Activity Information
Date: 29 December 2020
Venue: Facebook Live
Organizer: Faculty of Engineering, UTM
Role in The Activity
Participant
Graduate Attributes
- Thinking skill
- Global citizen
Mini Report
Conventional energy is undergoing depletion and will be eventually used up one day. Along with the rise of the energy crisis, renewable energy has become one of the most popular topics nowadays. Renewable energy sources are not only infinite but they are also often being described as clean energy since they cause little to no pollution to the environment. Meanwhile, microalgae is one of the most effective sources of renewable energy production since it can grow at high rates and capable of producing oil along the year. My justification of joining this webinar is to know more about this form of renewable energy and how we can actually harness the power from microalgae.
For the graduate attributes, the webinar is mainly focused on thinking skill and global citizen. It requires a sense of self-awareness and responsibility for us to know more about our world and also the efforts that we can make to contribute to a more sustainable world. We also need to think about how the bioprocess industry nowadays can benefit the community.
In this webinar, Professor Hadiyanto had shared about his experience working with algae. As an introduction for his topic, he briefly explained to us the revolution of biofuel. He also talked about the growth condition of microalgae, the composition of the algae biomass and why algae is more efficient compared to other sources of biomass. For sure, he did also explain the process to harness the algae energy from cultivation to different harvesting methods as well as the way to convert algae biomass to energy. Furthermore, he also threw light on utilization of algae in different aspects such as bioethanol, bioelectricity, biodiesel and so on. The sharing session ended with a Q&A session between Professor Hadiyanto and the participants.
Self-reflection
The graduate attributes that I have developed through joining this webinar are thinking skills and global citizenship. This webinar has broadened my mind and sharpened my thinking skills by exposing me to a new perspective of energy production and electricity generation. It has also raised my awareness of the energy crisis around the world.
Before joining this webinar, I do have some basic ideas on biomass. The most often that I heard is to generate biomass from food waste and crops. It's the first time for me to know that microorganisms are able to produce energy too. Aside from that, I have also obtained a lot of new knowledge from this webinar. Professor Hadiyanto has given a really clear explanation on this topic.
Humans tend to take electricity for granted. Especially for Malaysians, most of us still not aware of our energy consumption since our country’s have not undergone any energy crisis yet. However, the sources of energy for our country are mainly coal and natural gas, which are non-renewable energy sources. This kind of energy will be gradually depleted and not affordable anymore over a period of time. In this case, the use of renewable energy in Malaysia should be expanded and substituted our current main energy source. Our government should also take initiative to implement renewable energy in our country.