By Nurul Haziqah Abdul Halim
Pix Izwan Azman

BANGI, 20 June 2014 – The industry and academia needed to collaborate to help efforts in producing efficient, renewable and environmentally friendly energy which is the key to the future.

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnership) of The National University of Malaysia (UKM) Prof Dato’ Dr Saran Kaur Gill, addressing the 7^th ASEAN School on Renewable Energy Workshop said the people can contribute in their own way to help the country meet its commitment of reducing its carbon emissions by 40% in 2020.

Each individual can help by doing simple things like switching off the lights when leaving a room, turning off the air-conditioner when not in use and turning off the television when going out. Though these are simple and small things but they do count in the long run, she said.

The weeklong workshop held at UKM’s Puri Pujangga to discuss renewable energy ended today. It was attended by participants from Azerbaijan, Maldives, Indonesia, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.

The workshop was organised by UKM’s Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) together with The Islamic Scientific, Education and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO); United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM).

Present were SERI Director Prof Dato’ Dr Kamaruzzaman Sopian; Dr Abdelmajid Tribak, from ISESCO; Dr. Osman Benchickh, of UNESCOand Mr Ir Fam Yew Hin, from IEM.

Participants made site visits to the Advanced Solar Cell Fabrication Laboratory and the Fuel Cell Research Laboratory of UKM, the Energy Commission Diamond Building and GreenTech Malaysia GEO Building.