The Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Company (Tusdec) is planning to set up a Common Facility Centre (CFC) to encourage local manufacturing of energy efficient Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) with an ultimate objective to help bridge gap between energy generation and consumption in Pakistan.
This was revealed in a meeting on 'Energy Conservation and Load Management', chaired by Federal Secretary for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives, Shahab Khawaja on Wednesday.
The Federal Secretary said that it was high time to encourage the replacement of the incandescent bulbs with energy savers (CFLs) to help quickly ensure the energy security of the country. He hoped the establishment of the CFC would go a long way in the promotion of energy-efficient illumination gadgets in the country.
Giving presentation on 'Impact of Energy Management on Power Planning', Energy Conservation Expert, Engr Arshad Chughtai said that replacement of one incandescent bulb by a CFL by each of 17 million users of our electric utilities, Wapda and KESC can help save over 1,300 megawatts of electricity during peak hours. He said that power consumption in Pakistan was presently growing at a rate of 10 percent per annum, predicting that it would get double by the year 2015. He billed the consumers' indifference towards saving electricity as one of the major reasons for the steep growth in power consumption.
Quoting examples from other parts of the world, Chughtai said that incandescent bulbs, perfected for mass use by Thomas A Edison in the late 19th century, were being phased out in several developed and developing countries at the moment and replaced with CFLs, which use only 20 percent of the energy consumed by incandescent bulbs.
He said that the use of the CFLs would not only help consumers save a lot of money but also lead to austerity at national level as generation of each megawatt of energy, at present, costs one million US dollars.
Chughtai said, unlike other developed and developing nations of the world, most of the energy ie 43 percent of total generation, was consumed in Pakistan by domestic consumers while industry's share in power consumption was just 28 percent against 63 percent in China and 43 percent in India.
He said that Pakistan with an installed power generation capacity of almost 20,000-megawatt (including that of recently installed two rental power plants) was presently facing a shortfall of 2,500 megawatt. He added that the measures including load management, energy conservation and generation of more energy should go side by side to ensure the energy security of the country.
Energy Conservation expert said that the installation of Time of Day (ToD) and Time of Use (ToU) meters can also encourage the consumers to minimise the consumption of the electricity during peak hours as it would change their consumption behaviour. He added there was a critical need to add capacitors at the street or house level to further impact conservation.
He illustrated the measures adopted by developed nations like Japan where they use load limiters and anyone exceeding their agreed load is cut-off. He also suggested the use of low-pressure sodium vapour lamps for streetlight and proper adjustment of thermostats for energy conservation.