Efficient Sound System

Howdy ladies & gentlemen~

It's been long since my last post. I was actually busy with schedules on some of the energy management projects in Asia. I had traveled many places in Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia. Most of my time were spent in the office because of the client's urgency to use the energy management system. But let me tell you one thing: Nothing beats a nice sweet home with a good warm milk listening to classical music. 

Of course you need a great sound system to enjoy the full potential of the music. I believe many home owners also have their own sound system, not only for listening to music but also to watch movie, playing blu-rays, etc. With the ever growing technologies in a fast pace and the increase of electricity bill, we certainly can afford a nice sound system that is energy efficient.

What is a Sound System?

A sound system, also known as a sound reinforcement system is the combination of microphones, signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers that makes live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also distribute those sounds to a larger or more distant audience.

In some situations, a sound reinforcement system is also used to enhance or alter the sound of the sources on the stage, typically by using electronic effects, as opposed to simply amplifying the sources unaltered.

It can also be used as a Home Theater System. The typical home-theater setup includes a TV set with cable or satellite hookup, a DVD/CD player, a receiver, and two to eight speakers.

The receiver, or AV receiver, is the hub of the typical AV system. Several types of receivers are available in the marketplace. First is a basic stereo receiver, which may include an AM/FM tuners, 2-channel audio amplifier, pairs of external speaker terminals, and connections for external CD and MP3 player connections. Second is a more full-featured home theater receiver, which combines all of the features of a stereo receiver with the capability to process surround sound, connect to the Internet, and switch and distribute a variety of audio and video signals throughout your home.

Planning a home AV installation is an important first step in choosing a receiver that will support the user needs. Do you only want to connect audio components like a CD player? Or, are you considering a home theater and need connections for your television, a Blu-ray Disc or DVD player, a cable/satellite Set-Top Box, ? Will you be installing surround sound speakers? Do you want to connect to the Internet through your receiver? Answering these questions will help you determine what to look for in your home electronics purchase.

Here are some typical inputs and outputs that can be found on AV products:

• HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface): A single-cable digital AV interface commonly found on consumer products for the transmission of high definition and standard definition video and multi-channel surround sound audio. HDMI also supports the CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) interface, which when implemented properly can allow various home theater components to communicate and control each other.
• DVI (Digital Visual Interface): A digital video interface that is compatible with HDMI (via a plug converter). DVI cables do not carry audio signal content, so separate cables are needed for audio signal connection between devices.
• Composite-video: A single-cable analog video interface used for the transmission of standard definition video signals. Composite video cables do not carry audio signal content, so separate cables are needed for audio signal connection between devices.
• Component-video: A three-cable analog or digital video interface used for the transmission of standard definition and high definition video signals. Composite video cables do not carry audio signal content, so separate cables are needed for audio signal connection between devices.

Surround sound is a movie recording technique that, when paired with a home theater surround speaker system, puts the viewer in the center of the action with sounds that move front to back, and side to side. Surround sound isn't about louder sound, rather, it is more about sound that envelops the listener by creating ambience and providing directionality to off-screen sound effects.

Surround sound is created by multiple speakers linked by a receiver. However, the easiest path to take is a home-theater-in-a-box system. These systems include a receiver, built-in surround sound decoding, speakers, a subwoofer, and a Blu-ray Disc or DVD player.

Basic speakers fall into a number of different categories, but each is designed to carry a specific range of frequencies. Knowing the frequencies a speaker carries helps to pick the ideal type for the user listening needs.

Bookshelf speakers reproduce a full range of frequencies, making them very versatile. Two bookshelf speakers can be used as the sole speakers with a conventional stereo system, or with a stereo TV. Two bookshelf speakers could also be used for the front or rear speakers in a surround system. Additionally, one speaker may be used as an economic alternative to the center-channel speaker in surround sound, if it is magnetically shielded so as not to interfere with the TV picture.

Front speakers come in a variety of sizes and reproduce a wide range of sound frequencies. They are typically used in a home theater system.

Center-channel speakers are dedicated to reproducing on-screen sound and dialogue. They are placed on top or just underneath the TV, and typically shielded so they won't interfere with the picture.

Rear speakers complete the surround effect by providing background sound behind the user. They add a sense of realism to surround sound.

Subwoofers are designed specifically for bass output. They are usually placed on the floor and are "powered," which means that they have a built-in amplifier that requires an electrical power connection in addition to speaker wires. A subwoofer is critical for 5.1 surround sound.

