Malaysia still a long way from being energy efficient.

GEORGE TOWN: Efforts by Malaysia to adopt energy efficiency measures are fairly limited as energy in the country is still cheap.

Greenest Person on the Planet 2008 award winner Matthias Gelber said yesterday Malaysians were having it easy as energy rates here were subsidised by the Government.

“The challenge now is how the Malaysian Government can increase the rates but minimise the problems on the social impact. Surprisingly, the most energy efficient countries in the world are the ones who are the biggest energy consumers,” he told reporters after delivering a talk entitled “Building Green Cities & Green Live” at the Green Solutions Conference 10 at the Penang International Sports Arena on Saturday.

The conference was part of the three-day Green Solutions Tradeshow, which started on Thursday, showcasing various green technologies for business communities.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry senior undersecretary Mohd Rosli Abdullah, who represented Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin, opened the event.

Gelber said there was no major initiative to bring together everyone such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd, the government and NGOs to formulate a massive campaign such as a 1Malaysia energy efficiency campaign.

The German environmental entrepreneur who has been living in Malaysia for the past six years, also said the Green Building technology in Malaysia was increasing due to encouraging tax rebates for the technology.