Meeting our energy needs

Because of its vide application the production, transmission and distribution of electricity has been treated as a service to the people. This was the main reason why, by and large, these activities have largely been undertaken by national or local governments; like the supply of water, health, and education to a large extent. Nowadays this approach is gradually being redefined, and the private sector is playing a significant role particularly in the developed economies of the world. This in turn has led to an increasing demand for electricity, and consequently a heavy burden on our finite fuel supply, particularly coal, oil, and natural gas.

It is near certain that the price of fuel will rise as demand for electricity grows. By and large we can predict the same scenario for Bangladesh. With economic growth, the demand for fuel will increase, along with its price. Our domestic fuel, gas and coal should naturally follow the international oil price trend in terms of energy equivalent pricing, otherwise there will be pressure for selling of gas which is already there. In future, similarly, there may be demands on our coal. Therefore, the pricing of our coal and gas in line with global energy equivalent price per ton of oil becomes imperative.

The fact is that our resources of fossil fuel are finite and we will have to be very careful to conserve them. We should adopt a dynamic policy of energy conservation through vigorously opting for only energy efficient equipment for the home, office, and factories. This is imperative, as with rising standards of living in our growing economy, the rise in demand for electric power is inevitable, which should be at least double in the next thirty years, failing which we will not come out of the undeveloped category as a country.

With the international price of oil escalating we have to look towards coal as our primary source of power from now on. It could be by concentrating power generation close to the prospective mining areas and then transmitting and distributing of power across the country. This will be more economic rather than handling and carrying coal to other locations for power generation. It will involve more fuel to transport the coal as well as extra cost of handling at loading and unloading points along with loss and pilferage during transit.

With pressure on gas availability beyond 2025 or 30, we may have to look at the options of coal to liquid and coal to gas route to meet both electrical power and major transportation fuel demands. At that time with the higher price of imported oil, converting coal to liquid or gaseous fuel for transportation would well be economically viable. We must however not forget that as a matter of policy we must install power plants that are more efficient, and the investment has to be factored to plant efficiency.

This step, along with a positive policy of keeping our electrically operated equipment at the home, office and factories, through the usage of only energy efficient equipment, will conserve our resources. Also there has to be a policy in place for ensuring that the growing road transport sector is run by fuel efficient diesel or petrol engines. Passenger vehicles and other hybrid powered vehicles now coming into commercial use that consume less fossil fuel, need to be vigorously brought into usage. Any financial subsidy locally will be more than offset by foreign exchange saving for oil import.

The prospect of natural sources of energy, and harnessing of solar and wind energy as power source should be our top priority. Till our natural gas is available we should aim to recover every kilowatt of power available in pressure reducing station, a potential energy source that is going to waste today.

To sum up we should give top priority to frame policies within a tight time frame to realise the following:

- Ensure energy conservation by having financial incentives to bring in energy efficient power plants, electric motors, household electrical goods (fridges, air conditioners, even mobile phone and other battery charges to name a few) to conserve our fossil fuel.

- Explore all avenues of solar, wind and hydro-electric and gas transmission power sources. It may not be cost-effective today, but with rising global price of oil, will be later. If necessary subsidy on oil in the primary or downstream levels can be diverted to subsidise alternative power sources and power conservation program. This should be our national policy.

These are important national energy issues for us to work out for the better future of Bangladesh tomorrow. We must set out our energy objectives which should be one of the prime tasks for the Energy Regulatory Commission to enforce and implement. They should rightfully be the body to regulate usage and conserve our finite source of fossil fuel, which the nation can ill afford to squander.

S. A. Mansoor is Director, Engineering, Partex Group.