Energy Efficient Sound System

A certified home audio equipment is up to 60% more efficient than non-qualified equipment. You can find a wide range of audio products with the ST ENERGY STAR label, such as:

• Shelf speaker systems
• Sound bars
• MP3 speaker docks
• Audio amplifiers
• AV receivers

Children's Haven

Bonjour à tous~

Happy Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends. It's the time again for forgiving and friendship rekindle. So I have visited some of my friends and colleagues and I'm impressed of what they did with their kampung house, especially their playrooms.

We all have been wanting to have a home, which we can design and decorate based on our own imagination. Imagination is greater than knowledge- by Albert Einstein. But as we keep improving our home for a better lifestyle, have we considered about our kids who stay with us?

I brought my kids to many places for holidays such as Universal Studios, Legoland, local theme parks, Lotte World, etc and most of it comes with a themed rooms that cater to our needs. So I thought, why not we make this idea at our house for the kids? Well, there are so many ideas out there, thanks to the Internet, but of course we want to build it in an efficient way. So let's see what are things that can be used for building such a room.

Designer Wallpaper

Forget about old-fashioned wallpaper with dated floral designs or fairy-tale murals. The hottest trends for playrooms include designer wallpapers that would look just as home in any other part of your home. You can experiment with color and bold designs a little more freely, such as bright oranges arranged in geometric lines or blue hot air balloons all in a row across the sea blue sky.

Don’t feel like you have to cover the whole room with this wallpaper. Covering only one wall is fashionable and helps make a greater impact. Paint the remaining walls a complementary color, or even paint each wall a different color that ties the decor together.

Decals are a good choice if you want to create a patterned wall but don’t want to ruin the drywall with wallpaper. Decals are easily removable, so they won’t damage the wall and they allow you to change the look on a whim. Picking up the right wallpapers can also save energy by reducing light intensity and air-conditioning temperature setting.

Grey & Yellow Colour Scheme

You can design your playroom in any color scheme you wish. However, the combination of grey and yellow is particularly popular right now. You can go big with the color scheme by painting the walls grey and hanging yellow curtains (or vice versa), or you can create a neutral palette with a white wall and then place accessories in the grey and yellow color scheme. A grey couch with a yellow chevron rug and yellow pillows would look lovely. Other accessories to consider include colored fabric bins for toys, lamps, shelving, and toys that are displayed on shelves. Of course with this colour, the playroom will look spacious and it's bright enough to reduce the lumens needed to light up the room.

Poufs

Poufs are like oversized bean bags, but they are a bit more stylish than the neon or tie-dyed versions you may have had in college. They are perfect for seating for a kids’ playroom because they are soft and comfortable. Kids will love plopping down in one to read or take a rest from play. They are also malleable without being damaged, so they will withstand kids jumping on them in a way that a sofa would not.

Choose fabrics like microfiber that will enhance your design while also being resistant to stains and spills. Choose oversized poufs to accommodate the adults as well as the kids. Place a couple strategically throughout the playroom, either to complement seating like a couch or to replace it. With the right choice, it may have good ventilation and will need less fan power to cool down the room.

Timeless Design

You don’t have to limit yourself to kids’ motifs when decorating your playroom. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. Children quickly outgrow their interests, and you don’t want to have to redesign your playroom every couple of years (if not more frequently). Choose a Hello Kitty theme now, and you’ll likely be trading it out with One Direction in another year or so.

Instead, choose a more “grown up” design that will remain stylish over time. Make the room accessible and comfortable for children, but choose a design that is more attractive to a larger audience. Choose solid colors for the walls, colors that won’t look out of place with the design in the rest of your home, and designer furnishings. Make sure you include functional pieces, as well, such as plenty of shelving for toys, ottomans and low shelving, and baskets and fabric bins.

You can even add in some smart TV for their entertainment and educational view. Maybe some smart tablet embedded in the wall for them to use it as learning and playing at the same time.

Playrooms offer an opportunity to create a fun yet stylish space in your home. You can provide a fun place for your children to play while also helping to keep your home more organized, keeping toys out of common areas to reduce clutter. These hot design trends can give you some ideas for putting together your new playroom. You’ll create a space that looks just as stylish and put together as the rest of your home, and you can also have some fun with some different design choices.

