DE GRUYTER

OPEN
Environmental and Climate Technologies doi: 10.1515/rtuect-2016-0002
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A Survey on Renewable Energy Development in

Malaysia: Current Status, Problems and Prospects
Syed Shah ALAM1*, Nor Fariza Mohd NOR2, Maisarah AHMAD1, Nik Hazrul Nik HASHIM3
1Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Pusat Teknologi Pintar
UKM-MTDC, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2Faculty of Social Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Pusat Teknologi Pintar

UKM-MTDC, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

3Graduate School of Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Pusat Teknologi Pintar

UKM-MTDC, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract – Energy demand in Malaysia is increasing over seven per cent a year, while forty
per cent of the energy is supplied from conventional fossil fuel. However, a number of social
barriers have mired the social acceptance of renewable energy among the users. This study
investigates the current status of renewable energy, problems and future outlook of renewable
energy in Malaysia. A total of 200 respondents were surveyed from Klang Valley in Malaysia.
Majority of the respondents use energy to generate electricity. Although some respondents
reported using solar energy, there is lack of retail availability for solar energy. The findings
show that limited information on renewable energy technologies, lack of awareness, and
limited private sector engagement emerged as major barriers to sustainable renewable energy
development. In addition, the respondents suggest for increasing policy support from the
government to make information more accessible to mass users, provide economic incentives
to investors and users, and promote small-community based renewable energy projects. The
study suggests that the government begin small scale projects to build awareness on
renewable energy, while academically, higher learning institutions include renewable energy
syllabus in their academic curriculum. The study concluded that to have sustainable
renewable energy development, government’s initiative, private sector engagement and users
awareness must be given priority.

Keywords – Renewable energy; Alternative energy; Malaysia; Attitude; Theory of planned

behaviour

1. INTRODUCTION
Green and alternative energy technologies are utilitarian concepts that have emerged from the
growing need of energy. To preserve the ecological balance of this planet, a major invention has
been to motivate the users towards renewable energy technologies. Social, regulatory and
technical know-how are the three major problems hindering the process of conversion to
alternative energy [1]. Studies on alternative energy in developed country examine users’ attitude
towards renewable energy in order to understand the barriers embedded in the socialisation of
renewable energy [2]–[6]. As an emerging economic power, Malaysia has been investing a large
amount in energy safety. During 1990–2007, energy supply has grown, on the average, at 7 %
every year, of which, 40 % has been collected from fossil fuel. However, the contribution of
renewable energy has been negligible [7]. About 36 % of energy comes from gas, 17 % energy
sources from coal and biomass. Waste make up another 4 % energy and hydropower contributes
to 3 % of the total energy consumption in Malaysia. More importantly, the website of the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shahalam@[Link]
©2016 Syed Shah Alam, Nor Fariza Mohd Nor, Maisarah Ahmad, Nik Hazrul Nik Hashim. This is an open access article licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link] in the manner agreed with De Gruyter Open. 5
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Department of Statistics’ shows that Malaysia’s export of conventional energy is around 30 % of
their gross domestic product during 2007–2009, which is against the environmental safety
principle of the country.
Social acceptance of renewable energy has been challenging for many users due to availability
of less expensive energy alternatives. Apart from purely social fortune, households tendency
towards new technology adoption is highly process oriented and a long-term dispute [8]–[10]
because investment in renewable energy is expensive. New users only like to increase their energy
budget not more than 5 % in many developed countries [6], [11]. It is still at the primary stage to
comment on the success of the retail channels to make renewable energy available to mass users.
Moreover, users lifestyle, level of awareness and ease of technology use are factors which
influence rapid acceptance of renewable energy [12]. Studies on renewable energy in Malaysia
extensively cover the technical and regulatory advancements of new technology for mass use
(Table 1). Studies on social barriers and users’ attitude towards renewable energy are yet to emerge
in public domain. Therefore, users’ experience with and their attitude towards renewable energy
is yet to be rightly explored.
TABLE 1. A SUMMARY OF STUDIES ON RENEWABLE ENERGY IN MALAYSIA
Author(s) Topic
(Sovacool & Bulan) [13] Energy security and hydropower development in Sarawak, Malaysia.
(Ong, Mahlia & Masjuki) [14] Energy pattern and policy for transportation sector in Malaysia
(Mekhilef et al.) [15] Current state and prospects of solar energy in Malaysia
(Chua & Oh) [16] Solar energy outlook in Malaysia
(Tye, Lee, Wan Abdullah & Leh) [17] Bioethanol as an energy source in Malaysia
(Sovacool & Drupady) [18] Small renewable energy power program in Malaysia
(Mohammed, Salmiaton, Wan Azlina, Hydrogen rick gas from palm oil biomass as a potential renewable
Mohammad Amran, Fakhru’l-Razi & energy in Malaysia
Taufiq-Yap) [19]
(Poh & Kong) [20] A policy analysis for renewable energy in Malaysia
(Hoi Why) [21] Problems and prospects of biomass energy utilisation in Malaysia
(Mohd Noh) [22] Renewable energy update in Malaysia

