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| Sunday, 15 January 2006 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Govt help on
energy efficiency vital
Energy efficiency in all business sectors in the country is very low and therefore government assistance to invest on efficiency improvement and modernisation is very important to face the energy crisis, said energy consultant Wasantha Jayatissa. Speaking on his recent experience and observation in the commercial, industrial and transport sectors, Jayatissa said that the waste of energy in the country is extremely high. Most of the commercial ventures in the country have not even considered the waste of energy or increased their energy efficiency and as a result the cost of their products and services are higher. The Government should encourage them by providing concessional loans and tax relief on importation of machinery and equipment for the purpose, he said. Investments on energy efficiency improvement have a very short payback period. A tea factory which spent Rs.450,000-Rs.500,000 on fuel and electricity per month reduced its energy bill by around Rs.100,000 after improving its energy efficiency. The investment was around one million rupees and therefore the payback period of the investment is less than one year, Jayatissa said. Energy consultation is a wide area and today in Sri Lanka consultancy services are available for power factor correction and energy auditing in industries. Power factor correction is balancing the inductive load by using capacitor banks or reducing the KVA reading and reduces the penalty charged by the CEB. Energy auditing is monitoring or comparison of energy usage of similar entities. These are essential in energy saving. However energy saving methods should be implemented from the architectural designing stage of a building. Here the focus is on heat gain control of solar power and maximum use of day light. Construction industry technology has developed to achieve these objectives without changing the architectural design. The use of special heat resistant glass, thermal resistant walls, artificial light and day light compensating systems are some of them. In addition the calculation of the cooling load is important for commercial ventures and industries. This measures the heat generated by people, lights and machines. The floor design to increase human efficiency is another factor that has to be considered. All these measures will reduce electricity usage for air-conditioners and lighting. Selecting suitable AC systems is another important matter and this has to be done after considering various factors. In industrial sector heating, ventilation and AC systems have to be improved to increase energy efficiency and there is a huge energy loss in this sector. Most of the obsolete methods and heat exchange systems in old industries have to be modernised. Indoor air quality is another important factor that we have ignored but deeply considered in modern industries. It affects the efficiency of the workforce in addition to waste of energy. Use of over-sized motors, pumps and other equipment are the factors. He said harmonic pollution generated by electronic equipment in electrical systems also leads to much energy waste and burns electrical equipment. We have not even considered these sectors and there are only two harmonic analysers in the country. The transport sector should have a farsighted program in improving fuel efficiency. This is essential to minimise the losses in the public transport system in the country. Firstly, a system of monitoring of fuel efficiency should be started. The fuel consumption varies from bus to bus, roads, driving time and even the driver. Fuel efficient running system can be designed by using this data. The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) can start this practice. Regular fuel quality measurement, fuel stock control, selecting vehicles with suitable engine capacity and gear ratio considering peak and off peak hours are also important in fuel efficiency. The fuel-age curve should be used to maintain the fuel efficient fleet of buses because fuel consumption of vehicles increases with the age of the vehicle. Driver training, introducing good driving habits and motivation of drivers are also important as far as the SLTB is concerned. In addition fuel saving devices such as aerodynamic aids can also be used. Wasantha Jayatissa is a professional energy consultant with overseas
experience. He was a senior lecturer in the Department of Physics in the
University of Kelaniya and obtained his MSC in Energy Management and Master
of Engineering in Micro Electronics from the University of Otago, New
Zealand.(GW) |
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