Petaling Jaya, 30 April 2013

Selected schools in Peninsular Malaysia will receive solar panel system worth RM1.2 million from AEON Environmental Foundation, in a joint collaboration initiative between Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHa) and AEON Malaysia.

Spearheaded by AEON Environmental Foundation, solar power systems will be installed in schools to increase awareness of renewable energy source among the local residents and also to be used as educational materials by the students to learn about the environment.

“We have been providing solar power systems to junior high schools in Japan since 2009, and have successfully implemented the system in 15 schools. Moving forward, we decided to expand the initiative to other Asian countries with Malaysia being the first,” said Takuya Okada, President of AEON Environmental Foundation at the handover ceremony at SMK Damansara Jaya.

“With the solar power systems, we hope to reduce the dependant of using non-renewable energy in building and for everyone to be aware and understand its impact towards the environment,” he further added.

SMK Damansara Jaya was the first school to receive the solar power system, and installations in the selected schools are expected to be completed by this year. The schools were selected because they are based in the heart of the urban community and hence more susceptible to the perspective of a sustainable energy system. The handover ceremony was witnessed by Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui, Minister of KeTTHa, and His Excellency Shigeru Nakamura, the ambassador of Japan.

By introducing the solar system, AEON Environmental Foundation hopes to promote the use of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) as renewable energy source and reducing carbon emission. BIPV was first introduced in Malaysia in 2005 when KeTTHa was looking out for a sustainable energy system to enable Malaysians to be more energy-efficient and to better utilize renewable energy resources. Since then the ministry has been working with private and industry sectors to introduce BIPV to Malaysians, and today marks a special day as they are now moving into educating and exposing the younger generation on renewable energy source and green technology.