Malaysia’s tropical-humid weather all year round makes it possible for Malaysia to explore solar
energy opportunities [23]. Malaysian government has developed initiatives to encourage
development of renewable energy, for instance, the government initiated Fit in Tariff (FiT)
program to develop renewable energy use, which has taken place from year 2011 [24]. The Tenth
Malaysia Plan (2011–2015) promotes the idea of energy efficiency in Malaysia and has put
forward budgetary incentives for development of solar energy, palm-oil biomass and hydropower
[23]. Chua and Oh [16] argue that such plans would help in developing alternative energy and
assist in economic development in Malaysia.
However, studies summarised in Table 1 showed a sluggish progress from the eighth Malaysia
plan (2001–2005) until the tenth Malaysia plan [25]. Sovacool and Drupady [18] explore a number
of regulatory and social barriers with regard to the development on of small scale renewable
energy in Malaysia. Among these barriers, community involvement, pricing versus tariff cost and
lengthy approval process may involve created long-lasting dissatisfaction among the users’ of
renewable energy.
Renewable energy evolution is an outcome of the global awareness on green environmental.
The first prudent attempt to restore greenness was to replace the use of plastic bags [26].
Gradually, biomass, waste management and community based small scale solar energy programs

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have shaped the renewable energy today [18]. Recent attempts to renewable energy development
involve construction of large hydro-electric plants and windmill projects. It is evident that
renewable energy development has shifted quickly from merely engaging mass users, towards
institutional production and profit making. Stephenson and Loannou [5] found that the growth of
renewable energy solutions in many countries has been very sluggish due to lack of understanding
about the life standard of the users. To motivate the use of renewable energy, green technology
policy and green building index have been introduced in 2009 [27], [28]. Findings from studies
show that the idea of energy efficiency award system and investment tax incentive to promote use
of renewable energy are growing [29]. Conversely, we know very little about how individuals’
feel when they consider sustainable renewable energy solutions. It is therefore, of significant
importance to examine users’ interest in this renewable energy initiative, problems and solutions
for renewable energy development in Malaysia.
Adequate and unstoppable energy supply is at the core of economic development. Renewable
energy has been touted to help reduce the use of fossil fuel, restore the green environment and to
reduce the future uncertainty of energy supply. However, Gan and Li’s study [30] have shown
otherwise. Their projections report that Malaysia’s energy consumption and carbon emissions will
be triple by 2030, and energy import dependency will rise. They concluded with the urge for
prudent government’s regulation on green technology and environmental safety. This study argues
that alongside regulatory and technical developments, it is of utmost importance to understand the
users’ attitude and practice of renewable energy technology. To reiterate, the current study,
therefore, attempts to explain and examine the current status of renewable energy and problems
with it, in Malaysia. The study ends with suggestions for sustainable renewable energy
development in Malaysia.

2. EMPIRICAL DESIGN
The study aims at understanding the current user profile and energy practice, challenges to
renewable energy development, and future prospects and way out for sustainable renewable
energy development in Malaysia. A total of 200 household from the Klang valley in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia participated in the study. It was difficult to get users of renewable energy.
Extensive brainstorming sessions with experts from marketing research and renewable energy
suggested that the snow-ball sampling is the best method. With this sampling method, respondents
are selected based on references given by existing respondents [31]. However, to have diversity
into the sample, the current study used multiple starting points in different parts of the Klang
Valley. Thus, instead of starting with one reference point, the data collection started with different
reference points and data is collected until the data reaches saturation in the responses. Finally, a
total of 200 completed responses were gathered for further analysis. Table 2 displays the
respondents’ profile. Gorsuch [32] and Kline [33] suggested sampling at least 100 subjects. A
sample size of 200 persons is recommended to be sufficient for data analysis [34].
Data used in this study were categorised into three major groups. There were questions on
current renewable energy practices, which were followed by questions on major barriers to
renewable energy development, and opinion regarding future prospects and challenges of
renewable energy development. The survey questions is the form of structured interview protocol,
with close ended and a combination of dichotomous and multichotomous questions. Analyses of
the questions were conducted in two stages. A number of descriptive statistics were done, followed
by mean-difference tests using Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA). As argued in Faiers and Neame
[12], this study hypothesises that ethnic difference (i.e. Malay vs. others), size of establishment
(i.e. number of room in the house) and amount of electricity consumption (in kilowatts per month)

