Energy & Power

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A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned
Farid Hossain

A penny saved is a penny earned. This old saying found a new meaning at a recent seminar in Dhaka that dealt with the issue of saving energy in energy-poor Bangladesh.

On a normal day Bangladesh suffers more than 1,500 MW-power shortage resulting in frequent outages, which seem to be the only regular event in a country of many irregularities. The outages cause immense suffering to the people, to industry and finally to the economy.

Much of the world is now energy-driven and so should be Bangladesh. Unfortunately, Bangladesh is the one of those countries where consumption of energy is very low. The situation got worse during the past government of now-detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. There had virtually been no generation of power during the five-year rule of Zia-led four-party coalition government. That had plunged the energy sector into a new low and we all know how it happened and how corruption made only a handful of people close to the power super rich overnight.

The caretaker government, led by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, has been trying to increase power generation by encouraging more power plants in the private sector. The response so far has been poor. While new plants are unlikely right now, there should be alternatives to save the country from economy-crippling power outages. Saving and conserving energy is one of those alternatives, said officials and experts at the roundtable seminar, organized by Energy and Power magazine in cooperation with German Technical Cooperation, better known as GTZ.

Discussions at the roundtable were revealing. Encouraging too. Saving the energy is also seen as another form of producing energy. If natural gas is seen as the “first fuel” and coal resources the “second fuel” then saving the energy is the “third fuel” Bangladesh can save up to 800 MW of electricity alone by increasing its efficiency in production, transmission and use of energy, especially power.

Opportunities to save energy are there in many sectors: domestic, commercial, industrial, institutional, transportation and agricultural. That is what has been suggested by Khursheed-ul-Islam, an energy expert working with GTZ.

Energy can be save through the use of energy efficient lighting, escalators, motors, thermal furnaces, steam systems, cogeneration. Institutions like schools, colleges, offices, hospitals can use energy efficient lighting and hot water system.

We can have fuel-efficient vehicles, energy efficient traffic lights and mass transport. In farming we can have energy-efficient irrigation and we can also improve efficiency in husk-fired boilers used in the rice mills. There are so many areas where we can do with much less than we are using today.

Islam's suggestions seemed practical. He estimated that efficient use of energy can save 400 MW in domestic lighting; 100 MW in commercial lighting; 200 MW in industrial lighting; 50 MW in industrial motors and 20 MW in power factor improvement. That totals to about 800 MW or 22 percent of the total electricity available in a day.

The calculation sounds fabulous. If this is the fact what we are waiting for? Why we are not taking immediate action? Isn't it the time to bell the cat? If so, who is going to bell the cat? The government should do it. “The third fuel (energy efficiency) should be the action of the government,” said K.B. Ahmed, an energy entrepreneur. “We don't have any energy crisis. The problem is with the mismanagement.” Most experts agreed with Ahmed and also with Mir Nasir Hossain, president of FBCCI. Bangladesh, Nasir Hossain, said needs a clear policy on energy. “We don't have any good policy. There is also overlapping in policies,” Nasir Hossain said. He suggested a solution to the problems of inefficiency, corruption and not having a clear policy. Privatization is the answer, he said. Few will disagree with him.