Energy conservation this year in Thailand
By Jon Fernquest |
An article in today's Bangkok Post business section discussed energy conservation in Thailand.
Some ways to cut back on energy consumption are obvious:
More than 50% of household electricity bills are from air-conditioners.
Others are less obvious:
As a part of the power-saving plan, the Energy Conservation Fund has allocated 3.3 billion baht to replace all 200 million fluorescent lights nationwide with new thinner fluorescent T5 bulbs that consume 40% less power.
Energy conservation opportunities have yet to be fully exploited in Thailand.
This year's peak energy consumption period during the hot season is being targeted for energy savings.
When the hot season kicks in with full force, everyone automatically turns on their air conditioners, electricity usage surges, and Thailand experiences peak energy demand:
"The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) expects power consumption in the coming summer will peak at 23,344 megawatts, up 2.3% year-on-year, or 13.5 billion kilowatt-hours (units)...[and] is generally seen in the last week of March to mid-April."
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Getting people to switch from air-conditioner to fan is an obvious way to conserve on energy consumption:
Officials cite studies showing that by lowering the temperature of an air-conditioner by one degree Celsius and using an electric fan, a consumer can save 15% on electricity bills.A standard air-conditioner consumes 10,000 watts of electricity per hour, compared to 40 watts for an electric fan.
Australia and Japan have been successful in cutting consumption during peak hours by implementing a similar programme.
Today's article on energy conservation efforts also provides some useful background information on Thailand's investment plans in the energy sector:
Gas-based electricity plants, for example, require an investment of nearly $1 million for each megawatt they produce.Under the current power development plan, Thailand must have new capacity of between 1,400 and 2,000 MW each year from 2008 through 2021. The Energy Ministry will encourage household consumers and property owners to join the programme by launching nationwide campaigns in the mobile demonstration units.
Sorry, just don't understand this point though:
"The power peak cut is also aimed at reducing the country's financial burden for constructing new power plants."
By spending less on their energy needs, households and businesses save money but how does this translate into extra money the government can spend on power plants?
Yesterday's Greenpeace article this extra capacity won't be needed even if people don't conserve on electricity!
Yesterday's article stressed that there's still a lot of opportunities for energy efficiency investments:
The third issue is that in a rational universe, energy efficiency trumps any new power plant - and we're doing far too little about it.Back in the 1990s, a World Bank study looked at the cost of energy efficiency investments (more efficient lighting, motors, cooling systems) in Thailand compared to the cost of generating electricity from different sources. Energy efficiency was the clear winner - about half the cost per kWh of natural gas and about 40% of the cost of coal. It turned out that, in practice, those energy efficiency investments were far cheaper than that.
In over 10 years of running the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand's electricity saving's programme, the "cost of conserved electricity" is only 0.5 baht/kWh - less than a quarter of the cost of the electricity from the cheapest of the 4,500 MW of approved IPP power plants.
The problem is, while there are committed people in Egat's energy-efficiency programme, they are marginalised by an institution incentivised to sell electricity, not to save it.
For further reading, checkign out Wikipedia's article on lighting, especially on energy consumption and architectural lighting design. Also read an inspiring article on how businesses and people should think more about the quality of the lighting they life with.
Also check out Compact flourescent lamps (CFLs) which have energy consumption between one fifth and one quarter of an incandescent lamp.
(Source: Bangkok Post, Business, 17-01-08, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
energy conservation - the practice of decreasing the quantity of energy used, it may be achieved through efficient energy use, or by reduced energy consumption (See Wikipedia)
cut back on - use less
fluorescent T5 bulbs - the T5 (16 mm) flourescent tube is for very small lamps which may even operate from a battery-powered device (See Wikipedia on flourescent lamps)
fully exploited - use an available resource
peak energy consumption - the greatest amount of energy used in during the day or the year
X being targeted - trying to achieve
kicks in - starts
surges - increases suddenly
conserve on - use less of
a programme - a series of events or actions planned for the future
implementing a programme - actually doing a planned programme
a mobile demonstration unit - a truck that drives around the city of country showing how something works
campaigns - a planned series of action to bring about political or social change
launching campaigns - beginning a planned series of action to bring about political or social change
financial burden - money that you borrow that you have to pay back in the future and pay interest on