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posit differences in users current status of renewable energy use, problems with the energy use
and solutions for renewable energy development.

3. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
3.1. Level of Interest, Awareness, Current and Future Use of Renewable Energy
Table 2 shows that over 70 % of the respondents were from Malay ethnicity. 57 % of the
respondents had an establishment size of between 3–5 rooms in their houses. In total, around 90 %
of the respondents had five rooms or less in their residence. Almost two third of the respondents
(62 %) own a house while the remaining were tenants. 33 % of the respondents used below 500
kilowatts of electricity every month. However, nearly 87 % of the respondents reported that they
used a range of 0–3000 Kilowatts of electricity. The profile elucidates that the respondents are
mostly Malay households. Table 3 and 4 show the interests of the respondents’ towards protecting
the environment and their level of interest in renewable energy. On the average, 20 % of the
respondents do not want to be penalised for causing harm to the environment. Similary another
20 % indicate that they have to think carefully before transforming themselves into supporters of
renewable energy. Table 5 shows the reason behind this unfavourable acceptance.
Around 98 % of the respondents use a combination of electricity and gas for heating water at
home. Thus, the lack of interest in renewable energy is Malaysia is primarily contributed by the
lack of available technology for mass use.
TABLE 2. RESPONDENT PROFILE
Ethnic Origin Establishment size
Freq. % Freq. %
Malay 146 73.0 Below 3 Room 63 31.5
Chinese 27 13.5 3–5 Rooms 114 57.0
Indian 16 8.0 5–10 Rooms 17 8.5
Others 11 5.5 10–20 Rooms 1 .5
Total 200 100.0 More than 20 Rooms 1 .5
Total 196 98.0

Average electricity use (kw/month) Occupancy of the house

Freq. % Freq. %
Below 500KWh 66 33.0 Owned 124 62.0
500–1000KWh 63 31.5 Rented 68 34.0
1000–3000KWh 45 22.5 Total 192 96.0
3000–5000KWh 10 5.0
5000–10000KWh 8 4.0
More than 10000 KWh 4 2.0
Total 196 98.0
Note: Missing Values were ignored, N = 200, Freq. = Frequency

Table 6 shows the level of awareness among respondents in Klang Valley. Around 20–25 % of
the respondents are not alarmed by or aware of climactic and environmental changes which is
taking place on the planet. Therefore, the lack of interest towards renewable energy is also
contributed by lack of awareness in among nearly one third of the respondents.

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Table 7 shows the current state of renewable energy use. 31 % of the respondents use solar
nominal heating, 11 % use solar for space heating, 6.6 % use solar for pool heating and another
11 % use photovoltaic energy conversion from solar to electricity. Additionally, 16.2 % use
thermal insulation for the house. It is evident from the data that respondents mostly use solar
energy.
Table 8 shows that 54 % of the respondents in future would like to rely on energy sources created
out of renewable energy. Table 7 and 8 provide important information on users’ lifestyle and
priority regarding renewable energy in Malaysia. The data points to the fact that the government
and private organisation should keep users’ life standard in mind when designing renewable
energy technology for mass use.
TABLE 3. WAYS TO PROTECT ENVIRONMENT (% OF THE RESPONDENTS)
Ways Now Later Never Total
Use public transport than personal cars 70.0 24.5 9.5 100.0
Use environmentally friendly products 56.0 39.0 5.0 100.0
Practice recycling 77.5 17.0 5.5 100.0
Reducing wastage 73.5 23.0 3.5 100.0
Reduce the use of electricity 75.5 21.5 3.0 100.0
Pay higher taxes for environmental destruction 38.0 40.0 22.0 100.0
Participate in environmental safety 73.0 22.0 5.0 100.0

TABLE 4. LEVEL OF INTEREST IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

