PARTI Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) opined that Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) could do more to ensure Malaysia has more sources of renewable energy (RE) to reduce the country’s carbon emission.
“Petronas needs to do more for our environment without waiting for the Government regulations to kick-in, such adopting higher Euro Fuel Standards for petrol and diesel.
“The Government mandates petrol and diesel to comply to Euro-4M and Euro-5, respectively. The higher the Euro fuel standards, the lower the sulfur content in its fuel sold at the petrol stations.
“Subsequently, it will reduce sulfur dioxide released from vehicles. Petronas has the financial and technical resources to adopt higher fuel standards to reduce air pollutions,” its central committee member Sharan Raj told FocusM.
Yesterday, Bernama reported that Petronas and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) were in collaboration on developing hydrogen energy, which has yielded positive outcomes since the tie-up began in July 2019.
The two parties are looking into the production of hydrogen gas from water through electrolysis technology, covering five areas – bipolar plate design, membrane electrode assembly, coating materials, construction materials and economy of scale.
It believed that hydrogen can be a zero-carbon power source; one that could power the world in a much greener manner if produced economically.
“UKM’s existing capabilities, fused with Petronas’ industrial knowledge, have become a springboard for the latter’s goal to become an end-to-end competitive green hydrogen solutions provider,” the report said.
Still high in carbon emissions
Touching on the matter, Sharan welcomed Petronas-UKM tie-up to develop hydrogen technology, which leads to better hydrogen yield with lower power consumption.
However, he added that the national oil company needs to do more for the environment.
On the technology, the PSM leader said that hydrogen is a type of energy-storage medium and not a source of fuel.
“Hydrogen is a good alternative as combustible-material and chemical-feedstock but is only considered environmentally friendly only if produced from clean RE.
“Hydrogen does not emit carbon, but the production of hydrogen from fossil-methane (gas) produces carbon,” Sharan mentioned.
Citing the Malaysia’s 3rd Biennal Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (M’sia 3rd BUR-UNFCCC), Petronas’ operations contributed about 8.3% of the national carbon emission in 2016.
He noted that the carbon emissions came from flaring, venting, refineries, liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals and gas pipelines operations, which largely comes under Petronas jurisdictions.
“The net carbon emission for Malaysia in 2016 was +22.5%. Therefore, eliminating carbon emission from O&G operations will erase one third of Malaysia’s net emission.
“And that will bring Malaysia closer toward net-zero-emission by 2025 itself,” Sharan remarked. – July 12, 2021.
