Energy is certainly one of the most critical driving forces required to advance a country. It is not just an important ingredient in economic growth; it is key in maintaining a nation's sustained sustainable growth. For all humans, the use of electricity is crucially important to maintain life on the planet since it contributes to the growth and technological advancements in our modern society. In the following essay, the central theme that I will be discussing and evaluating about will be regarding energy consumption as well as the economic and environmental consequences in relation to the country, principally Malaysia. It’s an expeditiously growing country in Southeast Asia, positioned in the north of the Equator, with the goal of achieving high-income country status. Its economic development is heavily reliant on its reliable energy resources, in specific natural gas and crude oil. Electricity production in Malaysia largely comes from the burning of restricted fossil fuel supplies, such as oil, coal or natural gas, which have tremendous effects on the environment.
In Malaysia, electricity production is substantially dependent on three major sources of fossil fuel, particularly regarding coal, natural gas, and fuel oil. Such generations of fossil-fuel-based energy have adverse impacts on the environment and deplete fuel reserves. This process of generating energy is primarily through non-renewable sources, given that the country is heavily dependent on it, with nearly 90.04% of the energy produced utilizing oil, natural gas, and coal. Regarding non-renewable sources, electricity production from coal sources is 42.28%, 46.6% from natural gas and lastly oil sources produce 1.16% of electricity. There are, however, efforts to generate energy in environmentally-friendly forms through the renewable energy processes and about 9.96% generating production by hydroelectricity, solar energy, and biomass.
Therefore, Malaysia is taking into consideration renewable energy and is currently relying heavily on non-renewable energy. Fossil fuels are paying an environmental toll. They are causing significant problems to both the environment and public health such as CO2 emissions leading to damage global warming and climate change as well as it also produces particulate matter, sulfur dioxide gas and other chemicals that may affect people's health and can cause cancer, heart diseases, bronchitis, etc. They often trigger certain, more complex issues not quite so simple to see like pollution, and, stunt in growth of the surrounding ecosystem. For instance, The maximum of sulfur dioxide along with most of the nitrogen oxides are emitted by power plants as they burn fossil fuels, such as coal, for production of electricity.
The emissions from vehicles, vans, and buses also produce toxic nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. Such contaminants are triggering acid rain that damages houses, affects forests, marine life as well as insects. However, renewable energy can be found in several forms; for example solar power, hydropower, oil thenar biomass, and waste materials. Further studies by the government are now being undertaken to enhance their efficiency. As a country, Malaysia is now looking into the use of renewable energy more actively as it already has, and will continue to generate energy which creates no greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuels, decreases air pollution of certain types in the environment, reduction of deforestation rates, eliminate citizens from poverty, and is more cost-effective, if put to use. In Malaysia total consumption of energy is high as subsidies are given to consumers. The nation invested a staggering of RM 16 bil on fossil fuels alone in 2017 to produce electricity.
In Malaysia, the following electricity generation approaches are utilized in various different forms. Firstly, as per the statistics recorded in 2017, the most electricity that is been consumed in the country is for industrial use, applying about 6145 ktoe, following commercial, approximately 3762 ktoe, 2610 ktoe for residential use and lastly 5 ktoe for the agricultural use. Ktoe refers to “Kilotonne of Oil Equivalent.” It's the “tonne of oil equivalent (toe) is a unit of energy defined as the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil.” Information on Malaysia's electricity consumption was recorded in November 2019 at 12,454,809 kWh mn. It tracks the rise of 12,351,969 kWh mn per Oct 2019 from the previous result. Malaysia's statistics on electricity consumption are revised on a monthly basis, with a total of 6,576,100 kWh from January 1989 to November 2019.
Malaysia is wealthy with natural resources, a treasure that has much of water and obtains a high amount of rain per year used to generate electricity. Therefore in this country, the use of hydropower is important. Hydropower is a renewable energy source that generates very little greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, it's the cheapest way to store vast amounts of electricity. The use of electrical energy is an essential element of a country's economic development and of raising the overall standard of living of residents by reducing greenhouse gases that would be produced in turn. The increasing electricity consumption, the environmental consequences of the use of fossil fuels and the possibility of losing fossil fuels are the main themes that push us in the path of concentrating on hydropower as a supply of renewable technology.
The energy consumption has increased substantially, due to its value for conservation. The annual rate of global electricity generation use is projected to increase by 1.6% between 2009 and 2020. Almost all of the energy resources utilized are non-renewables, though, mostly fossil fuel supplemented by nuclear fuel. Fossil fuel contributed to 78.4% of total sustainable energy use, while 19% originated from renewables. The use of non-renewable resources has had negative environmental impacts such as acid rain, air pollution, global warming, degradation of the ozone layer and radioactive substance emissions. Although natural gas provides 50 to 60 percent less carbon dioxide when it burns, it creates increased levels of nitrogen oxides released into the environment. When formed, these gasses combine with other substances which create acid rain and smog. This is particularly dangerous to people and may have permanent side effects. These environmental issues affect the people residing in Malaysia as well as have been the main controversy in today’s world putting a strain on our planet. The solution for this environmental setback is to avoid the use of non-renewable fuels and change to renewable energy sources, along with solar, wind and water.
In conclusion, Malaysia is a fast-growing country. As a Minister of Energy, I believe that it is crucial for Malaysia to continue its path towards renewable energy sources instead of non-renewable energy. This can be achieved by continuously pursuing the field of hydropower and by 2030, creating goals for 75% of the energy to derive from hydropower rather than fossil fuels to prevent environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions,etc. In order to overcome the many adversities confronted by non-renewables, we can emphasize a renewable energy supply which is one of the greenest power sources and limits the mentioned negative effects. As our society is more aware of the significance of protecting our world, hydropower is the best option available to non-renewables, so many nations depend on sustainable products.
Hence the development of hydropower energy often occurs in various ways, tides, ocean currents, sea, the natural flow of water in rivers, etc. I, as a minister of energy, mark an aim to expand the electricity output through renewable sources by 35% before 2022. Therefore, solar energy has tremendous potential, as the nation has 12 hours of daylight a day, 365 days a year. The goal for the country to stay sustained is to achieve 2,500 megawatts (MW) or 15% of its solar power requirements by 2022. Due to its high safe geographical location, which has an equatorial environment, heavy rainfall, good access to the sea, multiple dams, and irrigation channels, the justification for a huge expansion of hydropower seems to have been. In addition to developing the energy industry in Malaysia, we will concentrate on all aspects, rather than just energy output. By extensively analyzing each factor we need to determine the right accessible source of energy.