Level of Interest Frequency %
Very Little Interest 42 21.0
Average Interest 73 36.5
Very Much Interested 85 42.5
Total 200 100.0

TABLE 5. ENERGY USE FOR WATER HEATER

Methods Frequency %
Electricity 115 57.5
Gas 23 11.5
Electricity and Gas 50 25.0
Solar 3 1.5
Total 191 95.5
Missing 9 4.5
Total 200 100.0

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TABLE 6. ARE YOU AWARE OF CLIMACTIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES (% OF

RESPONDENTS)?
Alarmed by Yes No Don’t Know Total
Climate change 78.5 9.5 12.0 100.0
Animal extinctions 76.5 13.5 10.0 100.0
Pollution by human 84.0 7.0 9.0 100.0
Pollution by agriculture 71.0 18.5 10.5 100.0
Rapid Urbanisation 79.0 11.0 10.0 100.0
Increasing amount of waste 76.0 12.5 11.5 100.0
Obesity among people 76.5 12.5 11.0 100.0
Increase in transport flows 76.0 13.5 10.5 100.0

TABLE 7. CURRENT STATE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY USE

Responses
Type of Renewable Energy Percent of Cases
N %
Thermal insulation of the house 44 16.2 % 24.6 %
Solar for heat 84 30.9 % 46.9 %
Solar space heating 30 11.0 % 16.8 %
Attached greenhouse 51 18.8 % 28.5 %
Solar pool heating 18 6.6 % 10.1 %
Photovoltaic electricity generation 31 11.4 % 17.3 %
Geothermal hot water/space heating 4 1.5 % 2.2 %
Use of solid fuel with biomass content 10 3.7 % 5.6 %
272 100.0 % 152.0 %
Note: includes multiple responses

3.2. Major Barriers to Renewable Energy Development

Respondents identified their level of support for various renewable energy technology
developments (Table 9) and commented on barriers they faced during the decision of renewable
energy use (Table 10). On average, more than 5 % of the respondents commented that they do not
know about various energy technologies, which is why they are unable to support the use of
renewable energy. The final column in Table 9 shows the total percentage of respondents’
responses which are coded as strongly opposed, opposed and neutral. This column shows that
another 30–40 % of the respondents either opposed or kept them aside from supporting. Lack of
support from the respondents is perhaps contributed by the lack of awareness and access to
information. Some of the factors which created barriers are presented in Table 10. Respondents
selected lack of awareness and unfavourable cost as the two most important barriers (based on
mean score). Limited private sector involvement, uneasy regulatory support from the government,
limited social acceptance and unavailability of financial valuation information for user analysis
were the other important factors.
One way ANOVA tests were conducted to examine whether the barriers were different among
different categories of respondents. Null hypotheses means that each barrier is the same among
the groups (such as among Malays, Chinese, Indians and others). Among the three categories, the

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size of establishments, ethnicity and electricity usage based on average per month, the study found
two barriers. They are size of establishment and electricity usage based on average per month. The
use of electricity is statistically significant (see Table 11). ANOVA tests on barriers signals two
major problems. Firstly, limited access to renewable energy information among the minority
groups (the Malay population is majority, Chinese and Indians are minority). Secondly, customers
with one of the highest usage of electricity (500–1000 kW per month) in the retail sector could
not find suitable renewable technology for their use. These two results, therefore, have
implications on policymakers. The result indicates that information should be made available to
all the potential users of renewable energy. In addition, companies that invest to produce
renewable energy technology should work closely with the government to introduce renewable
energy technologies that are suitable for the targeted users. As argued in Faiers and Neame [12]
Stephenson and Loannou [5] and Rogers et al. [35], renewable energy initiatives will fail unless
the regulators and investors pay attention to community interest and lifestyle of the users.
TABLE 8. FUTURE PRIORITY FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY USE
Responses
Future use of Renewable Energy Percent of Cases
N %
Nuclear power plants 46 18.4 % 24.2 %
Power plants that rely on renewable energy 135 54.0 % 71.1 %
Natural gas power plants 57 22.8 % 30.0 %
Coal fired power plants 8 3.2 % 4.2 %
Others 4 1.6 % 2.1 %
250 100.0 % 131.6 %
Note: includes multiple responses

TABLE 9. LEVEL OF SUPPORT FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY

