Cleaning and Greening Indonesian Energy and Transport

Electric vehicles are Great! But are only as clean its source of electricity.

Hi Steemians, I have already introduced myself but I will do so again here in what is my second post.

An enormous coal fired power station

Who am I?

My name is Mark and I live in Bali, Indonesia. I am interested in renewable energy, especially in Indonesia. I believe the current crypto-currency craze holds as much potential for mass surveillance as it does liberation, and I have a special affection for cycling and electric vehicles. 😊

Therefore, when I saw two short, interesting articles in two days referring to political commitments to renewable energy and the potential for an uptick in Electric Vehicle use in Indonesia I felt compelled to pass it on to Team Steemian. I hope some of you share my passion for these issues.

Urbanisation is Here to Stay

Urbanisation, or the movement of people from rural areas in to cities is a trend that has been going on more or less continuously since the dawn of the industrial age. It is not going to stop or reverse. Cities are big, and getting bigger. Jakarta alone accounts for 70% of the Indonesian GDP.

There are many reasons for this and many benefits, mostly relating to efficiency and convenience:

• There is increasing economic activity occurring in cities and non-skilled jobs elsewhere decrease

• As cities become better managed, and governments become more responsive to people the negative aspects of city living such as congestion are being addressed.

• It is more efficient on a ‘services per person per area’ perspective to service cities than thinly populated rural areas – be it water services, internet and telephony, health services, education and even bulk commodities like food.

• Cultural institutions and organisations can attract the attention of more ‘eyeballs’ in cities than in smaller towns, leading to vibrant city ‘culture’ compared to more traditional, ‘conservative’ rural areas.

Cities are ‘cool’ and efficient. But they are also potentially dirty and congested

We are not destined to live in cities like this - we have a choice

Two of the main challenges of planning for larger and larger cities are energy, and transportation

And the symptoms of poor planning, for both, are pollution and congestion. Energy and transportation are rightly considered jointly. Much of the energy needs of a city is expended in transportation of goods and people.

Hence at first blush electric vehicles (EVs) are such an attractive proposition. They emit no harmful exhausts, and they are so quiet that when used en masse they increase public amenity by decreasing noise pollution. However, before we fork out big bucks for and plug in our EV we should be asking, ‘where does the electricity come from?’

For Indonesia this question has been posed and answered very well by the World Resources Institute. Please see below.

http://www.wri.org/blog/2017/10/electric-vehicles-be-green-heroes-indonesia-needs-greener-grid

The increasing demand for EVs are prompting calls for governments everywhere, especially those responsible for famously congested cities like Jakarta to peel back a layer of the energy/transportation onion and demand a greener grid.

And a step in the right direction was recently announced by the Indonesian Energy and Mineral resources minister Ignasius Jonan. As per media reports (link below) the Indonesian Government has committed to no new coal powered power stations on the most heavily populated (and hence congested, and polluted) island of Java.

“Indonesia is committed to a target to increase the renewable portion of the energy mix to 23 percent by 2025 from about 12 percent at present, and expects to reach 18 percent in the next three years, Jonan said.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/indonesia-power-coal/no-new-coal-power-stations-in-java-indonesia-energy-minister-says-idUSL4N1MN4ZI

The commitment to increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix to the gradual increase in numbers of EVs is a great example of treating transport and energy as different aspects of the same problem. The future is potentially bright (and clean) in Indonesia, but we must not be complacent. :-)