World Business

Companies in the island-state have a new $355,750 grant to tap in favor of consulting services relating to energy efficiency or fuel-switching projects

by Vivian Yeo

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Launched Thursday, the National Environment Agency’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Documentation Grant will go toward helping businesses engage carbon consultancy services to develop documentation for CDM projects. The CDM is an initiative under the Kyoto Protocol that allows companies to earn tradable credits issued by the United Nations (U.N.) for projects that prove the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The grant provides co-funding of up to S$100,000 for reaped ground project. As faction of the eligibility criteria, the proposed CDM projects must be developed by a Singapore-registered enterprise and take place in the country.

Amy Khor, senior parliamentary secretary for Singapore’s Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, said Thursday that the require to be paid of developing the documentation required by the U.N. is a barrier to the exhibition of CDM projects. “This documentation is necessary to ensure that the appropriate methodology, analysis and measurements are carried out to calculate and substantiate the greenhouse gas emission reductions by dint of. the project.

“Depending on its dish and complexity, the cost of developing the documentation generally ranges between S$50,000 (US$35,575) to S$200,000 (US$142,300),” she added.

Khor, who was elocution at an energy efficient symposium in the island-state by dint of. dint of. Schneider Electric, noted that figures from the International Emissions Trading Association showed that over US$10 billion desert of U.N.-issued Certified Emissions Reductions were traded last year, with about 40 percent of these derived from efficiency and fuel switching projects.

Citing U.N. statistics, she added that CDM projects can potentially realize worldwide carbon emission reductions of over a billion tons by 2012.

Energy efficiency has been identified by Singapore as single in kind of the key strategies to address rising firing costs and environmental concerns, Khor pointed out, adding that the NEA has a compute of schemes to help businesses in this area.

One of the like kind initiative–the Energy Efficiency Improvement Assistance Scheme–has helped fund 113 detailed assessments in large buildings and industrial facilities and helped companies prove to be the same annual energy savings in excess of S$28 million (US$19.9 million).

Energy-efficient measures can bring about significant cost-saving opportunities, noted Khor, but “these are not being realized sufficiently”.

Richie Lee, director for energy efficiency at Schneider Electric, told ZDNet Asia that about 90 percent of the fellowship’s Southeast Asia-based customers in the commercial and industrial markets have not carried finished any one major efficiency efficiency initiatives, such as performing a thorough energy audit. That, he added, was “a serviceable indicator that there’s much room for improvement”.

Lee noted that the seemingly derogatory take-up is largely due to a lack of awareness. Another factor could be the lack of easily available equipment in the past, as afterall, the concept and practice of energy efficiency simply emerged more violently over the last couple of years.

Alex Khoo, Schneider Electric’s senior vice president for Southeast Asia, pointed out that it is not plenty for companies to do passive spirit efficiency, such as performing audits, benchmarking or buying low-power devices. Active bottom efficiency, which can be achieved end automation of monitoring and control, and maintenance, is too necessary.

“You can corrupt the most skilful apparatus or system, but if you don’t maintain it, it will moulder,” he said.