Sunday, March 17, 2013

MY PATH IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY INDUSTRY

Some old and  new friends did ask  me...what is exactly I do for work or career...
Here is how I  describe it...
I graduated in Mechanical Engineering  from UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA  in 1997.I started to specialize in energy efficiency and energy conservation since I started my career as an energy consulting engineer with a local and small consulting firm in Dec 1997. My first in energy efficiency job involved in energy auditing for intensive energy using facilities at building and industrial sectors, as a trainer in energy efficiency applications and also business development to secure clients for the firm.

Then after about 2 years , I left to join a multinational company which provided total facilities management services at a manufacturing facilities with the intention to get hands-on experience in actual operations of facilities equipment and applying my knowledge in energy efficiency to reduce energy costs.One more reason was, I did not feel good and comfortable to consult my clients and conducted training as a trainer  without me myself had the actual experiences in operation and applying what I recommended to them.

After about one and half year, I feel much better with some experiences that I acquired at site and  rejoined consulting services industry with a UK based company with a operational office in Penang which I was the pioneer to start the 2nd office in Penang after KL.

This was the period that I finally realized that I started to enjoy the  work as a consultant.Sharing  my experiences and knowledge to make my clients' operations to become more energy efficient where I managed to be involved directly from the beginning until the results achieved...the feeling was so great and I started to think on how could I could build my career further in the industry.

After sometime in the industry as a consultant and a service provider and then as a consultant again,  I felt that the energy efficiency industry was still not moving or grow as all of players like me would love to see.After some soul searching and sharing of industry's updates with the market and fellow industry players, I decided to find an opportunity to explore my energy efficiency career at a different platform, in the government.




That made me landed my career in Energy Commission in 2004.I started as an enforcement officer to enforce energy related laws in electricity sector before I finally  had the opportunity to head the energy efficiency unit from the end of 2007.In the government, I served in three different entities namely Energy Commission, Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water and Sustainable Energy Development Authority  but  I was still specialized in energy efficiency as my duties.




I started to really specialize in one subject matter in energy efficiency which isSustainable Energy Management System after about 3 years since  I joined the government.I decided to pick one area after I was involved and exposed with so many other areas in energy efficiency friend such as regulatory, policy  development, technologies, capacity development and competencies,standard and labeling, fiscal incentives  and financing, technical project evaluation, promotion and awareness and etc. Combining all that will my hands-on experiences as energy efficiency industry player prior to that made me a very resourceful person as a government officer.That has created a very conducive and effective communications between me with other energy related government agencies, industry and professional associations and the general public and also  students at schools.




After about 8 years serving in the government, I rejoined the private sector as the industry player in early 2012. Now, with my business partners, I am trying to grow the energy efficiency industry as one of the expert services and technology solutions provider as a company and for fellow industry players through our  industry association, MAESCO.

So, what is exactly I am good at now after about 15 years of my career  energy efficiency field? Here they are in brief...

  • Sustainable energy management system- ISO50001 Standard, Strategic planning,development ,  implementation and performance monitoring
  • Energy management and energy eficienct technologies Capacity  development program design, development and implementation
  • Sustainable energy  policy studies, policy development and strategic planning and implementation plan  for organizations, state and national
  • Energy efficiency regulatory and financing options

Looking at the above, generally I do not  see myself as a technical expert despite my extensive experience and involvement in  various technical projects and assessment  in energy efficiency technologies and applications.
I am more of a strategist who is  looking  at the sustainability angle of energy efficiency at different levels and environment.



So, that is exactly what I have been doing and still do...what is exactly I am passionate to do and enjoy it so much for many many years... and I intend to move forward with it in my future.

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