.

The strategy of using nature as a defence against climate impacts is called called ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) – in essence, look after nature and it will look after you.

Here are six ways that nature can defend us from climate change impacts:

  1. Drought

To secure water supplies, societies have traditionally used ‘grey infrastructure’ such as pipelines, dams, and man-made reservoirs. However, ‘green infrastructure’ uses natural or semi-natural systems to provide similar benefits with positive long-term environmental consequences.

For example, natural wetlands like streams and lakes act as sponges, drawing water down through the ground and recharging groundwater supplies. When healthy, these ecosystems capture water during intense rainfall and store it for times of drought. Similarly, healthy forests recharge groundwater supplies by absorbing water through their roots, and in doing so, filter drinking water for millions of people worldwide, including more than 68,000 communities across the US.

The State of Rajasthan, India, endured a devastating drought in 1986. In the following years local communities began to regenerate forests in the region, leading to a rise in groundwater levels by several metres. In Gambia, one of the largest development projects in the history of the country is currently centered around restoring ecosystems to increase water supplies.

  1. Wildfire

First the Amazon, then California, then Australia – wildfires were catastrophic in 2019. Our preventative efforts to reduce the spread of wildfires often involve the removal of forests to create a firebreak (or ‘fuel break’), a strip of land devoid of flora.

But there’s a new strategy for firebreaks that involves more nature, not less. This discovery was made after a severe forest fire in Spain in 2012, where the Mediterranean Cypress trees were able to resist the blaze. The cypresses retain high levels of water in their leaves, even in sweltering heat, and the fallen leaves form a wet environment at the base of the trunk. Plans are now underway to plant the trees as ‘natural firebreaks’ throughout the Mediterranean region.

  1. Heatwaves

Cities are significantly warmer than the surrounding countryside. This ‘urban heat island effect’ has many causes, including the propensity of concrete and asphalt to absorb heat. In an absurd irony, our air-conditioning systems produce astonishing amounts of carbon emissions, which heat the atmosphere. Our houses stay cool, but the planet doesn’t.

Urban tree cover is a win-win solution for our cities. Trees cool the surrounding air by releasing water through their leaves, similar to how humans keep cool by perspiring. Imagine the cooling power of ten air-conditioning units – that’s how much a single healthy tree provides on a sunny day from evaporation alone. And that doesn’t include the shade that trees provide, which according to a study in the US, can reduce the air-conditioning costs of detached houses by 20-30 per cent.

Major cities are now turning to nature to cool down. Melbourne, Australia, is on track to plant more than 3,000 trees each year to tackle heatwaves, almost doubling its urban tree cover by 2040.

  1. Coastal Flooding

By 2050 sea-levels could be so high that 300 million people in coastal communities will face severe floods at least once a year. There are some coastal ecosystems that can act as cost-effective seawalls combatting the two primary threats of rising seas: coastal flooding and shoreline disintegration.

Mangroves and coral reefs, for instance, cause waves to break before they hit the shore, lowering both the force and height of the swell, and in the process reducing the likelihood of the sea breaching over into people’s land. A study across 52 sites found that natural habitats were 2-5 times more cost-effective than engineered structures when it came to lowering wave heights.

In the town of Kisakasaka in eastern Tanzania, seawater had been creeping into people’s farms and killed the crops. That is, until the villagers fought back and reforested hundreds of hectares of mangroves. Within two years the salt-poisoning of their crops ended and the wells returned to normal.

  1. Landslides & Erosion

The erratic weather patterns associated with climate change are already exacerbating landslides in many parts of the world. On the Canadian outpost of Banks Island landslides have increased by a stunning 6,000% in the last few decades, largely due to thawing permafrost caused by a succession of hot summers.

All landslides are caused by loose soil. There are two ways to prevent them: increase the ‘binding capacity’ of the soil, and reduce soil erosion from surface water runoff. Vegetation does both by absorbing water and anchoring the soil in place. In light of this, the government of Comoros is planting 1.4 million trees to protect people’s farms in mountainous areas.

  1. Desertification & Sandstorms

Desertification is an ongoing threat in places where the climate is drying, and where there is overgrazing and biodiversity loss. When we cut down forests, the desert further expands due to the way in which trees retain moisture in the ground. Since 1920, the Sahara Desert has expanded by 10%, decimating waterholes and arable land.

This was the motivation behind the Great Green Wall in Africa. To halt the spread of the Sahara and its consequent sandstorms, 21 African countries are working together to grow a ‘8,000 km natural wonder’ of trees and shrubs across the width of Africa. The initiative has the potential to create 10 million green jobs by 2030, according to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

In Sudan, desertification has given rise to violence in some areas, as groups struggle over dwindling resources. In 2017, the government launched a project to help communities adapt to the drying climate by planting ‘shelter belts’, lines of trees or shrubs that protect an area – especially crops – from extreme weather. The project is building climate resilience in the hopes it will instil peace, making shelter belts not only a nature-based solution for climate change, but also a nature-based solution for conflict.

Source: UNEP

Schneider Electric’s Ev Chargers – for Charging in Public Facilities and at Home

Photo: Schneider Electric

In line with the global trends in the area of energy efficiency, reduced negative impact on climate change and preservation of the planet, switching to electric vehicles represents one of the options which will drastically contribute to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. To that purpose, chargers for electric vehicles are also being improved, namely new charging options are being established

Countries across the world encourage switching to EVs, which, with all of their advantages, represent a suitable alternative. Based on new emissions standards put forth by the European Union, as many as a third of the new cars in the EU will be electric or hydrogen-powered by 2030.

Photo: Schneider Electric

As reported by Inside EVs, global sales of new electric cars surpassed two million units for the first time in 2018, which is a 72 percent increase over the previous year at an average market share of 2.1 percent. Simultaneously with the increase of the number of EVs, the number of charging stations has been rising as well.

