Energy Strategies for Sustainable Development: The Malaysian Experience

In order to realise the vision of becomi ng a developed nation by 2020, Malaysia has adopted carefully planned energy polices and stra tegies that ensured adequate, reliable and cost-effective supply of energy. Th is paper assesses the current energy use in Malaysia, in terms of per capita energy consumption (PCE C), energy intensity (EI), and sectoral distribution of energy consumption, as compared to those of developed countries and other developing countries in the region. Based on the current annual growth rates in the population and energy consumption, the paper s hows that Malaysia can achieve a PCEC that is comparable to that of the devel oped countries by maintaining an average annual growth in total primary energy consumption of 6% before 2010, which is reduced to 5% beyond 2010. However, in order to achieve an EI that is comparable to those of developed nations, energy should be used more efficiently than it is currently be ing used, particularly in the transport and i ndustrial sectors