Renewable energy investment will accelerate

Again I see an article with a tinch of biasness in the reporting. It's like asking someone who operates a food stall whose food is the best. Obviously they will say theirs is the best.

This instance is about energy investment. I counted no less than 2 articles today talking about the cost of oil and how it will lead to a reduction in investment in both oil and renewable energy. I was thinking, what the... What do they mean by oil and renewable energy? It's oil investment. Full-stop. In fact, I think renewable energy now will accelerate as the governments in the world will want to stop relying on an energy source that does not depend on demand, but depends on the price that it will fetch.

Reason? When they look into the problem, they forgot one most important point. Oil investments depend on your location. If you have the resource, you have the power to invest in oil. Using Singapore as an example, no matter how rich she is, she could never invest in oil because the simple fact is that Singapore has no oil.

Renewable energy is vastly different. Even Singapore's small outlying islands like Sentosa can invest in renewable energy. Recently, it finally went into Singapore's head to invest in renewable energy like solar panels because they finally understood that it has its benefits.

Most importantly, self-reliance in energy. Singapore has learned the hard way with regards to the supply of water and now Singapore is the leader in desalination technology. Why not in solar panels?

Next is the portability of solution. Some renewable energy investment like solar is not reliant on any form of natural resource except for sunlight. And sunlight is free and limitless, depending on your location.

Last but not least is the economy. Let's say Singapore becomes the leader in production of efficient solar panels. The export volume will be substantial.

All those talk about solar energy not being efficient is just people trying to talk down the technology. Just remember... The first generation of the car travels slower than the horse carriage. Look at the car now. F1 anyone?

There are other types of renewable energy like geothermal but I feel that solar still has the biggest potential. Some time back I've talked about solar panels on roof tops and this year, it has actually happened in Singapore and US. Now it's also being installed on top of cars and most recently, a ship. Efficiency of solar panels can only be improved.

Oil still has its usefulness but some people just like to hype up the importance.

Mistakes are the foundations of success

I quote from Albert Einstein:

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.


Simple, and to the point. Do not be afraid of making mistakes. Learn from it, and do not make the same mistake again.

Success will come when we earn it through the mistakes we make in achieving it.

High Tech Shavers

This is a weird post but I can't help but marvel that now, even shavers look so high-tech, and gadgetty. I've just got a Gillette Fusion, and I can't help but admire the way it is packaged. In fact, after looking at the packaging, I might mistaken it for some instrument that is meant for the space shuttle. :)

Anyway, below are some of the photos I took of the shaver so you'll know what I mean:

Shaver with the holder

Detached blade holder from the bottom

Futuristic carrier for the shaver

What are the ministers' salary benchmark to

Updated 17 Dec 2008: Salary benchmark is based on base + bonuses

For some reason or another, it went into my head to search around for the elusive formula which is used by our government to peg their salaries to the private sector.

This is what I've found out from PSD:

• For the benchmark data, only earnings of Singapore citizens, Singapore Permanent Residents, and Malaysians working in Singapore are included.
  
  
• The benchmarks are based on Principal Earned Income which has been taxed. These consist of earnings from the individual’s primary source of employment and include monthly salaries, bonuses, stock options, partnershipfees and commissions. Unearned and passive forms of income, such as dividends, rent and interest, are excluded.
  
  
• Stock options are included in the salaries of the top income earners. However, the gains from stock options vested each year are discounted by 50%. This means we only take half of the stock option gains in the current year, as current year income. This is because the amount of stock options are usually accumulated over a few years, and the gains may be quite large. Taking the total gains would cause incomes to escalate, and is not a good reflection of the actual earnings.

In fact, according to PSD in end 2007, these are the following base monthly salaries:

• President: $119,520
• Prime Minister: $115,920
• Minister/Senior Permanent Secretary: $59,760
• Entry Superscale Grade: $18,240
• Member of Parliament: $13,710

Using the example of the prime minister, his base annual salary will be less than $1.4million, not the floated $3.87 million, which will be his salary + whatever bonuses.

Now the million dollar question is... Which pay got cut? The base? Or just the bonuses? What other extras are there in the salary?

Sometimes I do not understand why the government like to shoot themselves in their own foot.

Little Information on Singapore Electricity Tariffs

I was reading a forum article today that was "admonishing" people that EMA's website has all the information about how they calculate the electricity tariffs.

So for curiosity sake, I went there to take a look. After reading for about 1 hour, I'm still clueless on the number 1 question in my mind.

What's the breakdown of Singapore's electricity tariffs and how is it calculated every 3 months?

