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| Where we have gone wrong? | | ENERGY CONSERVATION | | Er VIKRAM GAUR
At the outset let me give you some very important figures in respect of the power position in the country. Against the total peak load demand of 100715-MW only 86,818-MW is available eating a shortfall of 14% or 13897-MW. Of the total available power 29,518-MW costing 47,000 crores is lost in theft/leakage and T&D with Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and J&K topping the list with more than 50% losses.27% of the total power goes to agricultural sector at subsidized rates or free almost without meters costing the government about 11,000 crores. In spite of the acute shortage we have failed to commission almost 50% power projects (19,930-MW) against the targeted capacity of 41,110-MW in the current five year plan. This is due to slackness of policy machinery including administrative, beaurocratic and political.
In spite of the fact that the state has the highest potential in the country for hydroelectric power generation yet its forbidding cost of production has prevented the state from going in for increasing power generation. It is, therefore, imperative that we find alternate methods of reducing the gap between supply and demand.
According to economists the cheapest form of alternate energy resource is ‘energy saved’. As one unit of energy produced is equivalent to 1.25 units of energy generated taking the losses in transmission and distribution (T&D) to be only 25 %( But in our state the losses are more than 50%). Some of the effective and useful methods of energy saving are as under:-
i) Efficient, effective and proper energy management right from generation, transmission and distribution of energy up to the consumer end.
ii) Reduction of (T&D) losses to the accepted international standards by improving the transmission network.
iii) Educate the users about the benefits of conservation of energy through available publicity media both print and electronic and through direct contact starting from schools and colleges.
vi) Prevention of theft of energy and misuse/wastage of power by strict enforcement of laws without fear or favor.
v) Regular energy auditing to make people accountable for lapses if any.
Only if we are able to use above stated methods effectively and the government has a will to do it, we can increase the availability of power to the users by more than 50% which more than covers up our existing shortage of power as on today. The above statement is truer in case of our state where the losses due to T&D and theft/misuse amount to a whopping 60-70%. Of about 1500-1600-MW of recorded power made available to the users in the state only about 30-35% of electric energy is recorded as sold. Only if we are able to prevent about 50% from theft and misuse and reduce our T&D losses to the national standard of 19-20 % we shall be making tremendous gains in the availability of electric power to the genuine power users. Say if we save about 50% of the 70% losses and reduce the T&D losses to our national average of about 19-20 % we shall be making available 1160-1200MW of recorded power to the genuine consumer at the present rate of losses being experienced by our system. (Imagine the total cost of production of the power lost @ 7-8crores per MW.). This would not only stabilize the power distribution system but would also increase revenue manifold. This can be done by 100% metering and strict accountability of the field staff involved in the power distribution system.
The PDD started the program of E-metering on war footing with a target 100% metering two years back it has not been able to meter more than 25% the installations so far. At this rate the PDD will require another 6-7 years to achieve 100% target. It has been observed that the power consumption on the feeders which were 100% metered the consumption decreased by 20-25% immediately after the metering of the installations. But this rate or reduction of power consumption is reducing with every passing day. Both the people and the staff have started taking the seriousness of the government very lightly and they have again started using the old methods of pilferage of power. Any further delay in complete metering of the system will make the whole exercise futile.
The PDD somehow is shy of going to the public to make them aware of the long term and short term benefits of conservation of energy both at the individual as well as collective level. It has not been using the available media to educate the public on methods of conserving electric power either at domestic or at industrial/commercial level.
The government has shown no will to strictly manage the purchase/sale of energy. In fact even the political authority itself many a times indulges in encouraging the theft/misuse of electric power and it discourages the strict implementation of rules by the PDD against the culprits. The theft or misuse of electric power starts from the house of the top politician and goes down to all such beaurocrats who matter in administration. Under such circumstances how the conservation of energy can succeed.
However, in spite of whatever has been said above an honest and wise consumer has to reduce his bill of energy consumed, to his paying capacity and save the energy for the benefit of posterity so that our coming generations do not curse us. We shall have to adopt means to make fair use of electricity and by a little extra care we will be able to bring down our power bill considerably.
There are some useful tips for consumers to economize on the use of energy.
1. Switch off an extra light here and a fan there.
2. Switch off fans and lights in unoccupied rooms.
3. Change over to compact fluorescent lamps, CFL (9-12 watts) from incandescent bulbs and slim tubes (20-40 watts with choke).
4. Use washing machine at proper loads and every alternate day when the full Kg load of clothes collects. Use kitchen mixie on alternate day, if possible.
