Crude plans beyond the barrel

I’m surprised given the current climate on world oil and its 30 sen per litre impact here, our government has yet to announce a comprehensive strategy on alternative fuels.

Public transport is one thing – yes, it dearly needs help – but the bigger issue is our dependency on a single fuel commodity… that crude thing called oil.

The relevant economies of the world have long begun to think outside of the barrel. Even more importantly, they have acted on it.

Sweden aims to be free from oil-dependency come 2020 (now, that’s vision for you). In the US, hybrid car sales are generally doubling every year. The streets of Shanghai hum with electric scooters. Seven out of every 10 new cars in Brazil run on ethanol. And in charming Siem Reap, Cambodia, you can now choose to travel around the temples of Angkor on a rented electric bike.

As anybody who follows real news would know, alternative fuels are no longer alternative. A new word shall someday soon emerge to describe this phenomenon. Thanks to advances made from fuel cells to biofuel, oil will lose its totemic relevance.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, a beautiful country with substantial resources, run by a government full on promises but empty on delivery, has yet to put forward a blueprint on it’s future with fuel.

We, the People, want a plan.

We want to know where we’re headed and how we’ll handle the signs of the times. I’m a dreamer sure (I don’t dream about sending Malaysians to space, though), but I don’t think it takes an economist to say we need to diversify our fuel source. And soon; like yesterday.

The government said it too:

“The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and the Malaysia Energy Center have joined hands to increase the public's awareness of Renewable Energy as a fuel source.

In May 2001, the government, through the Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia launched the Small Renewable Energy Power program (SREP) which applies to all sources of energy including biomass, biogas, municipal waste, solar, mini-hydro and wind.

The SREP program is aimed at encouraging the exploitation of Renewable Energy sources as the fifth fuel resource under the country's fuel diversification policy and coincides with the industry's effort for zero waste in the oil palm industry.”

Talk. Is. Cheap.

Again in October 2004, Najib announced a Cabinet Committee on Alternative Fuels has been formed, but has nothing much to show today. It is regrettable that even with the writing on the wall, the government has failed to effectively act on relieving the reliance on fossil fuels.

SREP is not succeeding because the logistics of transferring and converting biomass to electricity in power plants miles away is too immense. It focuses on high-tech, typical of “gaya mau”, wanting to run before learning to crawl.

Sources on alternative fuel range from big-budget industries to do-it-yourself strategies. In the local context, we can get some of these going pronto to relieve folks who are hardest hit in petrol price hikes.

If control was kept local using affordable methods, we’re talking gold here.

Set up cooperatives in alternative fuel to deal with this hardship especially in the rural areas where money is short but not material resource. A cottage industry producing domestic fuel is very feasible. Biofuel – produced from crops, biomass and livesock – can provide a low-tech option for local consumption eg powering diesel machines, generators, and motorboats. Think of it as a 21st century version of the charcoal and firewood cottage industry or the kerosene industry of old.

All it takes is education, organization and a genuine heart.

In fact, if resource is abundant, these cottage industries could transform the material into semi-processed form for easier transport and processing at power plants and fuel refineries and earn a tidy side-income. Think of the smokehouses and mangles shared by small-holder rubber plantations in early Malaya.

True progress is forever lateral; and cottage industries are a relevant component in that pursuit.

And what about electric bikes and scooters? It may be what our cities need to supplement an improved public transportation system. Hey, I'd like to get one for my shorter trips.

Unfortunately, I am not equipped to be constructive. There is as always a lack of information on the side of the government about what is really going on. Oftentimes it’s one chest-thumping announcement at a launch, then all goes quiet. And the cronies go to feed.

All I ask is a good plan.

A thoughtful plan – described lucidly for public feedback with a team who can deliver. Something that addresses in breadth and elegance the issue of fuel in society. Public transport is only a subset of that.

As you know, a sincere vision gains more mileage without the need for spin such as “change our lifestyle”, Ong Ka Ting riding the LRT, and “35 sen for a teh tarik”. Politicians are obliged to rise above that.