In fact, the only linkage I have on the breakdown of the electricity tariffs was at SP Services. Even then, it's solely inadequate. According to SP Services on the electricity tariff:

1. 60% of the cost is pegged to fuel prices.
   
   
2. 80% of Singapore's power generation use comes from natural gas
   
   
3. Natural gas is pegged to fuel oil prices. As tariffs are set in advance for the next three months, the tariffs are pegged to forward fuel oil prices. Forward fuel oil prices are the actual prices which the oil market trades for fuel oil deliveries for a future period.
   
   
4. Electricity meters are read once in two months and estimated in between. Any over- or under-estimation is adjusted when the actual reading is obtained.
   
   
5. Readings will be estimated based on the last two actual readings. The difference in the actual meter readings gives the actual consumption over the two-month period. Daily average consumption is derived by dividing the actual total consumption by the number of days during this period. The daily average consumption multiplied by the number of days in the month gives the consumption for that month.

That's it! That's all the information I can gather from clicking around for 1 full hour, and it's not even at EMA's website.

Transparency of our electricity tariffs?? Like real.

Happiness II

I quote from Helen Keller:

Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.


The key point is the part about what we think and feel and do. The choice is yours if you wish to be happy or not. The choice is always yours whether you wish to be happy or not.

Always look on the bright side of life. Da da, da da da da da da.

Household saving rates going up for many countries

Based on the OECD latest forecast, I can see that out of the 20 countries listed, only 2 countries will have a slightly lower household saving rates compared with 2008. The rest are mostly significantly higher.

United States is estimated to have a household savings rate of 1.6% for 2008, and forecasted to raise to 2.8% in 2009. Some of the biggest jumps I see in the 2009 estimates is Norway, where it jumps from 2.0% to 5.2%, and Australia, where it jumps from 1.4% to 3.5%.

Note that 10% savings rate is actually what's recommended for the bare minimum.

This is the current household savings rate for 2008 for the top 5 and bottom 5 countries from OECD:

France	12.7
Switzerland	12.6
Austria	11.8
Germany	11.6
Ireland	10.6
Norway	2.0
United States	1.6
Australia	1.4
Denmark	-1.9
Finland	-2.7

Feeling tired

I'm really feeling very tired. Most of the responsibility is weighing on my shoulders. I'm really tempted to give up right here, right now.

I'm not in the position to decide.
I cannot influence the decision to be made.
I'm in no position to deliver based on the resources I have, and the timeline given.

No one is listening to me that to deliver, you really need to apply PMI 101.
Quality, Time and Scope is a triangle. When one increases, the other will correspondingly increase. That's the very basic! And yet...

This is the worst Dec I ever had in my life. I'm just so tired.

Why Singapore no fiscal stimulus?

I still do not understand the logic behind Singapore in not giving a fiscal stimulation to the economy. They kept emphasizing on the leakage but there's some important points which they miss out.

If we're given vouchers to buy goods and services, they are in actual fact preventing unemployment because the companies will be able to clear away their inventory, and yet keep people employed.

If we're kept employed, there won't be problems of people not being able to make their mortgage payments and our necessities. Most of us will just need to scale down on our luxuries.

Forget the leakage... It's no more about leaking money out but in keeping people employed. If people are employed, people still have the power to spend. Just by providing help to the businesses is not enough.

If I have 100 boxes of goods in my warehouse, that means somehow I have to sell it. It doesn't matter how much tax breaks you've given to me. I will need to sell it to pay my suppliers. Period. Just by giving tax breaks to businesses will do nothing to help the economy.

The problem has to be attacked from 2 sides. One side is to help the business to keep the cost down. The other is to help them clear their inventory. It's only with a "combo-attack" will then businesses be able to tide over 2009.

The game is just all about keeping people employed. That's it.

If the upcoming announcements are all about reducing business cost, then I can safely say 2009 will be a very bad year. -2%? Very likely that it'll be much worse than that.

Never rely on the market. Rely on yourself.

Denigrate the work of others to glorify one's own achievement

I quote a section that struck out to me from today's ST Forum:

Denigrate the work of others to glorify one's own achievement


This is somehow the trend in Singapore. I've seen so many instances of this where people like to bash others down, and put themselves up high in the limelight. What's the reason for that?

I do not see any benefits of doing this. In instances of true leadership, your actions speak louder than words. People will know you by your actions, and not through your self-promotion. One good example is our ex-President, Mr Wee Kim Wee, also known as our People's President. He is popular through his actions, and not through "talk".

Define yourselves through your actions, and not through words. Talk is cheap, very cheap.