National Climate Change Strategy call for consultation

The Singapore government was calling for a public consultation on the National Climate Change Strategy. I managed to squeeze in my response around midnight on 30 Sep. Here's what I wrote :

Q7 Should Singapore want to stimulate demand for alternative energy such as solar and biofuels in Singapore, what policies should Singapore consider?

- Implement grid-tie regulations/legislation to allow homeowners to push solar-generated electricity back to the grid, which bypasses the need for expensive battery storage

- Implement a surcharge to electricity tariffs to fund development of alternative energy sources

- In addition to wind and solar, consider also all other options especially baseload-capable sources - eg nuclear, ocean tidal and ocean thermal, universal geothermal, etc, and educate the population about the pros and cons of each

- Let consumers "vote with their dollars", via indicating their choice of alternative energy source(s) they will support via their "alternative energy surcharge", and/or by allowing them to bid for alternative electricity sources when residential users are brought into the energy market

Q28 What new measures might be considered to promote cleaner energy and energy efficiency in the transport sector?

- Review LTA's 3% traffic growth rate, vehicle population cannot grow at 3% per annum forever

- Increase ERP rates until demand destruction is observed (traffic volume decreases and is kept down for a sustained period, not just initial few days)

- Adjust formula to make road tax increase even more (exponentially) for every 100 cc in engine displacement, force owners to consider carefully when upgrading cars

- Increase green vehicle rebate, eg Civic and Prius hybrids are in the budget range of 2.0L cars, adjust rebate till they are within the 1.6-1.8L budget range

- Consider a strategy to implement infrastructure for recharging of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, eg Cashcard-based overnight recharging stations in carparks

- Make engine idling for vehicles stopped for more than 2-3 min illegal, enforce similar to parking violations (hit errant drivers with 2 summons for both emissions and parking offences)

- Implement mandatory annual emissions inspections for diesel commercial vehicles, consider non-conformant vehicles as hazards and impound them until owners rectify emissions problems, business owners will think twice about failing these tests

- Let public spot vehicles with obvious smoky tailpipe emissions and report them immediately for enforcement action

- Encourage cycling : put up more bicycle stands at MRT stations, bus interchanges. Put up bicycle stands in common areas on each floor of HDB flats. Widen existing footpaths to accommodate bicycle traffic alongside pedestrians (cheaper and safer than dedicated bicycle lanes along roads)

- As suggested by investment bank CEO Matt Simmons, switch over movement of cargo and containers to electric railway lines, instead of diesel-burning trucks. Set up a cargo railway network between strategic nodes such as PSA, Jurong area, and Woodlands causeway.

Well, that's all I could think of at the time. What do you think?

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