Conserving energy through 'audit'

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) and the National Energy Conservation Centre (Enercon) have signed an MoU in a seminal initiative aimed at promoting energy conservation in the SME sector. Under this agreement, Smeda has agreed to conduct "energy audit" in two major sub-sectors of textile industry, ie Spinning and Processing, as a consultant of Enercon, says a Recorder Report.
Energy audit, which is rather a novel concept in Pakistan, is the first step of the multi-phased project in which energy waste at selected units will be assessed, and recommendations on energy conservation, along with methodologies for improving the production process, will be made by qualified professionals.
The audit involves a comprehensive survey of all energy consuming equipment and processes at a plant, followed by a detailed scrutiny of various systems, which will enable the "auditors" to recommend energy conservation techniques and processes to mill managements.
Under the MoU, Smeda will select textile establishments for the energy audit by constituting teams, which will submit a copy of the final audit report to both the management of the factory concerned and to Enercon, for initiating the corrective measures. Smeda is likely to hire additional resources to bolster its staff strengthen for handling this extremely important project.
Smeda and Enercon have also agreed to launch a training programme to produce certified "energy managers," and it will be made legally binding on all industrial establishments in the country to have "energy managers" on their staff in future who will advise mill managements on proper utilisation of energy resources. Needless to add that if this pilot project is successfully implemented it will constitute a big step towards energy conservation, which can help save our economy from collapse.
Energy generation and energy conservation are mutually complementary facets of the energy sector, without which the power sector cannot function properly. The widening gap between supply and demand of energy in the country has necessitated creation of awareness at all levels to save this precious national resource. Energy generation and conservation are in fact equally important, though the latter is more easily "doable" than the former.
The major causes of energy waste have been identified as use of unskilled electrical staff, poor wiring, use of old electrical motors with their substandard wiring etc. All these flaws have become a major burden on the country's power system. Secondly, energy audit of export-oriented units is more important for imparting a competitive edge to our exports, as it will reduce the cost of production in the country.
Energy audit and plugging energy wasting loopholes can help these units to control their energy bills, in addition to diverting energy thus saved, to other industrial units. According to one estimate, there is a potential to save 10 to 15 percent energy in the textile industry alone, by minimising its wasteful use, and ensuring efficiency of operations.
Incidentally, the current level of energy consumption by textile industry stands at around 1,500 megawatts, which can be reduced through energy audit. A well-conducted energy audit can reveal the areas where energy wastage is taking place and can suggest methodologies on how to stop it, or at least to minimise it without affecting the efficiency of the production process.
According to one estimate, energy wastage in the country's industrial sector varies from 15 to 20 percent, which represents a huge loss not only to the industrial sector, but to the national economy.
The industrial sector's share in terms of electricity consumption at present stands at 28.4 percent, while "line losses" - a beautiful blanket expression coined and used by energy bureaucracy to camouflage its failure to ward off the power crisis - in simpler words means power theft, which is said to be as high as 40 percent in Karachi alone. The widening gap between power generation and consumption in the country can be substantially reduced by implementing recommendations of the "energy auditors."
It seems that our country will have to live with its energy deficit, at least in the short-term perspective because of successive governments' failure to tap the country's immense energy resources. There have indeed been plenty of slogans and expressions of firm resolve at public meetings to tide over the energy crisis, but there has been no change in the ground realities.
Many analysts have claimed that not even a single megawatt was added to the country's generation capacity in the last eight years. We believe that the introduction and popularisation of energy-saving techniques through "energy audits" in all sectors of the economy can help the country ward off the impending economic collapse. Smeda and Enercon have done well to launch the mega project for conservation of energy. The facility should be extended to all sectors of the economy.