In Europe, up to 66% of all chargers are located in four countries: the Netherlands, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, and it is estimated that the total number of chargers in Europe will reach two million by 2025.

In regard to Serbia and the countries in the region, a rising trend of delivered and installed EV chargers has been registered, getting us closer to the countries with highly advanced electric mobility and the leaders of that trend. Schneider Electric has delivered nearly 100 EV chargers in Serbia and Montenegro so far, and in the past two years companies in the public and private sectors have been increasingly interested in installing EV chargers at their parking lots and in garages.

In Belgrade, EVlink chargers Schneider Electric are installed at several locations, with those in the reconstructed public garage at Obilićev venac as most available for citizens of the capital.

Home Ev Chargers – New Trends

An increase of the number of electric vehicles and further expansion of their use lead to the need for the production of EV chargers with an option of charging at home Drivers are embracing EVs not only for their improved fuel economy, reduced emissions, and lower fuel expenses, but also because the cost of charging a car at home in a garage over the course of a year can be less than running an air conditioner. And research shows that “electric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, United States, and Japan”.

They have two options for charging at home at disposal –chargers supplied when buying a car, with basic charging features, and chargers with advanced options, helping drivers to reduce concerns about running out of electricity while driving.

In focus:

Enhanced EV charging solutions – the EVlink by Schneider Electric – are available in the market, working faster than standard ones and delivering a host of additional benefits. EVlink chargers can be part of a comprehensive smart home solution, with an option of integrating them with home’s electrical system to keep a car from charging during peak-demand times, i.e., when other electrical appliances are likely to be in use. A charger can also be set to operate at the cheapest times.

Rated for indoor safety, EVlink’s intuitive design facilitates daily use and for additional flexibility in installation and usage, each station comes complete with a docking bracket.

This article was published in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine NATURAL RESOURCES, march – may, 2020

Consumers and Business Concerned About Plastic Waste but Expect Governments to Do More

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food Industry Asia (FIA) today released a regional survey of consumers and food and beverage businesses across South-East Asia that shows a significant disconnect between expectation and action on reducing plastic waste. The challenges of plastic pollution have only increased in the past few months, with the COVID-19 pandemic generating a surge in waste.

The survey polled consumers and businesses in five countries that are estimated to be among the top 10 sources of plastic marine debris globally – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.

“Plastic pollution is choking the waters of South-East Asia,” said Dechen Tsering, UNEP’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. “We will need fundamental change throughout the plastic value chain to achieve clean seas and beat plastic pollution. Governments, businesses and consumers can all increase their ambition and improve their efforts to achieve this goal.”

Among the key findings were that:

  • Consumers are concerned about plastic waste, but are not changing habits. While 91% of consumers state that they are concerned about plastic waste issues, fewer than half are less likely to buy a product from non-recycled material.
  • Consumers’ focus on recycling is increasing. While only 54% of consumers are recycling and converting their plastic waste into useful products, 38% more have indicated their interest to do so in the next 12 to 18 months.
  • Businesses understand that their current efforts are not sufficient. While 82% of businesses are extremely concerned about plastic waste issues, less than half feel their current efforts are sufficient to address the problem.
  • Targets by businesses on plastic waste need strengthening. 80% of businesses have targets to address plastic waste but of those companies with a target, less than one-third communicate it externally. Among business targets to reduce plastic waste, 74% are quantitative but only 59% have indicated deadlines.
  • Many businesses are not yet engaged in industry collaborations to tackle plastic waste issues. Over half of businesses (51%) in the five countries are not part of any group tackling plastic waste issues. This ranges from 76% in Viet Nam to 24% in Thailand.
  • Both consumers and businesses want and expect further action by governments. Consumers and businesses recognise that governments are concerned with plastic waste. Key actions by government considered most critical include mandating waste segregation, enhancing collection systems, ensuring consistent labelling on product recycling, and imposing littering fines and charges.

The surveys were conducted from January to April 2020 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, sampling 2,000 consumers and 400 food and beverage businesses across the five countries. Efforts were taken to ensure that the sample covered a wide range of companies across the value chain, company ownership structure, company size and locations within the countries, while quotas were instituted to ensure accurate demographic representation of the consumers. A similar survey will be conducted in 2022 for comparison.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

“We are encouraged that companies have been much more involved in coming together to support cities and communities in a significant way to tackle post-consumer plastic waste by accelerating packaging innovation and enhancing plastics collection and recycling, through initiatives like the Circular Materials Lab and the Packaging Recycling Organisation Viet Nam,” said Matt Kovac, Executive Director for Food Industry Asia. “But as the surveys show, many more businesses need to join platforms to scale up efforts. Policies, projects and funds must work concurrently, as must key actors across the plastics value-chain to build a multi-stakeholder approach that enables businesses, consumers and governments to find ways to create circular approaches to plastics.”

This survey and report were co-commissioned by SEA circular, an initiative of UNEP and the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) – supported by the Government of Sweden – and FIA to inspire market-based solutions and encourage enabling policies to prevent marine plastic pollution in South-East Asia. The analysis was conducted by AlphaBeta.

The Swedish Ambassador to Thailand, Lao PDR and Myanmar, Staffan Herrström, said, “This study provides valuable insights that can help accelerate the behavioral change needed to beat plastic pollution and prevent marine litter. Importantly, it shows that opinions among consumers and businesses provide ample opportunity for governments to take tangible, effective actions, such as promoting waste segregation at household level, improving waste collection and recycling capacity, and ensuring better product labelling, all of which will increase recycling rates. This can be pursued through a combination of regulation and incentives, and I encourage governments to use this opportunity.”

Source: UNEP

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