5. Mix hot water in a bucket for a bath rather than a geyser shower which consumes more power and up to 90 liters of water for a bath. Get the geyser element changed every 5-6 years.
6. Switch on the AC an hour later and switch off an hour earlier. Keep the windows closed after switching off to retain the cooling effect for a longer time. Clean the AC filter at least once every fortnight.
7. Switch on electric iron only after getting together all the clothes to be ironed.
8. Teach children and instruct domestic staff to switch off lights when not in use or even when you leave the room for a few seconds.
9. In rooms use light colors for walls. This helps reduce lighting requirement up to 40%.
10. Keep lights and fixtures clean and dirt free. Dust and dirt reduce the lighting level as much as 30%.
11. Clean and lubricate fans regularly and replace old regulators with electronic regulators. They help reduce electricity consumption significantly at lower speeds.
12. Cool the food sufficiently before storing in refrigerator. Check on gasket lining of the fridge-avoid opening the fridge frequently. Defrost the fridge once the ice gets more than 1/4"inch thick. Regular defrosting reduces the power consumption.
13. Do not unnecessarily waste water in your daily cores and use water economically. This will reduce running of your water pump for filling overhead water tank.
14. While lifting water from the ground water tank make sure that the filter fitted with the pipe in the tank is clean and not clogged. This clogging reduces the quantity of water lifted into the overhead tank and considerably increases the electricity consumption.
15. Look for ISI mark when buying electric appliances e.g. desert coolers, ACs, fans, electric iron, or any other appliance for domestic use.
We should avoid using heavy electric appliances during morning and evening peak load hours i.e. 6 to 9 morning and evening.
These are just few useful and easy tips to avoid excessive power usage. These tips will lead to substantial savings on your power bill- without compromising on comfort or convenience in any way. This will certainly help bridging the energy gap by cutting down on the enormous wastage in homes, offices, factories and fields.
For information it may further be added that adoption of above methods of conservation besides effecting saving in the individual level would also add to the overall gross national income by utilization of energy saved in gross national output @ Rs. 35-40/unit of energy which would run into thousands of crores.
While the above mentioned tips will effect saving on the individual bills, the J&K state which itself is paying very heavily for importing power from the various agencies from outside the state also needs to seriously ponder over how to effect saving on its import bill which runs into hundreds of crores.
The biggest culprit in wastng the electric power in the government sector is Public Health engineering department. In Jammu alone they have an installed capacity of more than 40 MW in the shape of Tube Wells, Filtration Plants, Booster Pumps etc. With all these installed equipment they pump out 218-MLD of water per day for public use. As per the latest estimates worked out by ERA (Engineering Reconstruction Agency) the total loss of water in distribution pipes of all sizes up to the consumer end is 57-60% (PHE department claims the loss to be only 40%). This does not take into account the loss of water due to overflow into the drains while pumping water in over head tanks at the user’s place. Thus with 60% loss the wastage works out to 24 MW of electric power which costs crores of rupees to the state exchequer besides creating scarcity of power availability to the average user. Only if the water wastage/losses are reduced to 15-20% nothing less than 16 MW of electric power will be made available to power users besides reducing the scarcity of water as well. .
The following are a few tips for the government departments including PDD which if followed would certainly reduce burden on the state exchequer.
• Creation of awareness among masses about energy efficiency through mass media (both print and electronic) campaigns and educational programmes right from the school level with the help of NGOs wherever necessary.
• Dissemination of information on energy consumption and energy conservation potential in various sectors.
• Strengthening energy audits capability in the state at all levels both at the receiving end as well as at the consumer end and strictly hold the department accountable for any loss of energy at any level right up to the consumer end.
• Training of technical and managerial personnel on Energy Management.
• Execution of technical and policy studies on energy conservation.
• Determine standards for equipment and processes and evolving norms for energy consumption in various sectors.
• Direct regulation and legislation relating to energy consumption.
• Improve the existing infrastructure for transmission and distribution of power supply to the universally accepted standards so as to reduce the T&D losses from the present 65-70% to nationally accepted norms of 18-23%.
By a combination of the above measures, the State Government (PDD) can attempt to create conditions in the economy to promote energy conservation. But these can be effective only if the energy consumers also take affirmative and positive action for energy conservation.
A keen observer is current affairs; the writer is member of Advisory Committee SERC; State Consumer Protection Council and State Level Advisory Council for Senior Citizens.
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