Bake With An Ease Of Mind

您好~

How is everybody? Hope you guys (& gals) are doing fine. It's been very hot during this few days in Singapore. I am doing my business meetup in with potential customers in the Marina Bay Sands. It feels like as though I am in Las Vegas (since Marina Bay Sands or known as MBS, is owned by Las Vegas Sands, Vegas). But the hotel is fantastic, with all its facilities especially the Infinity Pool.

Then at night, I had a nice chocolate lava cake, accompanied by iced mocha. It was a nice treat after a long day of work. While I was eating the cake, I saw the pastry chef was doing his masterpiece and after the final touch, he puts it in a microwave. As the cake was taking its form, I wondered how much energy is being consumed to bake a cake? Could there be a smarter way to do it in the world out there?

Smart Waves- Microwaves 

While most big-name appliance manufacturers are busy making fridges that can send texts, washing machines that can wirelessly power your gadgets, and other appliances of questionable value; there are a handful of startups on the rise that are hard at work building smart appliances that actually look useful.

Cooking with a microwave oven instead of the stove can save you money. Fast and efficient microwaves use from 30 percent to as much as 80 percent less energy than conventional ovens. They also have the added benefit of not heating up your kitchen, so they can save you money on air conditioning in the hot times of the year.

There is smart microwave oven that basically does everything and it's packed with smart features and functionality that could truly make cooking easier.

Functions

For starters, it functions as both a microwave and convection oven, so it can handle a bag of popcorn just as easily as it can cook a batch of cupcakes. On top of that, a smart microwave is also hooked into the Web and comes loaded with a slew of different sensors, so you don’t even need to enter in temperature or duration — just tell it what you’re cooking and it’ll automatically choose the optimal settings.

You can literally just tell the oven what’s for dinner — it’s got built-in voice recognition, so if your 

hands are covered in dough or some other kind of goo, you can skip the manual inputs and just speak your commands out loud. If that’s not your speed, it can also understand gesture controls, and comes equipped with a 6-inch touchscreen display for when your hands aren’t occupied. This touchscreen is basically like a tablet built into the oven — it can be used to browse through its massive recipe database, display video tutorials, and even speak cooking instructions back to you so you don’t have to look at the screen while you prepare everything.

The features don’t end there either. As you’d expect from any card-carrying smart appliance, the smart microwave oven also comes with an accompanying smartphone app. This means you can get push alerts when your food is done cooking, adjust cook time and temperature settings from afar, or remotely activate/deactivate the oven while you’re away from home.

Brands Available

The Miele H 4024 BM Micro/Convection oven.

23" and 7/16" microwave/convection oven is sleek in stainless-steel, and has absolutely no problems melding visually with the most likely choices for induction cooktops.

Pros:Sports a 1,000-watt microwave, true 'European' convection, and good looks. Will accommodate a 13" by 9" by 2" cake pan and regular-sized roasting pans. Because of the top handle, has the most oven-like feel of all the options.

Cons: Cadillac pricing.

Price: Around RM8180.

The Bosch HMB 8050

At 23 7/8" which also comes in black, but in either stainless-steel or black it doesn't have quite the pizazz of the Miele. Visually, it seems more like a microwave than an oven.

Pros: Comparable strength (1000-watt microwave) for less than half the price of the Miele. Bosch promises fully popped bag popcorn by entering bag size. Takes a 13" cake pan or roasting pan.

Cons: With the 'trim kit' shown here, the oven will be either 27" or 30" wide.

Price: $700.

The Viking DMOC/VMOC 205 Micro Convection Hood.

Convection Microwave Oven says that cooking times may be faster in its DMOC/VMOC small ovens using ConvecBake and ConvecBroil features than it would be with the company's regular ovens.

Pros: There are a rainbow of candy colors to choose from with the VMOC 205. Also, the design says a bit more 'oven' than 'microwave.

Cons: Viking recently discontinued this model, though plenty of stock remains available from a variety of vendors.

Price: About RM4,400.

The Sharp R-930CS

The least expensive option. Generally sold as a countertop unit, the R-930CS can also be built in.

Pros:Affordable. According to Sharp it "browns, bakes, broils and crisps," provides perfect popcorn, and accommodates a 13" birthday cake pan and regular roasting pan. The microwave is 900 watts. Extra racks allow two-level baking.

Cons: While it can be a built-in, its style says 'microwave' only.

Price: Around RM2,000.

The Dacor DCM24

This is in the middle of the pack. It has a 900-watt microwave, and also a rack insert to allow two separate food items to be baked at once.

Pros: It's middle-of-the-road pricing.

Cons: It has that same 'microwave' feeling as the Sharp.

