Green push for Samui tourism

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Green push for Samui tourism
Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit
The Nation
Koh Samui



Island to become low-carbon destination

KOH SAMUI: -- The tourism sector on Koh Samui plans to put a major effort into promoting the tropical-beach haven as a low-carbon destination within the next three to five years.

The goal is to increase the island's tourism revenue, which the industry hopes will be driven by room rates rising by between 30 and 50 per cent. Samui's tourism income last year was worth more than Bt15 billion.

However, the island requires somewhere between Bt5 billion and Bt8 billion in order to develop a low-carbon infrastructure and is hoping a major part of the funding will come from government sources, Tanongsak Somwong, president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui, said yesterday.

Despite the financial challenge, all stakeholders should work in harmony to achieve the low-carbon goal, he said, acknowledging that it was time to slow the rapid pace of the island's development in order to place more emphasis on quality over quantity via infrastructure-improvement projects to sustain long-term growth.

Twarath Sutabtr, deputy director-general of the Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Department, said it was time for Samui to be reshaped for sustainable growth.

It is clear that current infrastructure development cannot cope with the island's rapid tourism-industry growth, he said.

Samui was chosen by an Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum) tourism working group to be a pioneer low-carbon model town for tourism in Asia-Pacific.

The Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Department then carried out research into how this could be achieved and promoted.

The agency concluded that the white-sand-beach island needed to define clearer strategies for its development.

A key requirement is to map out a zoning plan for its growth in order to keep the environment green, especially as it has been threatened by the rising number of new hotel openings. For example, it has to amend the current regulation prohibiting hotel construction to go higher than 12 metres.

The restriction leads to hotels expanding on the ground rather than skywards, and eventually harms the environment over a wider area.

A revised regulation should allow construction above 12-metres high, but only in designated areas, said Twarath.

Another key factor is that Samui should not rely heavily on its energy being supplied from non-island sources.

At present, 100 per cent of its electricity supply comes via four underwater cables. This leaves the island at risk in the event of a natural disaster or accident, with the danger of its power supply being cut completely.

Samui consumes up to 90 megawatts of electricity at peak times, with demand having increased 20 per cent annually, against the country's average power-demand growth of only 3-4 per cent a year.

Twarath said it was essential for the island to seek alternative-energy sources, with about 50 per cent being supplied itself from energy sources such as wind, solar, water and garbage (biogas).

However, he said it was too early to go into details of potential alternative-energy projects, in which it was likely that the private sector would be invited to invest.

Importantly, the island should place more emphasis on promoting ecotourism and other travel lifestyles, with low-carbon hotels being the main accommodation focus, said the official.


-- The Nation 2013-08-14

[churchill]

This is in fact an old story..

Samui Island Low-Carbon Model Town Project

http://esci-ksp.org/...el-town-project

more details see interesting report http://esci-ksp.org/...amui-Island.pdf

[John 1]

This is in fact an old story..

Samui Island Low-Carbon Model Town Project

http://esci-ksp.org/...el-town-project

more details see interesting report http://esci-ksp.org/...amui-Island.pdf

Reading those 2 report's will you please post them again on April's fools day next year. It's all a load of hot air.

[Rooo]

I see puffs of smoke every morning & every afternoon, must be steam from the Eco friendly power generators , not the burning garbage & building refuse.

The old saying, just tell them what they want to hear.

[Neilly]

KOH SAMUI: -- The tourism sector on Koh Samui plans to put a major effort into promoting the tropical-beach haven as a low-carbon destination within the next three to five years.

Trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted springs to mind

[churchill]

This is in fact an old story..

Samui Island Low-Carbon Model Town Project

http://esci-ksp.org/...el-town-project

more details see interesting report http://esci-ksp.org/...amui-Island.pdf

Reading those 2 report's will you please post them again on April's fools day next year. It's all a load of hot air.

Yes lots of hot air ... Perhaps the news is that Samui has been nominated over the other candidates .... and so we may start to see more action..

'Total score for each candidate is as follows:

Samui Island, Thailand – 27 Danang City, Vietnam - 21 San Borja, Peru – 17

As a consequence, we recommend low-carbon development plan at Samui Island to be the case for the Phase 2 of the APEC Low-Carbon Model Town project.'

http://esci-ksp.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Recommendation-letter-to-LCMT-Task-Force1.pdf

[monkeycountry]

"A key requirement is to map out a zoning plan for its growth in order to keep the environment green, especially as it has been threatened by the rising number of new hotel openings. For example, it has to amend the current regulation prohibiting hotel construction to go higher than 12 metres."

I think this is what the "green push" is really about. Someone is not happy with the 12 meter regulation. Despite it being the only regulation that keeps Samui slightly "greener" than Phuket and Pattaya. Yes, Bangkok Airways also has something to do with it, but that is not really a regulation.

