Archive for July 26th, 2011

2011 Global Sustainability Summer School gets underway

The 2011 Global Sustainability Summer School that is currently being organised by the UBD-IBM Centre – a joint cooperation between Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and International Business Machines (IBM) – is the first of its kind in Asia. It is being held in conjunction with UBD’s 25th anniversary and to celebrate the centennial year of IBM as a corporation.

The opening of the 2011 Global Sustainability Summer School was officiated by the guest of honour, Dr Awg Haji Junaidi bin Haji Abdul Rahman, the Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education, yesterday.

The programme, which is focused on technology for sustainability, will conclude on July 30.

The 2011 Global Sustainability Summer School aims to provide a unique opportunity for students and speakers across the globe to engage each other in addressing the challenge of applying and adapting broader principles of sustainability to locale-specific solutions.

Speakers were invited from US, Australia, India and the Netherlands, to highlight issues specific to the Asia-Pacific region. Participants of the two-week programme comprise those from Brunei, US, UK, Canada, France, Romania, Sweden, New Zealand, India and Singapore, as well as researchers from leading colleges and universities from across the world, including the Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, USA, where the previous Global Sustainability Summer School programme was conducted.

During their time in Brunei, the participants will be making visits to the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre (KBFSC) to explore and experience firsthand the lush rainforests and to learn the biodiversity of the rainforest.

Besides the Tenaga Suria Brunei Photovoltaic Power Generation Demonstration Project in Seria, they will also visit the Gadong Fish Market to learn more about the seafood chain.

According to Dr Awang Saiful Azmi bin Haji Awang Husain, the Deputy-Director of UBD-IBM Centre and chairman of yesterday’s event, UBD-IBM will also be organising two symposia themed “Sustaining Green Environment For Better Future”, aimed at attracting academicians, students, individuals, as well as officials from the government and private sectors within the country and beyond.

It is understood that there would be a one-day embedded workshop on “Industrial Innovation: Balancing Business and Biodiversity” today focusing on sustaining industrial innovation projects (ie green building) by taking into account business issues, biodiversity, as well as environmental policies.

Meanwhile, the Director of Research at IBM Corporation in India, Manish Gupta, yesterday encouraged Bruneian students to pursue a research career and that the outcome of the 2011 Global Sustainability Summer School programme would be “very good collaborations”.

Yesterday’s opening ceremony was also attended by the Vice-Chancellor of UBD, Dato Paduka Dr Haji Zulkarnain bin Haji Hanafi, as well as members of the diplomatic corp.

Since August 2007, UBD has taken steps in becoming a research-centred facility.

Collaboration between UBD and IBM was conferred by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam on September 30, 2010, during UBD’s 22nd Convocation.

Meanwhile, an agreement to collaborate on climate change on flood forecasting, crop yields, renewable energy and the health of rainforests in the region was announced globally on October 13, 2011.

In supporting this vision, UBD has acquired an IBM Blue Gene (BG/P) supercomputer, the first of its kind in the Southeast Asia (Asean) region, to provide high performance computing power for the collaborative work.

At present, the UBD-IBM Centre is focused on an extensive, interdisciplinary collaborative research with IBM Research Labs in India, NY/USA (Watson) and Brazil on these cutting-edge “Smarter Planet” modelling topics using high-performance computing facilities at UBD.

2011
07/26
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Brunei committed to a ‘Greener’ future

The practice of environmental stewardship is now almost a way of life in Brunei Darussalam, where corporate entities have sponsored and funded useful work for the environment, winning awards for energy management and reducing their carbon footprint.

Furthermore, waste minimisation programmes have also been introduced, such as the ‘No Plastic Bag Weekend’ initiative and the beverage carton recycling programmes at businesses and schools.

This observation was made by Dr Awg Haji Junaidi bin Haji Abdul Rahman, the Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education, during the opening of the 2011 Global Sustainability Summer School yesterday.

According to him, sustainability is also about making sure all businesses, public services, natural resources, economy and communities have the capacity to continue into the future.

One such challenge in environmental sustainability is when trees have to be felled for buildings, thus affecting the ecosystem. Fifty per cent of Brunei Darussalam’s land have been designated as reserved areas under the ‘Heart of Borneo’ (HoB) Scheme, whereby excluding those for agricultural and other uses, only five per cent is available for development, thus creating space constraints for the construction of residential properties, he said.

In light of this, a modelling research (ie climate change modelling or systems dynamic modelling) is crucial to find the most cost-effective solutions to scientific problems, providing research and innovative technology applications to tackle sustainable issues, he added.

Other problems affecting sustainability issues include the development of houses, whereby with any housing schemes, comes the problem of water, drainage and waste which can further compound the environmental degradation if left without proper management and control.

“As more and more people enter the job market, the need for transportation increases and without a good, reliable public transport system, it will end up by putting more cars on the roads. Car ownership, as it is, is already high in Brunei Darussalam. Apart from increasing the demand and consumption on petrol and gasoline, it also increases the carbon dioxide emission into the air,” he said. “Hence, good and well-tested models can be very effective scientific tools for tailor-made introduction of new environmental design.”

Moreover, as Brunei’s drive towards sustainable development has caught the attention of an international non-government organisation, this is indeed notable progress, he said, adding that with the opening of the largest project of its kind in Southeast Asia, the Tenaga Suria Brunei Photovoltaic Power Generation Demonstration Project, “we will be able to understand the practicalities of solar power, from identifying the most suitable photovoltaic technology for our meteorological conditions to developing technical expertise in the area”.

“If successful, the project (which is fully funded by the Mitsubishi Corporation), is expected to provide enough power to 200 homes, save some 340,000 litres of crude oil and reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 960 tonnes,” he added.

The Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam is also committing to supporting research on sustainability, he said, noting that B$50 million have been allocated in the current National Development Plan specifically to support research and development in science, where priority is given to energy, environment and sustainable development.

2011
07/26
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There’s a big fat worm in my food!

A regular diner to one of the famous restaurants in Kiulap was shocked to find a big fat worm squeezed in between a broccoli during a dinner with friends Saturday night.

Despite the bill being waived off for the dinner, the woman was rather disappointed to have endured such an experience.

“Considering the standard of this restaurant and the above average prices of the food, I was expecting an equivalent level of service. And that includes a thorough cleaning of the vegetables that are to be served,” she said.

However, she said the staff handled the situation in a professional manner and that may have been the first time such an incident has occurred.

2011
07/26
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Hamidah Ismail

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