Don’t SO +O
Level of Support with SO O N S SS
Know +N
Hydroelectric generation with a dam 2.5 7.0 20.5 38.5 22.5 9.0 30.0
Small hydroelectric on streams 1.0 7.5 29.0 35.5 18.0 9.0 37.5
Biomass/ Biodiesel 2.0 6.0 21.0 40.0 26.0 5.0 29.0
Wind energy 1.5 6.0 22.0 33.5 29.5 7.5 29.5
Solar thermal energy 1.0 2.5 17.0 33.0 40.5 6.0 20.5
Photovoltaic energy 1.0 3.0 22.0 33.0 34.0 7.0 26.0
Geothermal energy 2.0 3.0 30.0 35.0 19.0 11.0 35.0
Wood Energy 4.5 12.0 32.0 28.5 15.0 8.0 48.5
Oil Energy 3.5 9.5 33.5 30.0 18.5 5.0 46.5
Gas Energy 4.0 8.5 32.0 29.0 22.0 4.5 44.5
Note: rounded to 100 %; SO = Strongly Opposed, O = Opposed, N = Neutral, S = Supportive, SS = Strongly Supportive

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TABLE 10. MAJOR BARRIERS TO RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT (% OF RESPONDENTS)
Items SD D MD MA A SA Mean
Limited information on Renewable energy 5.0 10.5 14.5 23.5 32.5 14.0 4.08
Inadequate financing 1.0 6.0 15.0 31.5 34.0 12.5 4.27
Limited financial information (i.e. ROI) 1.0 4.5 17.5 30.5 34.0 12.5 4.28
Limited involvement of private sectors 1.0 5.5 15.0 29.5 35.0 14.0 4.33
Lack of awareness 2.0 8.0 10.5 25.0 29.5 25.0 4.45
Unfavorable costs, subsidies and energy prices 1.0 7.5 12.0 22.0 37.0 20.5 4.47
Lack of access to the technology 3.0 7.0 19.0 25.0 30.0 16.0 4.20
Lack of social acceptance 3.0 5.5 14.0 29.0 29.5 19.0 4.34
Lack of cost-benefit valuation 2.5 6.0 11.0 30.0 32.5 18.0 4.39
Unfavorable energy sectors policies 2.0 7.0 13.0 28.5 33.0 16.5 4.34
Note: rounded to 100 %, Mean is calculated in a total point of 6. SD = Strongly Disagree, D = Disagree,
MD = Moderately Disagree, MA = Moderately Agree, A = Agree, SA = Strongly Agree

TABLE 11. ANOVA TEST ON BARRIERS

Ethnicity Electricity Consumption
Highest Mean Highest
Items P-value P-value Mean Group
Mean Group Mean
Limited information on
0.054** 4.56 Chinese .475 4.37 5000–1000 kWh
Renewable energy
Inadequate financing 0.055* 4.81 Chinese .828 4.62 5000–1000 kWh
Limited financial Chinese
.115 4.70 .520 4.87 5000–1000 kWh
information (i.e. ROI)
Limited involvement of Chinese
.386 4.62 .746 4.62 3000–5000 kWh
private sectors
Lack of awareness .451 4.77 Chinese .920 4.60 5000–10000 kWh
Unfavorable costs, subsidies Chinese
.181 4.92 .213 4.87 5000–1000 kWh
and energy prices
Lack of access to the Chinese
.197 4.62 0.050** 4.50 500–1000 kWh
technology
Lack of social acceptance .212 4.70 Chinese .552 4.50 3000–500 kWh
Lack of valuation of cost and Chinese
.216 4.81 .234 4.75 5000–1000 kWh
benefits
Unfavorable energy sectors Chinese
.355 4.66 .732 4.62 5000–1000 kWh
policies
Note: ** = Significant at 5 %, * = Significant at 10 %

3.3. Future Outlook and Policy Participation for Renewable Energy Development
The level of interest, awareness, lack of availability and limited access to information are the
major barriers to effective renewable energy development in Malaysia. The respondents offered a
number of solutions to enhance the socialisation process. Around 70 % of the respondents argue
that introduction of a new renewable energy project will tremendously boosts up the level of local
residences’ awareness (Table 12). Hence, community based renewable energy development [35]
is the choice among the respondents in Malaysia. However, there exist questions on the
organisational and regulatory participation to successful renewable energy initiative. Table 13

