TEEAM organised a press conference on 28th July 2012 in conjunction with the annual academic excellence awards presentation. The issues highlighted to the Press are:
Q & A session – TEEAM officials enlightening issues to the Press members.
Suitability of LED for Road Lighting
In the last few years, Light Emitting Diode (LED) has been marketed aggressively as the light source that can replace all the lamps that are now in common use, claiming that it is energy efficient, long life and green. In this time of unprecedented green movement, this has put a lot of pressure on policy makers who are obliged to reduce carbon emission and at the same time attract opportunists out to capitalize from this huge green bandwagon. However, experience with LED products for road lighting has so far been generally negative especially the long life or reliability aspect. Technical data of LED for road lighting did not indicate that LED is any more efficient than other highly efficient lamps that are much cheaper, widely used and easily available in the market. As such, involvement of government in promoting the use of LED for road lighting using public fund without proper detailed cost and benefit justification need to be reviewed urgently.
Under such circumstances, TEEAM which is in the forefront in promoting green, is taking the initiative to study the use of LED in areas of public interest. The formation of the Working Group involving all interested parties to study the suitability of LED for road lighting is one of such initiatives.
This Working Group is established to evaluate the suitability of LED light source for road lighting as this area of lighting is of immense public importance as it involves:
(a) the safety and security of road users,
(b) the use of public funds to provide, maintain and operate road lighting systems, and
(c) the environmental impact to the manufacture, distribution, use and finally disposal of lighting equipments and consumables.
This Working Group was established to study the suitability of LED light source for road lighting at this moment of its technological development, in response to the call of many stakeholders in the road lighting industry who are extremely concerned that untimely rush into the use of this technology may cost the federal government, state government, local government and highway operators, dearly in providing safe road lighting and this cost will ultimately be passed back to all Malaysians in the form of direct and indirect taxes and higher toll charges. They are also concerned that there is no proper detailed cost and benefit justification and comparison with the best of existing proven technology, thus creating an unhealthy situation that is open to abuse by unscrupulous opportunists for their own benefit at the expense of the general public.
PF Display on Electricity Bills for Commercial and Industrial Tariffs
TEEAM has conducted a study and recommended a reward system for consumers who can provide Power Factor (PF) higher than 0.90 which is 0.05 better than the minimum 0.85 stipulated in the Electricity Supply Act (1990). This proposal had been conveyed to TNB as well as Suruhanjaya Tenaga since 2010 and is still being considered by the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water.
TEEAM believes that high PF will benefit the consumers as well as the utility. The current TNB practice is to display PF only when a surcharge is applied. This is good enough to meet the tariff requirement. In view of encouraging better PF management it will be in the interest of all parties if the value of PF can be displayed on all electricity bills. This will give an indication of the PF profile of every consumer. It will also give a good indication to those installations when PF is near the borderline area and action needs to be taken to prevent low PF.
Therefore TEEAM requests TNB to display PF on all electricity bills in the commercial and industrial sectors even when there is no PF surcharge.
Energy Saving Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) Recycling Project
Energy saving compact fluorescent lamp has been popular among consumers due to its high light efficiency, low power consumption and relatively long service life. However, due to the use of mercury in the production of the lamp and the unavailability of recycling facilities, CFLs are polluting our landfills. Mercury and most of its compounds are extremely toxic. It can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin. It also enters into the environment through the improper disposal (e.g., land filling, incineration) of certain products. Given the poor waste recycling/waste separation culture in Malaysia, TEEAM has to try to reduce the contribution of mercury polluting our soil and water.
Most people are uninformed and therefore treat the energy saving lamps as regular incandescent lamps, therefore they discard the lamp as common waste. Even if users are informed of the mercury content and its dangers, Malaysia does not have the right infrastructure to recycle and deal with this mercury pollutant therefore they are forced to discard the lamp as common waste.
TEEAM is collaborating with an LED lighting company to offer new LED bulb as an incentive to encourage the public to recycle the CFLs. The collected CFLs will then be sent to Kualiti Alam to recycle the lights safely. This project aims to educate the community of the environmental issues related to the improper disposal of CFLs.
Although the provision of free LED lamp is not a sustainable long term solution, TEEAM anticipates that after the project cycle, the community will be more aware of the harm of mercury and will make the right decision to recycle the lamps instead of disposing them as common waste.
Skill Promotion
TEEAM has been appointed by the Department of Skills Development to be one of the Industry Lead Bodies (ILBs) to develop new Occupational Area Analysis (OAA) and National Occupational Skills Standard (NOSS) for the Electrical and Electronics Sector. TEEAM together with MIT Academy are promoting Skills Training Programmes among the secondary school students by organising road shows all over Malaysia. The intention is to promote the economy into higher value chain by increasing the number of skilled workers.
In TEEAM, we are conducting a 3-month full time building wiring installer course which is sponsored by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). Upon completion of the course, a skill certificate and the CIDB green card will be awarded to the trainees. The course is aimed to train more construction personnel involved in low voltage electrical wiring installation and related electrical equipment. We hope to produce tradesmen in this specialised field to support national development and industry needs. The October 2012 intake is now open for enrolment.