Price: Approximately RM2,920.

The Wolf MWC24

It is an all black, 24" convection oven and 900-watt microwave.

Pros: Might be nice to purchase the induction cooktop and the microwave/convection oven from the same vendor.

Cons: These last three choices are all so similar visually it is hard to tell them apart. 

Price: Approximately RM2,920.

Slumberland~ A Smart Bedroom

Gong Xi Fa Cai~
Happy Chinese New Year to all my Chinese friends. It's been a roller coaster ride on the world economics. We have the oil plunge, the commodities falling, the currencies being volatile, and even the weather is changing. But thank God that all of us have gone through all those challenges and still barely surviving.

During this festive season, many of us would go visiting relatives and friends. We would do a lot of catching up on everyone's activities. But some of us would rather sleep at their own comfort home and have a nice holiday, and I'm one of them. So during the day when I was going to take an afternoon nap, something struck into my mind: is there any way for a bedroom to be smart and energy efficient? Certainly there are some ideas and we are going to share some in today's topic.

How To Design A Smart Bedroom

A smart bedroom is a room that incorporates advanced automation systems to provide the inhabitants with sophisticated monitoring and control over the rooms function. Lightings, temperature, multimedia, security, window and door operations as well as other functions can be controlled with the technology available in the market. So, I'll share with a few ideas that can be used to design a smart bedroom.

Plasma Nightlight: it's plugged directly into power supply and switches on to reveal a web of crawling neon beams in red and purple that gravitate towards fingertips. The internal currents are then guided to the fingertips and dramatically twist and undulate under the bulb's interior. It's not only consume less energy but it also makes the bedroom looks nicer.

Smart Mattress: did you know there's a mattress that monitors your body and adjust its firmness to ensure every part of your body remains perfectly supported during sleep? This mattress is embedded with sensors to detect breathing and heart rate, accelerometers to track sleep patterns and microphones to hear your snoring.

Smart Throw Projector: have you ever wondered that you can watch movie, making video conference or even playing interactive games in your bedroom? The smart throw projector not only lets you to project images onto the wall, but multi-touch interactivity, you can toss, rotate or zoom by using natural touch gestures.

Smart Mood Lighting: this lighting is dimmable, energy saving up to 88% from the conventional light bulbs and can be set based on multiple functions such as relaxing, music, movie, etc. This light can be controlled through smartphone or tablet PC.

Smart Thermostat: this thermostat turns itself down automatically when nobody is in the bedroom. It learns about the temperature that the user likes and programs itself automatically. It can be connected to Wi-Fi to control the temperature from your phone, tablet or laptop.

Smart Ceiling Fan: my previous blog post discussed about this, so I'll just summarize it. This fan generates more airflow by using lesser energy. It also has temperature sensor which adjust the fan speed according to the room temperature. Some of them even come with a built-in LED for lighting purposes.

Smart Alarm Clock: last but not least is the alarm clock. This gadget actually forces you out and far away from bed and to the remotely located "Defuse Panel" where you'll have to enter code the turn off the alarm. By doing so, your brain needs to figure out the right code, which will ultimately put you in the Awake mode. Not really smart but at least it does it job efficiently.

Pros & Cons

Pros
Saving Space

Instead of having an alarm clock or some sort of dashboard that tells you the weather, you can just keep your phone on your bedside. We're long past the days where our phones are only used as phones. You can replace a clock, a radio, and music players all with your phone, given you have a smartphone.

Entertainment 

The couple hours we have before retiring for the night are often spent doing leisure activities to unwind from the day, like reading or catching up on TV shows, as well as playing some casual games and chatting with friends. Keeping tech in your bedroom, like a laptop or a tablet, provides entertainment before you turn in.

Working 

Having a desktop setup in the bedroom can be convenient when it comes to working late, especially if you have roommates and don't want to disturb them. If you're one who tends to work late into the night or likes to do personal projects at early or late hours, having your computer setup readily accessible can improve your work efficiency.

Cons 

Lack of Interactivity with Others

If there's only one TV in your apartment and you have roommates, we find that the better option is to keep the TV in a common area versus keeping it in your bedroom. Keeping the TV in a common area encourages interaction with others, whether you have roommates or have people over. We wouldn't encourage holing yourself up in your room with the TV always on.

Disturbing Your Significant Other 

If you have a significant other that you share your space with, we'd definitely encourage keeping less tech in the bedroom if possible, A desktop setup could be especially disruptive if you work late into the night when the other person is trying to sleep. And again, it's better to engage more human interaction after hours than to continue playing with tech.

