Ingenieur July-Sept 2016 Ingenieur July-Sept 2016 | Page 52

INGENIEUR ●● Across the world, employment in renewable energy grew by 5% in 2015, boosted by supportive Government policies and subsidies including tax credits in the US, although jobs in renewables fell in Europe. “Even without a price on carbon, renewable energy is competing with dirty energy and winning,” said Ben Schreiber, at Friends of the Earth US. “The question isn’t whether renewable energy supplants fossil fuels, but whether fossil fuel companies can delay the transition long enough to destroy the climate.” ●● ●● G7 Leaders Declaration – 2016 ●● ●● ●● The G7 nations have for the first time set a deadline for ending most fossil fuel subsidies, saying Government support for coal, oil and gas should end by 2025. The leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union encouraged all countries to join them in eliminating “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” within a decade. “Given the fact that energy production and use account for around two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, we recognise the crucial role that the energy sector has to play in combating climate change,” said the  leaders at the end their summit in Japan. 3rd International Sustainable Energy Summit 2016 ●● ●● 6 50 As of February 2016, SEDA Malaysia had approved a total of 8,796 Feed-In-Tariff (FiT) applications with a total capacity of 1,185.85MW, of which 334.03MW has achieved commercial operation up to 2018. The economic, social and environment benefits expected to be gained from FiT implementation include the total investment worth billions, a total of 23,823 green jobs created and the green house gas (GHG) Emission Avoidance estimated at 3.5 million tonnes.   VOL VOL67 55JULY-SEPTEMBER JUNE 2013 2016 In line with our strategic thrust to decarbonise the energy sector under the 11th Malaysian Plan, we have embarked on two new initiatives to scale up the generation of renewable energy (RE) in the country through the net energy metering (NEM) and large scale solar (LSS) mechanisms. These two initiatives will contribute an additional 1,500MW of RE by 2020. Under these initiatives, coupled with the FiT mechanism that was introduced in 2012, RE installed capacity in 2020 is expected to reach 2,080MW or 7.8% of the overall installed capacity. Innovative Flywheel Energy Storage Freiburg, Germany ●● ●● ●● A flywheel at a tram terminal loop is being tested as a means of energy storage in the city of Freiburg. The flywheel stores the braking energy of arriving trams and gives it back to departing trams. Up to 250,000 kWh of electric energy is expected to be saved this way. In a one-year project, the municipal transport company Freiburger Verkehrs AG (VAG) is testing a flywheel energy storage system at a terminal loop. Right now Freiburg’s trams are already feeding the electric energy network while braking, but when no other tram is around this energy is lost. This often happens on lines with low frequency and near terminal stations. For this reason, a terminal loop in Landwasser was chosen for a new flywheel energy storage system. Whenever energy for acceleration of a tram is needed the flywheel system sends it back to the overhead wire. SOURCE BOAO Asia Forum Ministry of Plantations Industries & Commodities (MPIC) media statement 31.5.2016 The Guardian