Hopefully someone without wested interests will protect the 12 meter regulation from this socalled "green push"

Edited August 14, 2013 by monkeycountry

[monkeycountry]

"The (12 meter) restriction leads to hotels expanding on the ground rather than skywards, and eventually harms the environment over a wider area.
A revised regulation should allow construction above 12-metres high, but only in designated areas, said Twarath."

If you own say 2 rai of land on Chaweng beach you can build 30 bungalows (a guess), or if the 12 meter regulation is removed, you can build a 30 floor hotel with say 300 rooms. Which do you guys think harms the environment more?

Mr. Twarath conveniently forgets to mention that his statement is only (maybe) true if there was an unlimited amount of cheap land to build on. Fortunately for Samui there is a very limited amount of prime land, and it is very expensive. This combined with the 12 meter regulation ensures that only relatively small hotels are built, which is good for the environment, or at least better than the 30 floor hotels we see elsewhere.

[Issangeorge]

The only good thing Koh Samui ever did was to restrict their building height to 12 metres, now they say that is environmentally unfriendly and want to raise it. What a load of Buffalo manure.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[pokerspiv]

I hope all these people who hate carbon emissions do the right thing and stay home so they don't "destroy the planet".

[Rooo]

Someone wants to line their pockets a bit more. What an opportune moment, change the building regulations, not that they were ever adhered too anyway.

[oldsailor35]

Whatever they do regarding high rise buildings. They must not make the same mistake that the Gold Coast, Queensland council did by allowing unlimited high rise hotels along the beach front. Today these areas are shrouded in shadow and behind the hotel line, no views of the sea at all and very little access to the beach for hundreds of metre's.

[brain150]

Let people fly half around the planet then another 1,000 km from BKK to Samui and then call it eco tourism and low carbon.

Until anybody gets to Samui their carbon footprint is bigger than anybody on samui can produce in 5 years.

But it sounds good and is a very good reason to increase room rates by 30 to 50%

[lee b]

Lets hope they push to get rid of the rip off taxis there as well. 400THB for a 5 minute trip, joke!!

[khunPer]

I believe I've heard this news before – so it's really not “news” – most be the old story, as the electric power consumption is quoted as 90MW; last November it was 115MW, only number of cables have been updated from three to four.

All sounds good and positive – apart from some visitors may not like the estimated price hike for accommodation – but remains pure carbon-free hot air, until some realistic suggestions for solutions comes up.

[Neilly]

Wonder where they think the money for this dream will come from...the governments Bt2 trillion loan?

[churchill]

'The Energy Minister has proposed up to an 8 million baht investment to help develop Samui as a low-carbon destination and will seek cabinet approval for the budget in October.'

http://www.samuitimes.com/samui-to-be-a-low-carbon-destination/

Edited August 14, 2013 by churchill

[Bagwan]

If Samui goes green it will be verdigris.

[lom]

Wonder where they think the money for this dream will come from...the governments Bt2 trillion loan?

It is peanuts for them, they will only have to sell some rice stock to finance it.

[Neilly]

'The Energy Minister has proposed up to an 8 million baht investment to help develop Samui as a low-carbon destination and will seek cabinet approval for the budget in October.'

http://www.samuitimes.com/samui-to-be-a-low-carbon-destination/

LOL...the BBC spent Bt7 mill for it's film crew to stay 10 days in Phuket

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/660440-bbc-coughs-up-b7m-for-film-crews-phuket-stay/

Wonder where they think the money for this dream will come from...the governments Bt2 trillion loan?

It is peanuts for them, they will only have to sell some rice stock to finance it.

They'll have a job to give that rice stock away, let alone sell it

[brain150]

Ok, so they go for a GREEN Island
Let's just see what's really going on:
1. Chemtrails all over it 24/7 [google it if you don't know what it is] No, no joke. Scientific FACT !!!
2. Solar power - well, my solar system output is down about 80% due to Solar Radiation Management
[google it again if you don't know what it is ... in short: it's the milky sky you see EVERY day !!!]
3. Weather modification all over the country ! NONE of these heavy rainfalls are natural. [scientific fact]
[Just check the weather radar. It's pretty easy to see. No need to be a rocket scientist]
4. "Samui consumes up to 90 megawatts of electricity at peak times, with demand having increased 20 per cent annually"
... this means they will DOUBLE consumption in just 3.5 years !!!

5. get some oil spills from the new oil platforms .... looks more like a BLACK island to me.
6. Get some more cars. The traffic is just not enough.

7. Get some more huge swimming pools, air conditions and electric water heaters in all the fancy resorts.

Maybe we can paint the Hotels and Taxis GREEN and at least something would be GREEN on Samui !!!

Sadly we can not count on GREEN trees as UV-B and UV-C Radiation will take care of them when the chemicals

they spray into the atmosphere have destried the ozone layer

btw .... UV-B and especially UV-C will take care of us also, so actually we have nothing to worry about.

