Monday, 14 June 2010

Energy conservation is fast becoming a trendy issue in Brunei and the government is looking to students to get the message across to the "future leaders and decision-makers".

The inaugural Energy Camp launched by the Energy Division at the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday at the Oil and Gas Discovery Centre in Seria it was hoped would inculcate the energy-saving culture among the young, who can then influence their family members and peers.

However, when The Brunei Times interviewed several of the participants of Energy Camp 2010, it was found that the students were more concerned over how the Sultanate currently uses energy and the people's attitude towards it.

The vice-president of Sayyidina Ali Secondary School's Energy Club, which was only established a few months ago and has a membership of about 10 students, said she wanted to help drive people to become more environmentally conscious.

Nurul 'Aisyah Muhd Rasyid felt that generally Bruneians were aware of the need to conserve energy, but were "not taking it seriously".

She spoke of one example of this, recalling the past Energy Day this year, when the government retracted the high subsidies on fuel at filling stations nationwide and imposed commercial rates for a single day on May 24.

"A lot of people queued up (to buy petrol and diesel) the night before which I think was an embarrassment. We have always been subsidised for everything and even a little increase (in price) and people don't want to pay," she said.

"It's just selfish. It was only for one day," she added.

Nurul 'Aisyah reminded Bruneians that the country's oil and gas reserves "will not last forever" and stressed that it was high time to "really get serious" and for more action to be taken.

The 17-year-old agreed that a change in mindset was a necessary step.

"With the luxurious life we have, it may be difficult to change but we have to change. It's not going to be like this forever," she said.

Meanwhile, her classmate and secretary of the school's Energy Club, Dk Syaza Pg Jaya remarked that energy conservation was still a relatively new concept in Brunei and thus why many among the population were unaware or misunderstood its importance.

Dk Syaza, 18, shared that she even had difficulty in getting her father to understand, especially when it came to reducing the use of air conditioning (a/c) in the household when possible.

"Many people out there don't realise what 24 hours of a/c can do to the world," she said.

Mohd Adib Alwi Jaya from Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah College (Maktab Duli) believed that Bruneians were really wasteful when it came to using energy.

"I think we're wasting energy most of the time," he said. "We need to reduce."

More so, the 16-year-old Lower Six student realised the need to strike a balance between achieving growth and conserving energy and its resources.

"We need to find (an optimum) balance between developing our country and saving energy," he said.

"If it means saving money for us, then that's the point really," he added.

Mohd Adib was part of Maktab Duli's "environmentally-friendly" club, which he said had only about 20 members and sought the opportunity to be involved and learn from his experience at Energy Camp so that he can go back to school and attract more people to join the club.

He said that by starting off and telling at least one of his friends back in school, the message of energy conservation could spread to more and more people.

"In the end, a lot of people will know and we can save a whole lot of energy," he said. "In the time to come they will be aware and it will be (everybody's) priority".

"If Japan and Singapore can be so efficient then why can't we? We have the potential," he added, referring to a statement made during the launch of Energy Camp 2010 that said that Brunei's energy intensity was five times higher than Japan's, and twice as high as Singapore's.

A member of the "enviro-group" at the Sultan Muhamad Jamalul Alam (SMJA) Secondary School, Dk Siti Basyirah Pg Hj Husairi joined the energy Camp voluntarily saying she was keen to learn more about oil and gas.

In particular, the 12-year-old said that she had always wondered about the fire that rose out from the refinery towers, which she would see every time she went to Belait.

"I've always wondered how much pollution it gives out and how much we are doing to save the environment," she said.

Being frank, she remarked that she herself would remember to save energy by switching off lights and other practices only when she was "in the right mood". But Siti Basyirah understood that it was her's and her generation's responsibility to do so.

Nearly 80 students from the Energy Clubs or related associations of 19 schools nationwide took part in the three-day, two-night camp, which concluded yesterday (Sunday).

By Ubaidillah Masli
Courtesy of The Brunei Times