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reports that respondents place highest importance on government on where policy issues are
concerned, while research institutes should be responsible on innovation of customer friendly
renewable energy technology. Although the lowest importance was given to municipalities, the
government has to bring in various changes to existing regulatory frameworks, community
education programs and developing retail chains to enhance mass access to renewable energy
technologies. The ANOVA tests (not reported here) on institutional priority based on ethnicity,
size of establishment and average monthly use of electricity do not reveal any significant
differences among the institutions.
TABLE 12. NEW PROJECT INCREASES LEVEL OF AWARENESS
Respondents’ Opinion Frequency Percent
No Opinion 13 6.5
Disagree 6 3.0
Agree 112 56.0
Strongly Agree 48 24.0
Total 179 89.5
Missing 21 10.5
200 100.0

TABLE 13. INSTITUTIONAL PRIORITY TO DEVELOP RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR (% OF

RESPONDENTS)
Institutions No Priority Average Top Priority
Government 5.0 22.0 73.0
Universities and Research Institutions 3.0 27.0 70.0
Private sector 5.0 38.0 57.0
Electric utilities department 3.0 42.0 55.0
Municipalities 4.0 58.0 38.0

Regulators have plenty of challenges in order to develop social acceptance of renewable energy
in Malaysia. What are some of the areas that the government should take actions on for sustainable
renewable energy development? Table 14 shows respondents’ opinion regarding government’s
initiative. Roughly 70 % of the respondents think that the government should not be directly
involved with renewable energy business, rather it should only assist in policies to clear up policy
barriers. Similarly, the respondents do not want the government to demonstrate projects. These
are clear evidences of the respondents’ willingness to see more private sector investment and
engagement into renewable energy development. More than 50 % of the respondents want the
government to make information on renewable energy accessible by mass users. Nearly 40 % of
the respondents require the government to penetrate academic curriculum to develop clear
understanding among the youth. On top of all, the respondents want government’s intervention.
However, that intervention should not go beyond policy level. The government should make
information available to mass users and let the private sector invest and manage renewable energy
sector.

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TABLE 14: GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE TO DEVELOP SUSTAINABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR

Responses Percent
Government should
N Percent of Cases
Directly promote renewable energies 84 26.20 % 47.50 %
Support pilot demonstration project for different technologies 53 16.50 % 29.90 %
Place renewable energy into academic curriculum 71 22.10 % 40.10 %
Make information accessible by mass users 96 29.90 % 54.20 %
Not be involved with renewable energy 17 5.30 % 9.60 %
Total 321 100.00 % 181.40 %
Note: Includes multiple responses

4. CONCLUSION
Government, private sector and users need to face multi-dimensional social barriers to
sustainable renewable energy development. At present, Malaysians mostly depend on
conventional energy sources for electricity and other energy demands, which explains why the use
of renewable sources is insignificant. The respondents identified four major issues. Firstly, there
has to be sufficient regulatory and policy assistance starting from policies to motivate investment
in renewable energy technology innovation, making information available to be accessed by mass
users and creating conducive environment for private sector to capitalise in this sector. Similar to
various studies conducted in the western contexts [5], [35], [36] a community based renewable
sector development would be a good start. There exists lack of awareness among Malaysians
regarding the benefits and challenges of renewable energies. As argued in Fredric [37],
government and private sector investors can develop marketing programs to create awareness in
communities to increase the use of renewable energies.

Sustainable Renewable Energy Development

Government Initiative Private Sector Users’ Awareness

Participation

Fig. 1. Dimensions of Successful Renewable Energy Development in Malaysia.

The role of banks and financial institutions in arranging financing for renewable energy
investment is crucial. Investment in renewable energy at the mass user level is quite expensive.
Hence, West et al. [38] argued that government should offer economic incentives to investors and
users of renewable energy technologies. Similarly, respondents in this study have also argued that
lack of financial information and limited financing availability are major issues while deciding to
transform conventional to renewable energy. However, similar to the western contexts [5], [6].
Malaysians are not ready to pay extra to save the environment. They do not like to see their tax
burden increase because people are not using environmentally safe technologies. Therefore, the
government has more challenges than those of the private sector and users of renewable energy.
The respondents also supported small-scale renewable energy projects to be established locally to
create awareness among the people. Most of the respondents in this study have been using solar
energy for various purposes. Solar energy technologies are relatively easy to use. The government
of Malaysia should place added importance to solar energy to initiate sustainable renewable
energy development. Finally, the study reveals three dimensions of successful renewable energy
development for Malaysia, as shown in Fig. 1.