Not Unplugging 

As much as we love all our tech, we also strongly believe in having breaks from time to time. Given the way we are hyper connected to our email and text messages and all the apps we use on a daily basis, it's always good to exercise some "tech downtime." This is the main con we see with filling your bedroom with tech — there just isn't much of a break from it.

Is it Worth The Investment?

As you can see, technology in the bedroom has its pros and cons. So if you are going to use a digital device, make sure it's the one that promotes sleep, rather than stop it in its tracks.

Debates had surfaced in the past few years as to whether smart bedroom technology necessary, useful or practical but companies continue researching and producing these technologies. As these devices evolve and learn to communicate with each other, opinions may differ in the future.

In conclusion, we feel like it's inevitable to have some tech in the bedroom but it's best to keep the big stuff like TVs and desktop computers elsewhere. However all this is contingent on each individual's living lifestyle as well.

So how much tech do you keep in your bedroom?

Ceiling Fans For Comfort

Happy New Year 2016 to all~

How was everyone's celebration? I hope that every had a great countdown with your families and loved ones. I bet that many of you also has some new year resolution or personal goals to achieve. For me, I hope to help as many people as possible in seeking not only for environmental friendly living style but also to help reduce their utility billings. 

During the countdowns, there were so many people in the public areas. All the massive jams kept me from leaving my comfort zone, so I'd spent the night with my family at home. We were enjoying all the New Year's movies, in a comfortable couch, under a ceiling fan. Just when the movie went into advertisement, I'd stretched my neck and as I looked up, I was wondering: is there any possibility for us to do anything for the ceiling fan to operate efficiently?

Well, there is nothing impossible in the Information Age and I am going to share what I'd learned in the World Wide Web.

What Are Ceiling Fans?

Circulating fans include ceiling fans, table fans, floor fans, and fans mounted to poles or walls. These fans create a wind chill effect that will make you feel more comfortable in your home, even if it's also cooled by natural ventilation or air conditioning. 

Ceiling fans are considered as the most effective of these types of fans, because they effectively circulate the air in a room to create a draft throughout the room. If you use air conditioning, a ceiling fan will allow you to raise the thermostat setting for about 2.2°C with no reduction in comfort. In temperate climates, or during moderately hot weather, ceiling fans may allow you to avoid using your air conditioner altogether. Install a fan in each room that needs to be cooled during hot weather. Turn off ceiling fans when you leave a room because by creating a wind chill effect, fans cool people and not the rooms.

How to Design and Install It Correctly?

Ceiling fans are only appropriate in rooms with ceilings at least eight feet high. Fans work best when the blades are 7 to 9 feet above the floor and 10 to 12 inches below the ceiling. Fans should be installed so their blades are no closer than 8 inches from the ceiling and 18 inches from the walls.

Larger ceiling fans can move more air than smaller fans. A 36-inch or 44-inch diameter fan will cool rooms up to 225 square feet, while fans that are 52 inches or more should be used in larger rooms. Multiple fans work best in rooms longer than 18 feet. Small- and medium-sized fans will provide efficient cooling in a 4- to 6-foot diameter area, while larger fans are effective up to 10 feet.

A larger blade will also provide comparable cooling at a lower velocity than a smaller blade. This may be important in areas where loose papers or other objects will be disturbed by a strong breeze. The fan should also be fitted to the aesthetics of the room—a large fan may appear overpowering in a small room. A more expensive fan that operates quietly and smoothly will probably offer more trouble-free service than cheaper units. Check the noise ratings, and, if possible, listen to your fan in operation before you buy it.

Window Fans- Alternative

Window fans use little energy and can provide effective cooling in many climates. Window fans are best used in windows facing away from the prevailing wind and exhausting hot air from your home. To cool as much of your home as possible, tightly close the windows near the fan and open the windows in rooms far from the fan, preferably on the windward side of your home. Windows located at near cooler, shaded outdoor areas provide the best intake of air.

In multi-level houses, the fan should be located on the upper level if possible, and the open windows should be located on a lower level. If that's not practical, you may want to independently ventilate each level of your home with separate fans.

Depending on the layout of your home, you might want to use several window fans working together to pull the air through your home. For instance, fans in several upstairs bedrooms will assure that each bedroom is cooled, and will work together to pull air in through the rest of your home.

What To Look For When Purchasing?

