Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour : TNB Records 550 MW Drop in Consumption

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is pleasantly surprised by the support and appreciation demonstrated by many of its customers on the worldwide Earth Hour campaign last Saturday, 28 March 2009.

"Electricity consumption dipped by 550 Megawatt (MW) which is equivalent to about 14 million fluorescent bulbs (40 watt each)," said TNB President/Chief Executive Officer, Dato' Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh.

During the one hour period of the energy conservation initiative (8.30 pm - 9.30 pm) TNB staff were extra vigilant in case any untoward operational difficulty occurs.

"Everything went on very smoothly and we were able to respond to the slightly lower demand without any operational glitch," said Che Khalib.

Demand peaked up almost rapidly at 9.30 pm to follow the normal Saturday evening demand pattern, he said.

"While this minor fall in demand will result in a slight shaving of our revenues, we accept that Earth Hour is for a good cause," added Che Khalib.

Imagine the saved energy's impact onto the carbon emission from the power plants. How many kgs of carbon did we save?

Congratulations to all Malaysians for showing that we do care for the ENVIRONMENT !

Global Warming

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A huge 19 square mile (55 square km) ice shelf in Canada's northern Arctic broke away last month and the remaining shelves have shrunk at a "massive and disturbing" rate, the latest sign of accelerating climate change in the remote region, scientists said on Tuesday.
They said the Markham Ice Shelf, one of just five remaining ice shelves in the Canadian Arctic, split away from Ellesmere Island in early August. They also said two large chunks totaling 47 square miles had broken off the nearby Serson Ice Shelf, reducing it in size by 60 percent.
"The changes ... were massive and disturbing," said Warwick Vincent, director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec.
Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen far faster than the global average in recent decades, a development that experts say is linked to global warming.
"These substantial calving events underscore the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic," said Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario.
"These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for thousands of years are no longer present," he said in an e-mailed statement from the research team sent late on Tuesday.
Mueller said the total amount of ice lost from the shelves along Ellesmere Island this summer totaled 83 square miles -- more than three times the area of Manhattan island.
The figure is more than 10 times the amount of ice shelf cover that scientists estimated on July 30 would vanish from around the island this summer.
"Reduced sea ice conditions and unusually high air temperatures have facilitated the ice shelf losses," said Luke Copland of the University of Ottawa.




BLEAK FUTURE


"Extensive new cracks across remaining parts of the largest remaining ice shelf, the Ward Hunt, mean that it will continue to disintegrate in the coming years," he said.
The first sign of serious recent erosion in the five shelves came in late July, when sheets of ice totaling almost eight square miles broke off the Ward Hunt shelf. Since then that shelf has lost another 8.5 square miles
.
Ellesmere Island was once home to a single enormous ice shelf totaling around 3,500 square miles. All that is left of that shelf today are the four much smaller shelves that together cover little more than 300 square miles
.
Scientists say the ice shelves, which contain unique ecosystems that had yet to be studied, will not be replaced because they took so long to form.
The rapid melting of ice in the Canadian Arctic archipelago worries Ottawa, which fears foreign ships might try to sail through the waters without seeking permission first.
Last week Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada would toughen reporting requirements for ships entering its waters in the Far North, where some of those territorial claims are disputed by the United States and other countries.
(Editing by Alan Elsner)
Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Massive Landslide

During the holidays, I was priviledged to get to follow a group of geologists on their field trip to study a site of a landslide. The landslide was located at Fraser's Hill. It was so massive it measures 1.3 kilometres long and it cuts through 2 roads located in its path which was The Gap - Fraser's Hill road and Kuala Kubu Bharu - Raub road.

Get the sense of its enormity?

The landslide cuts through the earth like melted butter.

During a landslide, the usually hard soil will assume a liquid form. That's why the path follows te earth's contour.

The top end of the landslide.

The Gap - Fraser's Hill Road

Completely cut off.

The scar runs so deep. (this picture was taken from the tip of the collapsed road section)

The KKB - Raub Road that is situated in the middle span of the landslide which sustained a heavy damage and the huge boulders being deposited there. (note that only half of the bridge remained intact. the other half had been carried away by the landslide all the way to to the bottom)

This boulder measures as big as a trailer head. (on top of the boulder you can see that the bedrock being exposed by the landslide)

Water gushing down from the ruins of the bridge.

Workers are busy repairing damaged road section.

And some more pictures that I don't think I need to explain .

According to the geologists, the landslide was triggered at just below The Gap-Fraser's Hill new road due to poor irigation of the stream on the site. It then pulls together the road section and deposited them all 1.3 kilometres away in a river down the hill.

MAHA 1st visit

Yesterday me and my friends Alwyn, Qayyum and Rizwan went to the Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Show 2008 held in Mardi grounds just nearby from our place. We went there on the first hour it was opened to public.

From left: Alwyn, Arechong and Qayyum upon arrival at the main gate and tram terminal.

They projected Pak Lah's speech from inside the convention hall but no one's watching.

