Steps demanded to improve energy efficiency: PEW
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Upgradation of energy infrastructure can boost production, exports
The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Friday said government is pushing many new energy projects but it should also focus on upgradation of existing infrastructure.
Ensuring energy efficiency can help Pakistan save thousands of megawatt of electricity, millions of litres of fuel and around 40 percent natural gas, resulting in cheap electricity, it said.
China is consuming double electricity than Japan for production therefore the leadership of the country is spending 1.6 trillion dollar to improve energy efficiency while it is being ignored in Pakistan, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
He said that cheap electricity will reduce cost of doing business resulting in relief to masses and improved exports.
Globally building consume around 48 percent of total power output with share of commercial buildings at 8 percent while in Pakistan buildings consume 55 percent of the total electricity output, he said.
Almost half of the electricity consumed by buildings can be saved for which Pakistan needs to follow conservation laws adopted in EU, he added.
Murtaza Mughal said that private and state-run power plants are wasting a lot of natural gas which if saved will reduce wastage, electricity tariff, cost of doing business, unemployment and revolutionise energy landscape of the country.
He noted that a lot of industries have installed boilers but the heat emitting from the boilers is being wasted. Replacing these boilers with combined heat and power units can help country save energy worth billions of dollars which will ensure industrial expansion, reduce price of commodities and enable a lot of products to compete in the international market.
Generating electricity with bagasse is three decades old idea as using the dry dusty pulp that remains after juice is extracted from sugar cane or similar plants can be used to forge paper which is more beneficial.
He informed that the use of energy has doubled in US in the last 45 years save California where consumption is stagnant despite record development due to energy efficiency which has helped masses, environment, industry, trade, and service sectors.
Government should promote energy efficiency in state-run and private institutions for a brighter future, he demanded.
