(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- The 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change helped try solve one world problem, but it also created another one for Asia. Developing nations in Asia are the ones who are most in need of energy.
So this raised the question: How can you reduce emissions while continuing to develop?
Experts at Shell's Make The Future Singapore 2017' forum tried to answer this question. The forum was held from March 16-19 under the theme, 'Cleaner Energy Moves Asia'. After Singapore the event will head to Detroit and then London.
Officials are trying to at once make fossil fuels more efficient while at the same time looking at other sources.
John Abbott, Shell. Downstream Director said that while mainly Western OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) countries demand for energy will rise by 18 per cent from 2012-2040, that by countries outside OECD will rise by 71 per cent.
In the event's exhibition hall, excited school children ran around from one station to another. Instructors demonstrated how kinetic energy can be transferred to another source, or how a toy car can be powered by salt water.
It's building awareness to a generation who will inherit a world more in need of energy, but as of now unsure how it will be provided.
Officials have agreed that it's up to the government, private sector and consumers to work together.
The government must fund research, companies must improve technology, and the public must begin to value, and get value from, renewable energy.
'Changes in energy use will need to happen in virtually every part of society in which we operate, in which we live,' Abbott said at the opening ceremony. 'Ideas actually mean very little unless they're implemented. We need innovators collaborating with businesses, with governments, to turn those ideas into a true reality.'
The government can drive change, something Singaporean deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said his country is committed to.
'We are incentivising investments in energy efficiency, in clean energy, including introducing a carbon tax,' he said.
Mark Gainsborough, executive vice president for New Energies, Shell is convinced that in order for Asian countries to meet their targets, a scheme to trap and store carbon is unavoidable.
He also said power grids have to be reimagined to incorporate renewable energy sources.
Gainsborough's recently-created position is a testament to just how far traditional oil and gas companies have gone.
'We know have to get by the middle of this century to net zero carbon emissions. That is one of the biggest challenges the human race has ever faced,' he said.
But Shell also has its own preferred method: LNG. Gas may be a fossil fuel, but Shell says it releases 40 per cent less emissions than coal. Now they are trying to see just how far it can go to becoming a fuel for cars.
'Gas will play a very important role as well in transport,' Abbott said.
But 'Make the Future' is not limited to just one concept. Hydrogen fuel cell company Linde is displaying bicycles that run on hydrogen.
Thomas Schaefer, marketing manager said hydrogen needs the infrastructure like refilling stations, to become feasible.
Shell is developing its own 'concept car', a three-seater running on natural gas that produces 34 per cent less emissions than other city cars.
And at the forum's main event, the Eco-marathon, students proved just how efficient a vehicle can be.
It's all about maximising the reach of human engineering.
Car sales demand may peak
Mark Gainsborough, executive vice president for New Energies, Shell said car sales may reach their peak within the next ten years due to the rise of car sharing.
'You see even the big auto manufacturers realising these sort of shared economies models are going to have a big impact on their business. Peak auto sales is probably in the next ten years, because there's going to be so much better utilisation of vehicles in the future,' he said at the Powering Progress Together Forum at Make the Future Singapore 2017 held recently.
He said car sharing models was a positive step towards reducing emissions.
'I think with a lot of the connected customer concepts, the big win is that they tremendously improve the sort of economic efficiency of the system. Connected customer applications in the mobility space are going to radically impact probably both energy mobility but also the auto sector as well,' he said.
3D printing
Officials are trying to improve energy efficiency, but another solution can come from removing the need for transportation altogether.
And that can be through 3D printing, which is revolutionising the way things are made.
'Imagine a world where there are no warehouses, there are no large manufacturing sites anywhere in the world, but basically 3D printing shops,' said Koh Kong Meng, general manager and managing director for HP Inc SEATH-K, overseeing HP's operations in Southeast Asia.
'I mean it could be down the street from your house, it could be in a larger location somewhere else, maybe in a shopping mall, that anytime you wanted a product or a spare part, go online, order it, and in a couple of hours or in a few hours or a few days, it could be printed and delivered right to your doorstep, or you could go and pick it up yourself.'
This could greatly reduce transportation costs, which officials said is responsible for one fourth of world energy use and one fifth of CO2
emissions.
Meng was speaking at the Powering Progress Together Forum at Make The Future Singapore 2017.
'Those would ensure tremendous savings in terms of both energy as well as consumption of resources, be it in transportation, be it in storage of materials, it could potentially change the way we live and work and play and as a result have a huge consequence on our energy consumption,' he said.
The technology is still improving, but has already shown results.
In fact, a team from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore participated in the Eco-marathon with a 3D printed car.
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