Nice vegetable pergola

Another view of the vege pergola

"Petola" on the Pergola

Bitter gourd and winter melon (kundur) being planted on the pergola

Salad Column

Rock melon

Beautifully decorated edible garden

Forest Destruction at Its Worst

Last weekend, I went on a work trip to Hutan Simpanan Kekal Raja Musa (Raja Musa Permanent Forest Reserve) in Batang Berjuntai, Selangor.

The only thing that is left to remind the people that this area used to be a forest reserve.

A single tree in the middle of nowhere.

A bulldozer

nothingnness

A Message From the Past...

Today, while I was wandering aimlessly in the vast cyberspace, I stumbled upon a video from way back in time. To be exact, from the year 1981. It is actually a music video performed by a hit musical group of that time, Boney M and the song is entitled We Kill the World...




This could be a clear evidence that the effort to save our planet earth has been going on since the 80's or maybe earlier.

Go Green Malaysian Way!!

Click to enlarge.


The picture shows what Al Gore said about 10 simple things to do to help stop global warming.


While most of what he said is really going to have an impact if done in a global scale, some of the steps might not be applicable here in our beloved country Malaysia as we don't use thermostat in our houses and the lousy public transportation means that we will always be late no matter where our destination is. Anyway, what he presented in the picture above is based on his background living in the United States and it is made for his American folks.


So here is my version of the 10 simple steps to top up the ones presented by Al Gore to suit the lifestyles of us Malaysians.

1. Just say, "Tak payah plastik", whenever you go shopping.

• Bring your own 'Tote Bag' (or shopping bag or just simply a used plastic bag tucked in the boot of your car) whenever you go shopping.
• Refuse to receive plastic bags (especially small ones which would usually end up in the garbage bins and not reused) if you buy things in a small quantity that you can hold in your hand (e.g. 1loaf of bread or 1 can of pet food).
• If you shop at a hypermarket, try to reduce the amount of plastic bags used by using the ‘paid’ sticker instead of multiple bags for bulky items such as rice, watermelons and other stuffs.

2. Have the habit to switch off the lights after you use them.

• This is a habit usually stressed by the older generation especially those who were born before the electricity comes to Malaysia.
• They did that because they really appreciate the electricity that lights their house and doesn't want it to just go to waste.

So turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!

3. If you can't turn it off, put a timer to it.

• Installing a timer is a good way to save on electricity. It doesn’t have to be the expensive built-in ones. The cheap one that you can get at most hypermarkets would do. You can get one for as cheap RM 12. (Also sold at IKEA for about the same price).
• A properly set timer allows the light to be turned on and off at the designated time. This saves electricity as it only turns on at certain times instead of the whole day especially when no one is at around. This is ideal for those who travel frequently.
• The timer also adds the sense of security to the house by mimicking the action of turning the lights on and off as if someone is in the house.

4. Drive less.

• Walk, bike, carpool or take public transport more often. You'll save 1.5kg of carbon dioxide for every 5km you don't drive!

5. If you really can’t live without driving, drive sensibly.

• If you don’t believe me you can try it by yourself.
• Driving at 130 km/h consumes ¼ more fuel than at the speed of 100 km/h.
• Avoid hard acceleration as it puts a huge burden on your engine.

6. Eat less meat or just be a vegetarian.

• It is estimated that farming produces 15% of the world’s greenhouse gasses.
• The 1.3 billion cattle farmed throughout the world can produce over 100 million tonnes of methane in a year!

7. Plant trees or build a garden

• Malaysia is blessed with the tropical climate which means that trees can grow rapidly without much care and can be planted all year round.
• We are also blessed with a vast variety of trees and plants that are suitable to grow in the hot climate.
• A single tree will absorb one tonne of carbon dioxide over its lifetime
• Gardens can be made at almost every corner around the house as long as there is sunlight.
• A small plant absorbs less carbon dioxide than a tree but it does help.
• Plus, it’s a very healthy past time too.

8. Save rainwater

• Malaysia receives a lot of rain in a year but most urban rainfall is wasted into the storm sewer.
• It didn’t get into the ground water system causing flash floods above the ground.
• Saving rainwater have many benefits towards the environment.
• It puts fewer burdens onto the storm sewer.
• The water can be used for washings and to water plants.
• It causes less dependency on the tap water thus causing less burden to the water treatment plant.

9. Take short showers instead of a bath.

• Showers use less water than a bath-tub.
• Use a shower head with fewer and smaller holes that jets out water.
• This enables you to have tour shower quicker and saves more water.

10. Pee in the sink... ( I totally have a rational reason behind this!!)

• This might sound crazy and is strictly for males.
• If you have an option between a urinal and a flushed toilet, go for the urinal.
• At home, opt to use the sink instead!
• The reason behind the suggestion is simply because it uses much less water to thoroughly clean the sink than to flush the toilet.
• It uses an average of 500 ml to 1 litre of water to clean the sink while flushing uses at least 4 gallon if water (equivalent to 15.14 litres).
• That would be a savings of 14.14 litres of water for every visit to the toilet.
• Imagine that you visit the toilet (to pass out urine) 3 times a day. You’ll save 15483.3 litres of water per year.