By Joachim Ng
A commercial building in Greentown, Ipoh, stands out as a one-of-a-kind within kilometres. Next time you visit 1 Lasam, try to get permission for a visit to the rooftop. It’s covered with solar panels, and at one corner is a rainwater harvesting tank. After that, drive around Ipoh city and for good measure drive around the other cities in Malaysia too. How many rooftop solar panels do you see? How many rainwater harvesting tanks do you see?
Yet a claim has been made that Malaysia is set to be the Asean champion of a sustainable development model that balances economic growth and environmental preservation through best practices. What are these best practices that Malaysia has championed? Let’s not indulge in so much PR showmanship that lulls the public into complacency. Let’s go for the substance that is real.
Every Malaysian should know that death is waiting at the door. This writer recorded the following temperature readings in the shade on four days last month in Kuala Lumpur: 34C on May 16 at 6pm, 35C on May 26 at 5.45pm, 30C on May 28 at 5.30 am (yes, long before dawn), 35C on a cloudy afternoon on May 30 at 4pm.
Even in the early hours before dawn, you will feel the stifling heat because humidity is at a record high. A night temperature of 30C combined with high humidity is equivalent to a “wet bulb” temperature reading of 34C. Hit 37C for weeks at a stretch, and several thousand frail elders and sickly babies will die. Even at 36C, some Malaysians in these two categories will die, although their deaths will be recorded as due to pre-existing medical conditions.
Even young working adults in all our large cities – KL, PJ, Ipoh, JB, Penang – are feeling very, very hot, and on some days it’s a 24-hour oven experience.
The reality is that coal burning is in the air and kills millions of people every year especially in city conglomerates. Coal is a major cause of global warming as it emits more carbon dioxide than oil or gas when burned. It is the biggest source of greenhouse gases, making up more than 40% of energy-related carbon emissions.
King Coal looks brawnier than ever, with global coal demand set to reach around 8.87 billion tonnes by 2027. In Asia, climate change is not a part of the political debate.You have never heard it debated in the Dewan Rakyat nor in any state legislative assembly.
As recently as March 6, Energy Transition Deputy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said in the Dewan Negara that the Government is maintaining coal as the primary source of electricity generation due to its lower production costs and to ensure electricity tariffs remain affordable for consumers. “Malaysia’s electricity generation relies heavily on coal and gas as the main fossil fuel sources to meet base load demand,” he said.
We should cut back on its use for power generation drastically, and at a much faster pace. Last year, coal was burnt to generate 35% of power with 50% generated by natural gas and the remaining 15% by hydro power and renewables. This is way too high a figure for use of coal.
Malaysia is now gripped in a whirlwind romance with climate change, waltzing in a dance of death. We must stop this dance fast.
Southeast Asia could soon emerge as a powerful driver of global coal use that could offset coal usage declines anywhere. Southeast Asia has outpaced other major importers in terms of annual growth rates. Indonesia produced 836 million metric tons of coal last year, beating the 2023 output of 775 million. It was a record, with about 555 millions tons exported. Last month, Indonesia unveiled a new electricity business plan that frontloads 12.7 gigawatts of coal and gas plants over the next five years.
The Philippines is the largest coal importer in the region. while in Vietnam coal-fired electricity output makes up 49.5% of the national mix. Fortunately, Vietnamese parents have become independent thinkers. Although the Government – like our own Government too – is cajoling parents into having more children to arrest the declining birth rates, Vietnamese parents listen more to the voice of nature that is calling them to have fewer children. Lower birth rates mean lower power consumption and reduced coal burning. This will help save the climate.
China relies on coal to generate 60% of its electricity and has started construction on 94 gigawatts of coal plants, while India is seeing proposals for new plants to generate 38 gigawatts. India’s average land surface temperature ranges from 35C in the deep south to 45C in the central plateau, resulting in a boom in air-conditioner sales for homes and offices.
UN agencies estimate that as only 7% of Indian households now own aircon units, a ninefold increase in residential ownership by 2050 is being forecast. Airconditioning will account for a quarter of India’s emissions and nearly half nationwide peak electricity demand by 2050. The refrigerants inside AC units and the coal-generated electricity that powers them only exacerbate global warming.
India is thus building new coal power plants as well as extending the lives of existing plants and expanding coal mining. It’s a vicious cycle with lower-than-normal monsoon rains in catchment areas creating a shortfall in hydro generation and forcing higher reliance on coal. In other countries such as Brazil, however, climate change has produced enduring droughts that force higher use of coal.
Although Bangladesh is dangerously exposed to rising sea levels and worse storms, Bangladeshis assume that averting catastrophic climate changes is the sole responsiblity of Western nations.
Australia has extended the lifespan of three coal mines that will mean another 1.3 billion tonnes of emissions into the atmosphere. Since last year, Australia’s coal exports to China jumped ahead of exports to Japan. Thermal coal imports into China, Japan and South Korea make these three nations the world’s largest coal users. These plants will be allowed to stay open for eight to 12 more years producing fuel for electricity-generation power stations.
Overall, Japan is Asia’s third biggest coal buyer followed by South Korea in fourth rank. Coal accounts for 35% of Japan’s electricity generation and is set to go higher with increasing use of air-conditioners during summer. South Koreas generates 35-40% of its power from coal, and with exports from automobile, mobile phone and camera factories rising, more coal is being imported to generate powr.
Two months ago, President Donald Trump signed a raft of measures to expand the mining and use of coal inside the US to revive a flagging fossil fuel industry. He set in motion wide-ranging initiatives to promote electricity made from coal, pledging that plants which have been closed will be reopened and brand new ones built. With coal mines seeing their profits soar, American utility companies have turned their backs on the movement to protect the climate.
In 1900 the deliberate burning of fossil fuels, especially coal, produced 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. Today the production of CO2 is 20 times that much. In 1965 the CO2 level was 320 parts per million (ppm), an unprecedented level.The CO2 level is now 408 ppm and rising. Not only Malaysia, but the entire world of humanity is in a dance of death with climate change.
In one tiny part of the world though – Milas district in the Aegean province of Mugla in Turkiye – local women are taking the frontlines to resist cutting of trees for the expansion of a coal mine by an energy company that had obtained permission to cut down the trees in a 316ha section of the Akbelen forest to expand a mine to provide more coal for power plants.
Turkiye does not need to rely on coal as it has enormous renewable energy potential. However, only 15.5% of the country’s electricity is produced from solar and wind power.
A woman in Milas was heard telling reporters: “I love nature. I love the earth very much.” If only all Malaysians could say the same thing, with equal fervour.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Ipoh Echo
