JMSC - HKStories - Hunting for ideas in Singapore

Realizing that the world is facing a global threat, a group of university students came up with an idea. If the threat is world wide, then maybe they could learn from other people�s experiences in tackling the problem.

The threat is the fast changing climate, the students are from The University of Hong Kong and the idea was a study tour.

In March 2008, a group of 30 students from the so-called Climate Change Coalition divided into three groups. One of them went to Singapore. The objective was to study climate change in the country, and also to meet with NGO�s, government officials and private companies, who had a good idea or maybe just a different approach on how to deal with the climate change issues.

The range was wide: From dressing up as a cartoon characters and running around the streets � to produce actual diesel for cars from used cooking oil from the MacDonald's french fries.

Joomla on osCandy.com Holdiland crateur de pc solutions web sur mesure

Students from the CCC preparing for the study tour

Cherry Ng waiting for the bus in Singapore

Pel Wong, Sally Ho and Li Dingding preparing for meeting with the Singapore Environment Coulcil

Chito Cheng at the meting with the CNG converter Melchers.

Chito Cheng, Winnie Tsang, Gloria Mok and Long Zhao learning about the conversion. How a regular engine can run on CNG-gas.

A big yellow gas tank to be installed in the booth of a CNG-driven car.

Everyday Superhero

Start from the bottom and work the way up. That seems to be one of the strategies from the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) - One of Singapore�s NGO�s.

SEC has been around since 1995 and has since the early days worked with the government to solve environmental problems. The Green labeling scheme is one of the success-stories: In 1992 the Ministry of the Environment launched the scheme, which involves labaling environment-friendly products to help consumers identify them from the not so friendly. Since 1999 SEC has administered the scheme.

But SEC also do other efforts to help the everyday consumer to live a greener life and reduce the impact on the environment. Click on the link below and hear Joe Lim tell about one of the projects.

Sustainable solutions

Wind power and solar power for example are not as clean energy sources, as they might seem. It takes a lot of energy to produce the steel for the windmills and the panels for the solar power equipment. The area where it is actually possible to maintain the energy level and reduce greenhouse gas emission, is where the focus should be, he says.

Professor Jeffrey Obbard is doing research on how to produce so-called biodiesel in the most effective manor. Biodiesel can be used alone, or blended with regular diesel. The options are many for producing it. For instance, you can produce biodiesel from used McDonald's French-fry cooking oil and turn it into environment-friendly diesel fuel and the car can run on it.

Green taxes and yellow tanks

Transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions account for about one third of the total CO2 emission. Therefore it is one of the places to do an effort to reduce the number. In Singapore the government launched a green tax rebate. If one buys a fuel-efficient car, a 40% car tax rebate follows.

One of the companies that benefit from the rebate is a branch of the German company Melchers. They have specialized in modifying normal cars into bi-fuel driven cars. So the cars run on regular gas or CNG - Compressed Natural Gas. The CNG is much more efficient, than regular gas and the CO2 emission is cut by a third, but there is also a downside. The CNG is stored in a big yellow tank, which fills up most of the booth.

The big tank doesn�t scare off the customers though, Business Development Executive, Shannon Sim from Melchers CNG says:

Written by Lars Hjort
Wednesday, 07 May 2008
The hunters Realizing that the world is facing a global threat, a group of university students came up with an idea. If the threat is world wide, then maybe they could learn from other people�s experiences in tackling the problem. The threat is the fast changing climate, the students are from The University of Hong Kong and the idea was a study tour. In March 2008, a group of 30 students from the so-called Climate Change Coalition divided into three groups. One of them went to Singapore. The objective was to study climate change in the country, and also to meet with NGO�s, government officials and private companies, who had a good idea or maybe just a different approach on how to deal with the climate change issues. The range was wide: From dressing up as a cartoon characters and running around the streets � to produce actual diesel for cars from used cooking oil from the MacDonald's french fries. Joomla on osCandy.com Holdiland crateur de pc solutions web sur mesure Students from the CCC preparing for the study tour Cherry Ng waiting for the bus in Singapore Pel Wong, Sally Ho and Li Dingding preparing for meeting with the Singapore Environment Coulcil Chito Cheng at the meting with the CNG converter Melchers. Chito Cheng, Winnie Tsang, Gloria Mok and Long Zhao learning about the conversion. How a regular engine can run on CNG-gas. A big yellow gas tank to be installed in the booth of a CNG-driven car. Everyday Superhero Start from the bottom and work the way up. That seems to be one of the strategies from the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) - One of Singapore�s NGO�s. SEC has been around since 1995 and has since the early days worked with the government to solve environmental problems. The Green labeling scheme is one of the success-stories: In 1992 the Ministry of the Environment launched the scheme, which involves labaling environment-friendly products to help consumers identify them from the not so friendly. Since 1999 SEC has administered the scheme. But SEC also do other efforts to help the everyday consumer to live a greener life and reduce the impact on the environment. Click on the link below and hear Joe Lim tell about one of the projects. Sustainable solutions How do we reduce the greenhouse gas emissions? The answers are many, right? Solar power, wind power or cars driven by electricity, to name a few. Well, not really, if you ask Professor Obbard from National University of Singapore . Wind power and solar power for example are not as clean energy sources, as they might seem. It takes a lot of energy to produce the steel for the windmills and the panels for the solar power equipment. The area where it is actually possible to maintain the energy level and reduce greenhouse gas emission, is where the focus should be, he says. Professor Jeffrey Obbard is doing research on how to produce so-called biodiesel in the most effective manor. Biodiesel can be used alone, or blended with regular diesel. The options are many for producing it. For instance, you can produce biodiesel from used McDonald's French-fry cooking oil and turn it into environment-friendly diesel fuel and the car can run on it. Green taxes and yellow tanks Transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions account for about one third of the total CO2 emission. Therefore it is one of the places to do an effort to reduce the number. In Singapore the government launched a green tax rebate. If one buys a fuel-efficient car, a 40% car tax rebate follows. One of the companies that benefit from the rebate is a branch of the German company Melchers. They have specialized in modifying normal cars into bi-fuel driven cars. So the cars run on regular gas or CNG - Compressed Natural Gas. The CNG is much more efficient, than regular gas and the CO2 emission is cut by a third, but there is also a downside. The CNG is stored in a big yellow tank, which fills up most of the booth. The big tank doesn�t scare off the customers though, Business Development Executive, Shannon Sim from Melchers CNG says: Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Website Title Comment
Last Updated ( Friday, 09 May 2008 )

The hunters

Everyday Superhero

Sustainable solutions

Green taxes and yellow tanks