Energies 2011, 4, 780-803; doi:10.3390/en4050780
energies
ISSN 1996-1073
www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
Article
Cost Effective Options for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission
Reduction in the Power Sector for Developing Economies
— A Case Study in Sabah, Malaysia
Siong Lee Koh *, Yun Seng Lim and Stella Morris
Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Genting Klang, 53300,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; E-Mails: yslim@utar.edu.my (Y.S.L.); stellam@utar.edu.my (S.M.)
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: siongleek@gmail.com;
Tel.: +60-16-312-6759; Fax: +60-03-4107-9803.
Received: 1 March 2011; in revised form: 5 April 2011 / Accepted: 29 April 2011 /
Published: 4 May 2011
Abstract: With their increasing shares of global emissions developing economies are
increasingly being pressured to assume a greater role in global greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission reduction. Developed countries have invested tremendously in and proclaimed
renewable energy (RE) and associated smart power technologies as solutions to meet their
energy demands and reduce their GHG emissions at the same time. However, in the
developing economies, these technologies may not deliver the desired results because they
have their unique characteristics and priorities, which are different from those of the
developed world. Many GHG emission reduction technologies are still very expensive and
not fully developed. For the developing economies, the adoption threshold may become
very high. Therefore, the cost effectiveness and practicality of each technology in reducing
GHG emission in the developing economies may be very different from that of the
developed economies. In this paper, available RE and other GHG emission reduction
technologies are individually considered in a case study on Sabah, one of the 13 states in
Malaysia, in order to assess the effects of the individual technologies on GHG emission
and electricity cost reductions.
Keywords: sustainable development; developing country; reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions
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