Brunei - High CO2 emissions come from personal energy use

BRUNEI Darussalam produces an estimated 1.8 Megatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year, with much of the emissions generated from activities that do not bring about direct benefits to the economy, an energy study has found.

The CO2 emissions were estimated through back-calculations that factored in the country's fossil fuel consumption, in energy outlook modelling work by the Jakarta-based Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia (Eria), in collaboration with researchers from Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).

This overall figure was considered "very small" compared to emissions from economies from around the region, the head of UBD's energy research group told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of an energy forum held at the lecture hall of the local varsity's residential facility.

"1.8 Megatonnes is very small. I would probably say less than 0.1 per cent (the emissions) of the bigger economies," Dr Lim Chee Ming said.

"We use around 2.8 Megatonnes equivalent of fossil fuels but other countries are using 10 times, 30 times that."

However, the comparison on per capita basis gives a different picture.

"If you look at it in terms of per capita, in terms of fuel consumption, from the top of my head, we are hitting something like 7.5 kilotonnes per person in this country, which is substantially a lot compared with Singapore or more industrialised countries," he said.

"Most of the energy spent is not so much for economic output; meaning we use our energy for driving our cars (and) for our air-conditioning for our homes and buildings.

"But if you look at the energy profile breakdown of the other more industrialised countries, half of the energy (is) spent in industries."

Utilising a greater percentage of energy in the industry sectors allows a country to generate more products that it can use for itself or for export purposes, he explained. "That's the big difference."

He added that Brunei's energy consumption was also on the rise, increasing by "something like 2.3 per cent every year", which if back-calculated, means an equivalent increase of two per cent in CO2 emissions annually, if energy usage trends remain unchanged.

The solution is to save energy through initiatives such as energy efficiency and conservation, he said. This would bring about three "cascading" benefits, he said.

"We are an energy exporting country. If we save one litre (of fossil fuel), we can sell one litre."

This also means a reduction and saving in subsidy that will otherwise be borne by the government.

"So again, that is another win," he said.

"If we reduce the consumption, obviously, we are going to reduce the CO2 emission."

The Brunei Times

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