AS Media-Manager at Enigin Plc I scan the news constantly, and this week I have been tracking news from around the world about the importance of building new power sources for energy security and to fulfil future power demands. Whether renewable solutions such as the solar power plant planned by India, or the more traditional methods of coal or nuclear power being planned by many others, the question in the headline is apropos.
Energy saving is what we are about on this blog, not energy production, hence we lean towards emphasis on energy efficiency instead of new or more power but the plans for new power sources, renewable or otherwise is essential – for security and due to an increasing demand. We cannot be energy efficient if we haven’t got any energy in the first place.
By the same token energy efficiency will and does have a huge affect on the amount of power used or needed.
In the west we regard a reasonably constant supply as the norm, but in many countries that is not the case.
In the past six months I heard from one businessman starting an energy saving business in his area in Eastern Europe, the main aim of his business was not saving money on energy and reducing carbon emissions, it was keeping a regular supply throughout the day!
A large industrial plant in his local city would demand so much energy at certain points throughout their production cycle that once or twice during the working day they would take all the energy available – this left the local citizens without any electricity for up to four hours at a time.
Can you imagine having a black-out twice a day every day?
Energy efficiency and saving energy suddenly becomes a major concern for here and now, let alone the future of the planet.
This is also the reason many nations are considering their power needs, so we don’t all suffer the same as in that Eastern European city. Building for more power is one long term answer, but energy efficiency can be a simpler and quicker solution, in part at least.
The Eastern European business man, mentioned above, wants to be able to help businesses, the populace and particularly the large industrial plant to become more energy efficient. In this case, having more power is important but is unlikely to happen any day soon – so becoming more efficient in the use of the available power would have a dramatic affect on everyone.
With this experience in mind, we can extend from this and see that even where we have enough power now, by becoming more energy efficient the demand for power will be greatly reduced and takes the pressure off building new power sources too quickly with the ensuing complications.
Aarthi S Anaud mentioned this in his article on the Express Buzz website – earlier in the article he had been talking about India’s power problems:
“Improving energy efficiency would be the most cost-effective method to tackle the shortfalls and sustain the country’s growth trajectory. It is far less expensive to save energy than to generate new power. An improvement in energy efficiency will save India an estimated $1,200 million a year. Since the conservation potential is estimated at 10,000 mw or 25 per cent of existing generation, it will whittle down a substantial part of the energy shortfall.”
“Greater energy efficiency will also reduce India’s rising contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Its current share of global emissions is 4.9 per cent, with per capita emissions being less than 1.23 tonnes, in contrast to the US (22.2 per cent of global emissions, at 20.56 mt per capita). But as India increases power generation as planned by a factor of five by 2032, most of this electricity will come from cheap coal, India will be responsible for eight per cent of the rise in global GHG emissions in 2005-30 and thus, for the second highest increase in GHG emissions worldwide. (International Energy Agency estimates)”
I agree with him – becoming energy efficient has to be the first step to take, particularly as new power sources will take awhile to put into operation (although the large solar power project in India promises to start delivering some power within a couple of years).
Energy Audits of existing facilities, low and no cost energy saving (e.g. turn off the lights) and educating employees in energy saving and hence change their behaviour, are all important actions to put into practice.
Using the ever increasing range and quality of technology in the energy saving field is also a must. As Ken Cheyne mentioned this week in his post, “The Importance of Power Monitoring” is one such technology that all commercial and industrial premises should use. Real-time power monitoring can provide the data for substantial changes to be made as far as energy use and allow for a meaningful and deep energy audit.
As Anaud said, “energy efficiency would be the most cost-effective method” to reduce power use, reduce carbon emissions and reduce the demand.
Once the data has been analysed great savings can be made by targeted use of the many energy saving products and automated intelligent controllers for everything from lighting, HVAC, motors, chiller units. Let alone use of replacement items – such as LED lights and energy efficient fluorescent tubes.
These products and technologies would require an investment but one that would very quickly see a return by savings on energy bills, with the big plus of reducing the effects of global warming.
The investment in this technology is miniscule compared to the capital cost of a new power-station. The generally rule is for these items to be a retrofit option, so it barely impacts on current infrastructure with little or no disturbance to production or day to day activities.
In conclusion, it is vital that governments and organisations continue to plan ahead for renewable energy sources, and even extending available traditional power supplies, but first and foremost energy efficiency has to be improved.
If we do not do become more energy efficient isn’t like demanding more water from the reservoir because we lose too much through leaking pipes – doesn’t make sense. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it is a truism – but in this case our system is broke!
Have you noticed that more and more people are getting light colored and even white roofs? What is your opinion on doing that?