|
“Green Technology for Sustainable Global Development”
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Brunei Darussalam Network successfully held its second international conference, IETBIC 2010 from 21 June to 22 June at The Rizqun International Hotel.
With the theme on "Green Technology for Sustainable Global Development", the conference signifies the persistent effort of the IET Brunei Darussalam in promoting advancement in engineering and technology while cultivating a culture of professionalism among the engineers. While engineering and technology play a key role in national development, they have also brought an adverse impact to our natural environment and resources. To ensure that such development is sustainable, engineers need to be responsible to ensure that engineering and technological advancements are environmentally friendly.
The Minister of Communications, the Honorary Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdullah bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar was the Guest of Honour to officiate the conference.
In his opening address, Yang Berhormat encouraged research and development in Green Technology and called for the industry to support research and development in Green Technology. Yang Berhormat highlighted that while the investment may not translate to business return, its contribution to sustainable living environment for our future generation will be priceless. The Guest of Honour explained that green technologies play crucial role to address the issues of environmental problems and to ensure sustainable development in three aspects: adapting to the climate change that cannot be avoided, limiting the deterioration and depletion of our natural resources and environment, and repairing and recovering from the damage done to our natural environment.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee and the Chairman of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Brunei Darussalam, Pg Hj Mohd Zain bin Pg Hj Abd Razak shared the aspirations of the IET Brunei Darussalam in his welcoming address. The IET Brunei Darussalam believes that engineers and engineering technicians in all fields of science have roles to play in contributing towards the protection of the environment and the delicate global climate. The Chairman highlighted that due recognition towards the engineering profession in this respect shall be promoted. This is in addition to the fact that successful economic progress of most countries is partly contributed by the creativity and dynamism of the countries’ engineers.
The IET Brunei Darussalam is a branch of the Institution of Engineering and Technology or IET UK. The IET Brunei Darussalam was inaugurated on 29 Nov 1997 when it was formerly called the Institution of Electrical Engineers or IEE.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (or IET) is one of the world’s leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community. It was formed in 2006 by amalgamating The IEE (Institution of Electrical Engineers) and The IIE (Institution of Incorporated Engineers) together.
The IET has more than 150,000 members in 127 countries and offices in Europe, North America and Asia‐ Pacific. Being part of this professional network, the IET Brunei Darussalam sets its vision in sharing and advancing knowledge throughout the global Science, Engineering and Technology community contributing towards national development.
To complement IET’s aspiration, the promotion of the engineering profession is the centre of the IET Brunei Darussalam’s Strategic Plan which was developed last year. One of the objectives as enshrined in the Strategic Plan is “To establish a culture of professionalism highly valued and appreciated by all in Brunei Darussalam”.
Membership promotion drive is an activity the current Committee Members have identified as key to the foundation of a culture of professionalism. We are excited that our efforts have so far yielded promising results. We have seen an increase of members from 111 in 2008 to 128 in 2009 (a 15% increase) and 136 in 2010. And this membership drive will continue.
This conference and dinner, and a host of other activities such as technical visits, technical talks, award of prizes, conferences, membership promotion of the last two years are geared towards achieving this objective. The last 9 months alone, IET Brunei Darussalam organized activities, which were attended by a total of well over 1,000 non-member participants. And we do hope that a significant proportion of them would eventually join IET especially young engineers.
The two-day conference, IETBIC 2010 was attended over 150 participants. 30 international speakers from 7 countries and 4 continents shared their expertise and research works in the conference. There were 2 keynote speeches and 22 technical presentations in 5 technical sessions covering different aspects in green technology:
- Recycling and Waste Management
- Harnessing the Computing Power for Green Applications
- Technology for Sustainable Environment: Performance Improvement and Environmental Impact
- Green Habitation: Building and Community
- Alternative and Renewable Energy: Sources and Technologies
Apart from the keynote addresses and technical sessions, there were 5 invited presentations by distinguished speakers from industry from different countries around the world. The topics covered include green data center, green vehicle, green building and photovoltaic technologies. In addition, there will be two tutorials organized during the conference. The tutorials covered fuel cells technologies and wind energy development.
This conference represents one of very few highly technical and research oriented conferences in the country. The conference has provided a platform for the researchers in the country to share their research works in green technologies. Eight local researchers presented their research works and organized tutorials. High commends were received for the 2 young researchers from the Universiti Brunei Darussalam who demonstrated their competence and confidence with their research works in biomass and environmental monitoring technology. Mr Terry D Jayasuriya from Brunei Shell Petroleum presented his research in the virtual instrumentation, which contributes to green computing. |
