September 4, 2015

Groundbreaking Webmap Scouts Renewable Energy in Malaysia

Groundbreaking Webmap Scouts Renewable Energy in Malaysia

Wind turbine by Sharon Loxton @blogspot

A one-stop online reference for assessing the potential for renewable energy in Malaysia is pointing sustainable prospectors in the direction of a bright green future.

Malaysian innovation and technology firm SIRIM came up a few years ago with a fully interactive online map that keeps track of untapped renewable energy sources in the country.  Called MYREmap, or just Remap (for Renewable Energy Map of Malaysia), the innovation won Best Green Invention at the International Invention and Technology Exhibition (ITEX) in Kuala Lumpur.

Remap contains painstakingly recorded data for nine sources of renewable energy in Malaysia.  Thermal satellite images and meteorological information were used to asses solar and wind capacity.  Almost all of Malaysia’s river systems were mapped out and their flow rate, rate of incline and area precipitation were used to chart hydropower potential.  Municipal solid waste sites, furniture mills and oil palm mills were duly noted for insight on waste energy, forest residue power and palm oil biomass energy.  Chicken farms and rice mills were inventoried for additional types of biomass renewables, and ocean level and flow data was recorded for the estimation of tidal energy.

All these measurements were taken across the whole of Malaysia and together, they provide a neat and concise library of opportunity for potential renewable energy enterprises and interested investors.

Combine this information with Malaysia’s renewable energy and green technology incentives, and there is a convincing argument for not just the savvy, but the profitability of sustainable development in Malaysia.  The country’s solar industry is booming, but other renewable sectors have yet to truly take off.  Remap is a valuable resource for these other sectors, and its information could be used to lead Malaysia away from the methods of natural resource extraction that have degraded its environment in the past.

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