6. Fuel economy standards and labels in the ASEAN region
Fuel economy standards and labels are one of the best strategies
to reduce energy utilization and help any country to reduce
their pollution. Standards are procedures and regulations that prescribe
a fuel economy level as criteria that manufacturers must
meet in order to get the permission to sell their products in the
market. Labelling is another measure that could play an important
role in consumers’ vehicle purchasing decisions between similar
vehicles. Labelling accompanied by standards of an appropriate
type and level of stringency may yield synergistic results. In order
to set fuel economy standards and labels for vehicles, a regulatory
authority must be developed [29,52–56]. The energy labels
could contribute to further potential energy savings from the standards
[27,57–60]. The purpose of evaluating standards and test
method programs is to identify the areas of weakness in the
programs design and implementation so that they can be strengthened
in the future stage. The programs also aim to measure the
impacts on vehicle efficiency, fuel consumption, operating costs,
manufacturing, and the environmental impact. An evaluation to
meet prioritized needs of time, cost, or accuracy [24]. Table 10
[12] provides an overview of the various government agencies
involved in the development and setting of standards on vehicle
emissions standards and fuel quality in different ASEAN member
countries.
6.1. Malaysia
Malaysia has started to strive towards low carbon emissions
recently through various green policies and energy efficiency (EE)
programs. The energy scenario and various policies have been
adopted in this country to mitigate CO2 emission [61]. The government
of Malaysia has formulated numerous energy-related
policies throughout the years to ensure the long-term reliability
and energy supply security for sustainability social-economic
development for the country. The implemented policies are the
National Energy Policy (1979), National Depletion Policy (1980)
and Fuel Diversification Policy (1981, 1999) [43]. Moreover, the
Malaysian government has developed several policies to control
emissions from vehicles, such as [12]:
(i) Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 1978.
(ii) Environmental Quality (Control of lead concentration in automobile
gasoline) Regulations 1985.
(iii) Environmental Quality (Control Emission from Diesel Engine)
Regulation of September 1 1996.
(iv) Environmental Quality (Control of Emission from Gasoline
Engines) Regulation on November 1 1996.