Integrated assessment of waste-to-energy valorization in Sarawak: harnessing biofuel adoption for sustainability

Rural Sarawak, the largest state in Malaysia, faces a persistent energy access challenge: roughly 30% of its 6235 villages still lack 24-hour electricity, leaving communities reliant on costly and emission-intensive diesel generators. This study presents an assessment of waste-to-energy valorization across four biomass feedstocks: municipal waste, wood waste, agricultural waste, and palm oil mill effluent (POME) to evaluate biofuel adoption. A study was combined with a quantitative survey (n = 105) analyzed through Cronbach’s alpha reliability testing, Pearson correlation, and regression. This synthesis estimates that 63.90 million tons of POME could yield approximately 3.48 million MW.h of electricity annually in Malaysia, while wood pellets demonstrate an 83% lower GHG footprint than coal-fired power. Statistical analysis identified wood waste as the only significant predictor of investment willingness in renewable energy (r = −.332, p = .001; R2 = 0.110), revealing that public concerns over deforestation moderate enthusiasm for wood-based biofuel investment. Cronbach’s alpha values (0.608–0.918) confirmed strong instrument reliability across the four perceptions. Against the backdrop of approximately 55 billion tonnes of global fossil-fuel CO2 emissions in 2021, these findings highlight POME-based biogas as Sarawak’s most viable near-term feedstock and challenge the need for transparent stakeholder engagement.