Summary Reader Response (Clean Energy Transition) -Cont

The article by Tim Daubach (2019) “How can Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition be sped up?” highlights the lack of urgency in Southeast Asia in the shift towards renewable energy and identifies possible solutions to the constraints that is faced by the region. According to the article, a major stumbling block to implement a widespread use of renewable energy is the heterogeneous collection of cultures in the region that means a calibrated approach to each specific area is required. For areas with land constraints, using nuclear fusion to generate electricity has huge upsides as it is free of emissions and requires little space. However, finding alternative sources of renewable energy is not enough if the region itself does not reduce its energy consumption to slow down the effects of climate change. Lastly, Southeast Asia should integrate policymaking and sustainable energy goals, this will help provide a platform for the sector to grow and in turn spur economic growth. Southeast Asia is failing to keep up with the world in clean energy transition due to its unique demographics, but it can be tackled by usage of nuclear fusion, having more efficient consumption of energy and implementing policies to promote growth in the sustainable energy sector.

First and foremost, Southeast Asia has to recognise that with varying standards of living, the switch to sustainable energy has to be tailored according to the specific regions' needs and constraints. As highlighted by Laurence L. (2019), developing countries would need assistance in the infrastructure required to transit to sustainable energy. Without the infrastructure, the people in developing countries will continue to use readily available nonrenewable energy sources such as coal and wood. Hence, in order for Southeast Asia to move towards sustainable energy, the region has to provide help to developing countries to ensure that renewable energy becomes accessible and also at a low-cost thus allowing the general population to adopt it. 

Moving forward, renewable energy like nuclear fusion has promising prospects in the sustainable energy industry as it occupies a small area and produces zero emission. Nian, V. (2015) identified that using renewable energy such as hydropower will not be sufficient to fuel the region's economic growth due to lack of access to to advanced technology. However, the use of nuclear energy will be able to help support the region's need for increased energy production. Even though the developing technology is expensive, the huge upsides of it should be considered as it can reduce the burden of increasing energy demand, especially for countries with land constraints. 

In addition to energy production, consumption of energy is equally important as energy wastage leads to excess carbon emissions. To prevent energy wastage, the region should promote the use of appliances and equipment that are energy efficient. By adopting efficient energy usage, it will reduce the strain in energy production while the region transit to renewable energy production. Most importantly, reducing energy consumption is the most straightforward step in reducing the carbon footprint and it does not require a major change in infrastructure or a large sum of capital. 

Lastly, the change towards a sustainable future must begin with proactive measures from the governments in the region to support the growth of sustainable energy. Erdiwansyah et al (2019) state that with suitable government interventions, it is possible to solve energy scarcity even among rural areas and at the same time it can support the local economy and in turn improve the standard of living. With ease of access to the market, it will entice foreign investors to invest in the country as well and boost economic growth. 

Therefore, due to the unique nature of Southeast Asia, the constraints faced are unique to the region and has to be tackled contextually. Even though certain technology may not be available yet, the region can take active steps in reducing the carbon footprint first while it develops plans to open the sustainable energy market.  

References

1. Ha, T. (2019, July 19). How can Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition be sped up? Eco Business. https://www.eco-business.com/news/how-can-southeast-asias-clean-energy-transition-be-sped-up/

2. Laurence L. Delina (2019). Accelerating sustainable energy transition(s) in developing countries. 1st ed. Routledge.

3. Nian, V. (2015). Progress in Nuclear Power Technologies and Implications for ASEAN. Energy Procedia, 75, 2852–2858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.571

4. Erdiwansyah, Mamat, R., Sani, M. S. ., & Sudhakar, K. (2019). Renewable energy in Southeast Asia: Policies and recommendations. The Science of the Total Environment, 670, 1095–1102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.273