[Neilly]

[brain150]

As a simple fact of live eco-friendly and tourism just don't get together in any way.

For a simple reason: The tourists have to go to the destination first !
The carbon footprint of any tourist by simply getting a tourist is just so enormously higher than normal that

it all becomes a simple joke !

Let's take Samui as an example:
The boats coming to the island are using an enormous amount of fuel !

The airplanes coming to the Island too !

The ferries too.

The cars too.

What's happening on Samui:

1. Water heaters running on electric [a 5kW waterheater needs 5 times more electric than I need to run my whole house !!!]

2. An aircondition ... well, if you start to build european style houses in the tropics than you have lost alrteady

3. Swimming pool ... based on a technology with chemical cleaning and dependend on a huge pump does not really fit into eco.

4. How can an island be green if pretty much all of its supplies have to be transported to it by truck ???

5. Bigger and bigger constructions and eco ? .... now I have probably lost it :-)

I know that most people on Samui live from tourism.

We might just have to accept that by simply doing what we are doing we WILL destroy the Island .... there is just no other way.

Denying these simple facts as well as denying the fact of global engineering will not change anything about it.

If anybody wants Samui to be a green eco friendly Island it has to reduce tourism, traffic, energy consumption.

Start to become more self sufficient [bring farming back to the island on a large sustainable scale] and produce it's own energy.

All this is against the current way of making big money so it simply won't happen.

Anybody who spends more than 5 seconds thinking about it and can stop lying to him/her self can easily see this.

Still, most will deny it and ignore the facts until its too late.

The big money guys can just leave and move on when it's all done and dusted .... the normal folks can't !

They have to take what's left over .... if there is anything !!!
The question now is: Are you the big guy or the one who takes what is left over ?

It might be about time to rethink the way we all make money ... for the sake of the future of our children !!!

Go to geoengineeringwatch.org and spend just 5 minutes to find out what the milky sky is all about.

It does not take long and it might change your mind about certain things.

Please spare any ironic or sarcastic comments on this post.

In my opinion this is probably the most important topic we can have.

Don't make a fool out of yourself .... stop ignoring and denying and face the truth !!! ... it will not go away anyway.

Thank you for reading this.

[AngThong]

Good post brain, too bad that link gives you a major credibility problem. It's lamentable that often those who care end up as marginalised conspiracy theorists while those who can think don't care.

Phangan still has the chance to become something à la Costa Rica, but for Samui, the train left ages ago. Phangan is on its way, too. Hopefully the permaculture project will grow and others will join in.

[PS2]

1. Chemtrails all over it 24/7 [google it if you don't know what it is] No, no joke. Scientific FACT !!!

It's called Chemvails, it's an alien cloaking device, Scientific FACT !!!

[brain150]

I didn't know that aliens fly regular airplanes.

The "persistent contrails" as they are called are spryed from airplanes.

Anybody who makes the effort to look up in the sky can see it pretty easily.

As for Koh Phangan:

Geoengineering and chemical aerosols and heavy metals affect Phangan just as much as any other region.

If the aluminium and barium go into the soil you can forget about your Permaculture system !

The problem with conspiracy theories is that most people have no idea what a conspiracy theorie by definition is !
There is somebody spraying this shit into the air ... that's a fact !
The people who are doing this are members of a conspiracy !
As I do not know who they are but have much evidence at hand to believe that there is in fact a conspiracy going on, I have a theorie.

Climate modification is NOT a theorie ! It's a fact that cannot be denied as governments actually admit on doing it !
Why would there be an international treaty if the technologie would not exist ?

Why is it so easy to observe if it is not there ??? I have spent days watching airplanes making clouds over Samui Phangan and Koh Tao !
Accepting the ugly truth is not easy but if anybody would care about anything it might be time to accept the things happening around us !!!

[Tropicalevo]

1. Chemtrails all over it 24/7 [google it if you don't know what it is] No, no joke. Scientific FACT !!!

It's called Chemvails, it's an alien cloaking device, Scientific FACT !!!

[Tropicalevo]

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=contrails&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=chemtrails&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=chemveils&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr

There you go - take your pick. (Chemveils cannot be fact - no Wikipedia page!) And the connection to a greener Samui is?

BTW - cloud seeding has been around longer than some of us. HM the King is a great supporter of it and has sponsored a number of projects. It is quite common in Thailand.

[Neilly]

[AngThong]

Why is it so easy to observe if it is not there ??? I have spent days watching airplanes making clouds over Samui Phangan and Koh Tao !

Accepting the ugly truth is not easy but if anybody would care about anything it might be time to accept the things happening around us !!!

Suggested reading:

http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/weird.html

Suggested watching:

I agree that people should care more. Again, many who care forget to think and go chasing green men while many who think forget to care.

On both occasions, we lose.

Edited August 15, 2013 by AngThong