BRUNEI can do more to realise “a green-minded society” as a norm rather than just a vision, said Green Brunei Community Engagement Director Khairunissa Ash’ari.
“Manila has shown us that, as population increases drastically, demand for industrial development rises; more cars on the road and buildings being built,”said Khairunnisa, who recently attended the Green Leaders Youth Energy Summit (GLYES) 2013 at De La Salle University, Manila to share knowledge on developing a green future.
Brunei is considered lucky to have a number of government and non-governmental organisations that conduct environmental programmes, she said, however, there is still room for improvement.
“There are a lot of areas we should be looking into to ensure that our air stays clean and our environment stays green.”
She hoped that the trip to GLYES 2013, which was sponsored by Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, would help in providing capacity-building resources for Green Brunei to develop future projects that are focused on clean energy.
Green Brunei is a non-profit organisation that promotes environmental education and awareness.
The GLYES 2013 is the second youth energy summit following the first summit that was held in March 2011.
Themed “Towards an Energy Efficient and Sustainable Future”, the summit aimed to raise awareness and to build up consciousness on the issues and developments on energy economics and security, as well as environmental impacts.
Speakers from government departments, NGOs, research institutions and private companies were invited to talk about various topics such as nano coat anti-heat solution and development in solar panel technology.
In terms of policy, government representatives gave an overview of policy mechanisms such as feed-in tariffs (FIT) and net metering, referring to methods by which energy companies compensate homeowners who feed energy back into the grid, for example, through solar panels.
Youth speakers from different organisations spoke about youth leadership and youth-led campaigns in the Philippines.
Some of the topics at the summit included “Climate Change and Clean Energy Project” by USAID; “Promoting Renewable Energy: Regulatory Framework and Policy Direction” by the Renewable Energy Association of the Philippines; “Essence of Green Designs” by Green Architecture Advocacy and “National Framework Strategy on Climate Change” by the Climate Change Commission.
The summit also aimed at opening an environment bridge for youth, private sector, academic institutions and government to collaborate in developing a sustainable energy sector.
Source: The Brunei Times