Ke Mana Perginya Para Insinyur dan Peneliti Kita? #2

— Kontroversi Blue Energy: "Presiden Panggil Tim UGM"

Indonesia Bisa ???

YOGYAKARTA -- Tim ilmuwan Universitas Gadjah Mada yang membeberkan dugaan penipuan oleh Joko Suprapto dan kawan dipanggil Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono di Istana Negara hari ini. Pertemuan itu dilakukan untuk mendiskusikan secara ilmiah terkait dengan kontroversi kabar penemuan sumber energi alternatif dari air (blue energy).

"Besok (hari ini) pukul 13.00 dijadwalkan pertemuan itu," kata Kepala Pusat Studi Energi Sudiartono di kantornya kemarin. Selain Sudiartono, Rektor UGM Profesor Sudjarwadi, Ketua Jurusan Teknik Elektro Fakultas Teknik UGM Tumiran, peneliti teknik energi dan reaktor nuklir pada Fakultas Teknis Jurusan Teknik Fisika UGM, Dr-Ing Sihana, akan turut dalam pertemuan itu. Sudiartono pernah bertemu dengan Joko Suprapto saat mereka menemui Rektor UGM Profesor Sofian Effendi pada Desember 2005 untuk meminta pembiayaan proyek pembangkit listrik dengan blue energy senilai Rp 3 miliar. Setelah ditelusuri, akhirnya disimpulkan upaya Joko dan kawan-kawan hanyalah penipuan.

"Kami ini akademisi yang urusannya ilmiah. Saya akan bercerita polos apa adanya (kepada Presiden)," kata Sudiartono.

Dasar ilmiahnya, Tumiran menambahkan, air tidak mempunyai unsur kimia yang bisa diubah menjadi minyak. Susunan unsur kimia air (H2O) adalah hidrogen dan oksigen, sedangkan minyak mengandung karbon (C) dan hidrogen. "Jadi sangat kecil sekali kemungkinannya (air menjadi sumber energi)," katanya.

Sumber energi alternatif menjadi kontroversi karena melibatkan lingkaran dalam Istana Negara. Staf khusus kepresidenan, Heru Lelono, mengaku menjadi komisaris dalam perusahaan yang akan mengembangkan proyek tersebut. Presiden Yudhoyono, kata dia, tetap meminta proyek Joko itu diteruskan. "Temuan ini logis. Sudah didukung oleh ahli perminyakan," katanya kepada Tempo, Ahad lalu.

Menteri Riset dan Teknologi Kusmayanto Kadiman mengaku tak tahu banyak soal blue energy. Karena itu, dia menyarankan Tempo bertanya kepada Joko Suprapto dan orang-orang yang punya perjanjian dengan investor. Saat ditanya apakah dirinya sama sekali tidak dilibatkan dan ditegur pihak Istana karena ragu terhadap blue energy, Kusmayanto menyatakan hal itu hanya permainan politik.

"Saya tidak mau terjebak dan terbawa arus politik. Perkenankan saya berfokus melakukan yang baik-baik dengan benar," katanya melalui layanan pesan singkat, Rabu malam lalu.

Sementara itu, Direktur Pusat Teknologi Pengembangan Sumber Daya Energi Badan Pengkajian dan Penerapan Teknologi, Unggul Prayitno, menyatakan konsep dan teknologi mendapatkan energi pengganti minyak dari air dalam jumlah besar dan murah masih diragukan. "Di dunia ini hanya Afrika Selatan yang mampu, itu pun karena sumber daya alamnya mendukung," kata Unggul.

Dia menjelaskan, ada tiga teknologi yang bisa digunakan untuk mendapatkan energi bahan bakar dari air, yaitu dengan memecah hidrogen dan oksigen dalam air menggunakan arus listrik, menyemprot gas hidrogen dengan uap air, dan menyemprot batu bara dengan uap air.

Afrika Selatan menggunakan metode ketiga sehingga mereka bisa melakukan produksi massal. Teknologi ini dikembangkan akibat embargo dunia karena negara itu menerapkan politik apartheid. "Energi yang dihasilkan 5.000 barel per hari dengan biaya Rp 28 triliun," kata Unggul. Metode ini merupakan pilihan dengan biaya termurah. Sebab, metode yang lain biayanya sangat mahal, apalagi jika menggunakan arus listrik.

http://www.indonesia.go.id/id/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=7483&Itemid=701

http://www.korantempo.com/korantempo/
2008/05/30/headline/krn,20080530,39.id.html

30-05-2008

— SBY faces questions over 'Blue Energy' hoax

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 05/30/2008 11:18 AM | Headlines

The President has been chided for apparently being taken in by what experts are calling the "Blue Energy" hoax.

Blue Energy was the work of a Joko Suprapto, who claimed to have created fuel from water. Joko, who has been labeled a charlatan by some observers, managed to secure a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was eager to pursue the Blue Energy project.

Some scientists and lawmakers have since dismissed the so-called invention as a hoax, saying the President was deceived by Joko, who never published articles about his claimed Blue Energy in scientific journals.

Officials at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta dismissed Joko as a charlatan, saying his scientific claims were unsubstantiated. They also said personal information provided by Joko and his work turned out to be false.

The university turned away Joko when he approached officials there in 2006 seeking their endorsement for Blue Energy.

"Hydrogen is a source of energy. In theory, it is possible to separate hydrogen from oxygen in the water, but the process is very costly and technologically very difficult," the head of Trisakti University's research center, Dadan Umar Daihani, said here Thursday.

Early in 2007, Joko, a resident of the East Java regency of Nganjuk, secured a meeting with Yudhoyono, and piqued the President's interest.

Yudhoyono, eager for alternative sources of energy amid skyrocketing global oil prices, offered support for the claimed invention.

"In times of energy panic, any idea for alternative energy will be swallowed," Dadan said.

The President named the fuel "Blue Energy" and appointed a special adviser, Heru Lelono, to head the project.

A research center was built in Cikeas, Bogor, just three kilometers from Yudhoyono's private residence. Some Rp 10 billion (US$1.07 million) was allocated for the project, a lawmaker said.

As Indonesia was preparing to host a major UN climate change conference in Bali last December, Yudhoyono visited the center three times to examine the "fuel" resulting from Joko's work, before seeing off a convoy of cars to make the drive to Bali using the fuel.

Blue Energy was then exhibited during the conference, which was attended by more than 10,000 people from around the world.

Since the close of the conference, there was no news about Joko until his family reported him missing in March. After 13 days, he was located in a hospital in Madiun, East Java.

The presidential office has never issued a statement about the issue, although lawmakers and scientists have urged the government to explain the mystery behind Joko's brief disappearance and what has happened with his invention.

Lawmaker Alvin Lie of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said the House of Representatives would seek an official explanation from the President about his involvement in the project.

Effendy Choirie of the National Awakening Party (PKB) demanded the government protect the President from charlatans and prevent them from feeding Yudhoyono false information.

Effendy said it was Yudhoyono's aides who allowed people like Joko to get close to the President.

"The President should strengthen his office's capabilities to screen information from the outside, as it is very dangerous to establish national policies based on inaccurate input. In this case, he could set up an office for scientific and technological affairs," Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/
2008/05/30/sby-faces-questions-over-039blue-energy039-hoax.html

Friday, May 30, 2008 11:18 AM