Article: Lighting up

Tuesday June 2, 2009

EACH time Gregers Reimann returns to Denmark, tucked inside his suitcase amongst gifts for family and friends back home is a small bag of used batteries. Never mind that the batteries are classified as hazardous waste which, if one goes by the books, should not leave Malaysia. Reimann, worried that the chemicals-laden batteries would be wantonly dumped, chose to take them home.

"I couldn't bring myself to throw them away since there is no proper disposal for batteries in Malaysia. So I stored them and brought them back to Copenhagen where they would be properly disposed of," says the energy-efficiency consultant. Now even friends and colleagues pass him their old batteries.

"Smuggling" batteries is just one of Reimann's green tendencies; he also cycles to work, uses electricity sparingly, carts around his own shopping bag, shops minimally and kick-started recycling at his condominium.

"In Denmark, recycling is ingrained in us but when I moved here over four years ago, I found it strange that there is little recycling," says Reimann, 34. And so he put up recycling boxes in the common corridor of his floor and invited his neighbours to use them.

Environment-conscious: Gregers Reimann set up a recycling station outside his apartment and invited his neighbours to use the bins.

That small step has since grown into a bigger recycling scheme after Reimann and another resident convinced the apartment management to provide recycling bins on all 24 floors of the highrise in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

"I was not aware until recently that the cleaners already sort through our rubbish for recyclables. By putting proper recycling bins in the rubbish rooms, it will be easier for them," says Reimann, who intends to share this approach to recycling with other apartment dwellers.

With a background in energy engineering and experience in energy-efficient buildings, Reimann has a few tricks to keep his monthly electricity bill low – it's only about RM40. He changed all the incandescent light bulbs in his rented furnished dwelling to energy-saving compact fluorescent ones. When the air-conditioner had to be replaced, he requested that his landlord install one that uses inverter technology but in turn was asked to pay the price difference of RM300. "That's fine as I benefit from lower electricity bills," says Reimann,

He never leaves electrical equipment on standby mode as this still uses electricity. He calculates that all the electricals in his home – TV, DVD player, Astro decoder, Jaring wireless, wireless phone and router, and music system – when left on standby mode, still collectively consume 50 watts of electricity at any one time. This "phantom power" adds up to 438 kilowatt hour a year and will cost him about RM130 in electricity bill and worse, 298kg of carbon dioxide.

To turn off all the power points, he uses remote control switches. These are convenient, especially for power points located in hard to reach places, such as behind the TV cabinet.

Reimann points out that energy is heavily subsidised in Malaysia. "Some 40% of your electricity bill is already paid for by the Government. When you make energy cheap, people don't care about it and that leads to wastage."

He reckons that his field of energy efficiency puts him in good stead to change things for the better. His company IEN Consultants was involved in the Zero Energy Office building.

"Working in Malaysia is particularly interesting. It's virgin territory (for energy efficiency)," says Reimann.

His company's flexible working hours allows him to work from home and even to clock in later, so he is not caught in traffic jams, and this saves energy. He uses his company-provided car only for long commutes, preferring to cycle some 10km to his office in Bangsar almost every day.

"I get to exercise and reduce my carbon footprint at the same time. When I was working in Copenhagen, I cycled 30km to and from work. Cycling here is fairly safe because Malaysian drivers are used to looking out for motorbikes. In Los Angeles (where he used to work), there are no cyclists or motorbikes so they don't look out for us. It is more dangerous to cycle there."

At the office, Reimann has designed the lighting such that the electricity bill for the 200sqm space is a mere RM26 a month. That bill excludes air-conditioning, which is covered by the building owner. "When we moved in, we deliberately designed the office for daylighting. So we need to turn on the lights only around 5pm or 6pm."

Measures used to light the office naturally include reflective blinds and a sloping white ceiling to reflect light inwards. The work stations are placed near windows to tap natural light, whereas book shelves and corridors are located at the centre of the office since lower lighting is needed. All 13 staff work on laptops which are five times more energy-efficient than desktop computers. Also, the water dispenser and other electricals are turned off at night.

After learning about the huge carbon footprints resulting from meat production, Reimann now reaches more for the salads rather than the beef during meals. He admits to one weakness, though: travelling. To make amends, he neutralises the carbon emissions from his flights by purchasing offsets from Atmosfair, a German company that invests in renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects.

"These contribute to real carbon dioxide reductions and help develop the Third World at the same time." Last May, when he returned to Copenhagen, he paid €179 to balance out the 7,760kg of carbon dioxide equivalent spewed from the flight.

He has never owned a car but if he does buy one, it will be an electric car which is clean and emits no fumes. And, of course, he harbours dreams of building his own energy-efficient home.

He owes his green leanings to his upbringing. "It's a responsibility towards human beings and future generations that we don't destroy Earth but preserve it and keep it liveable." – By Tan Cheng Li

This article was taken from:The Star Online: Go Green Live Green 2 June 2009