Three rules for getting the most energy efficiency out of your ceiling fan. If you want to get the most energy efficient of your ceiling fans, there are only three simple rules you need to know:

• Get a fan with a high efficacy
• Get the biggest fan you can have
• Turn off fans when you're not in the room

On the sizing recommendation, just make sure you meet all the specified clearances. Then you can get the biggest one that makes sense for the room. Do your research, follow these three rules, and your new ceiling fans will help you to be more energy efficient in your home, not less.

Feed-In-Tariff Investment

Howdy all? How is everyone doing? It's been a rainy holiday season. Usually during the end of the year, it'll be raining for almost everyday. There have also been many bad news to the consumers especially when we know that the Malaysia's power utility, TNB is raising its electricity tariff. This couldn't has come at a better timing,when the economy has slowed down and the ringgit Malaysia has weakened. How much more do Malaysians need to suffer, to be able to feed themselves?

Luckily, at the same time, SEDA (also known as Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia) has opened up the quota for the Feed-In-Tariff programme once again, but the application will be closed by end of December 2015. The reason for this programme is not only reducing the burden to the house owners but also to reduce the grid load of the national electrical power station and also to encourage the use of renewable energy.

What is Feed-In-Tariff?

Feed-in-Tariff is a special tariff rate that TNB would buy electricity from the Solar PV owner. The FIT rate for 2013 is around 4x of TNB residential Tariff rate, this means TNB is buying at a 4x tariff rate compare to the tariff rate that they are selling. The FIT is govern by Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia. (SEDA).

It is a policy or program created to increase investments in renewable energy, which is solar PV panel. FIT provides long term agreement and guaranteed pricing, promotes diversity in renewable energy technologies, while securing producers' return of investment at the same time. Such producers can be some private investors, business owners, house owners or even farmers.

How does it work?

The idea of FiT is to let you earn not only to pay for installation costs, but to make profits as well for making the investment. Its aim is to reward you whenever you generate electricity. If you’re eligible to produce renewable energy, you will be allowed to sell electricity to the national security grid. The government or your electricity supplier will then pay you a certain amount per kWh of electricity you generate. Typically, the rates are high enough to let you regain the money you spent for the technology with guaranteed profits at the same time.

Period of which the renewable electricity could be sold to distribution licensees and paid with the FiT rate. The duration is based on the characteristics of the renewable resources and technologies. The duration is 16 years for biomass and biogas resources, and 21 years for small hydropower and solar photovoltaic technologies.

Return of Investment

The amount that you can earn depends on the type of technology and the size of the system you’re using to generate renewable energy. But in any case, FiT guarantees payment for all electricity that your system has generated (*Generation Tariff*), plus an additional payment for exported unconsumed electricity to the national security grid (*Export Tariff*).

During the installation of the solar panel, an additional PV meter (similar to TNB meter) would be installed to record down the electricity generated by the Solar PV system. TNB would pay the house owners based on the unit (kWH) generated multiply by the Feed in Tariff Rate.

How much would it cost you to install solar panel? A set of home solar PV is expected to cost around RM29,000 to RM 85,000, depending on your roof sizing and the numbers of solar panels that can be installed. It may sound a little expensive, but considering the long-term profit that the FiT can offers, return of investment surely looks favorable. 

Based on studies, a 2-storey residential house with 4kWp Solar PV System (Roof Integrated) installed, which costs estimate about RM30,000 in 2015, is expected to have 15.56% rate of ROI. That only takes a little over 6 years for the payback of the capital investment, assuming that the system yields 5,333 kWh/annum (total system yield). If you’ll manually calculate it, it’ll goes out as: RM0.91 x 5,333kWh = RM4,853.32 per annum. And since it's a 21-years contract with TNB, you are generating a total income of RM101,920 on average.

Where can you find the installer?

There are a few registered PV installers but make sure you are using the registered one because there are many scammers in the market that actually looking for profit only. Alliance Bank is the first financial institution to provide financing option for ordinary Malaysians who plan to install the solar system on their roof.

When viewed as a long term investment, it does sound like a viable proposition worth exploring. But as with all investments, carefully study the plans, do the calculations, obtain all the necessary background information, and consult with homeowners who have already installed the PV system, to get tips on the do’s and don’ts.

If you are interested to invest in this program, or wish to help building a sustainable environment for your future generation, you may email to ukiya75050@yahoo.com for more information. Remember that the quota is only opened up to end of Dec 2015, The quota will be reviewed and could be reopened as early as year 2018.