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Dr. Syed Shah Alam is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and
Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia). Prior
to joining to the National University of Malaysia, he taught at Universiti Teknologi MARA
(UiTM), Malaysia and Multimedia University Malaysia (MMU). Dr Alam is the recipient of
an “Excellent Service Award” at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2011.
He has authored for four books and more than 100 academic articles in business and E-
commerce area. Over the past 5 years he has been actively involved in social enterprises
development program in Malaysia with a special interest in participatory action research and
social enterprises projects. He focuses on developing and promoting linkages and
collaborative social enterprises activities between Malaysian educational and other
institutions. He has served as the secretary for “First International Research Conference on
Social Business’ 2013” held in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Email: shahalam@[Link]

Nor Fariza Mohd Nor (Ph.D) received the Ph.D degree from the University of Malaya,
Malaysia, in Applied Linguistics, in 2008. She received her Master degree in master in
English for specific purpose from the University of Warwick, U.K. in 1998 and her Bachelor
(Hons) degree from the University of Lancaster, U.K. in 1990.
Nor Fariza is an Associate Professor at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics
(SoLLS), Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Malaysia
(UKM). She began her career as an English language teacher at SoLLS, before she pursued
her master degree in 1997. She completed her master degree in 1998 and returned to UKM.
She then began her career as a lecturer and became a senior lecturer in 1999. Nor Fariza later
pursued her education in Ph.D and convocated in 2008.
She teaches discourse and pragmatics, to both the undergraduate and postgraduate students.
She also supervises students at degree level, master and Ph.D level on topics such as
language learning, discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. In addition, Nor Fariza has been invited as external examiner
to evaluate thesis of both master and Ph.D students, in UKM and other public and private universities in Malaysia. She is
currently the editor-in-chief for GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, a journal which focuses on linguistics,
English language, Malay language and foreign language teaching and learning, literature and translation studies. GEMA
Online Journal is indexed in established databases such as Elsevier (Scopus), DOAJ, Wiley-Blackwell, Ebsco, Linguist
list, Asean Citation Index, Islamic World Citation Center and most recently in ESCI (indexed by Thomson Reuters). She
has been the editor-in-chief for the past 4 years. Due to her vast experience in managing journal, she has been invited to
present talks on journal management by several higher learning institutions.
E-mail: fariza@[Link]

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Associate Professor Dr. Maisarah Ahmad presently is the Chief Executive Officer for
Women Innovation Academy (MyWIN). Prior assuming her current post, she was the first
to lead the newly incepted Income Generation and Business Development Department under
the Pro Vice Chancellor’s Office Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), who took up her
post on the 15th of October 2015. Prior to her appointment as Executive Deputy Director, she
was the Deputy Dean for Research, Innovation and Industry Engagement, Faculty of
Economics and Management.
Dr. Maisarah also heads the Consumer and Consumerism Research CoRE-UKM and serves
as a Deputy Treasurer for Malaysian Consumer and Family Economics Association
(MACFEA) and a member of Consumer Forum Malaysia within the purview of Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission, Ministry of Communication and
Multimedia. Maisarah is also an Honorary Professor of Marketing, an appointment by the
Government of Cambodia for IIC University of Technology Cambodia. Her research passion
is predominantly in areas of consumer insights in particular where marketing concepts and theories are fused into non-
business context such as recycling, food security and religion, to name a few. Uncovering and exploring consumer
socialization is another passion of hers. She has published numerous articles and books on related matters.
Email: sara@[Link]

Nik M. Hazrul Nik Hashim is an Associate Professor of Marketing at UKM-Graduate

School of Business, National University of Malaysia. He holds a Ph.D in Marketing from the
University of Melbourne in 2009. He has more than fifteen years of experience as an
academician, including a casual teaching stint in Australia. He is currently the Head of
Doctoral Programs at the faculty. He has published in reputable international journals such
as Renewable Energy, Journal of Sustainability Science and Management, and Australian
Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences. Nik is also the co-author of Product Management &
Strategy, a book published by McGraw-Hill. He specializes in Product Innovation and New
Product Development from the marketing perspective. His research interests centre on
product strategy and performance, packaging and prototypes, product rollouts, green
products, and environmental marketing.
He has been a consultant specializing in development and environmental marketing strategies
for new products for several innovation companies: Center for Collaborative Innovation,
Biobiz Innovation Research Group, and Malaysian Foundation for Innovation. His teaching performance has consistently
been ranked among the highest at the faculty and university level, hence is the recipient of numerous teaching and research
awards.

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