Power conservation drive launched

Did you know that using an electronic choke with your tubelight could reduce your electricity consumption by 13 kilowatts? Also, using electronic regulators that reduce power consumption leads to wave form distortions in voltage and losses in transmission.

It also reduces the life of transformers, thereby imposing a greater burden on distribution companies.

Consumers need to be educated on these issues if they want to reduce their bills and use power efficiently. In the long run, greater awareness on these issues will lead to low-cost, reliable and environment friendly power generation and distribution systems.

"A focus on energy efficiency at strategic points can mean halving the required capacity expansion, delaying investments in generation, transmission and distribution," said Girish Pant, of Prayas, a non-governmental organisation working on energy.

Speaking at the launch of a campaign on 'People's Power', he said greater efficiency could be ensured by enforcing efficiency standards, mandating the use of energy labels along with price tags, energy audits, providing adequate tariff signals and fiscal incentives.

In this context, regulators should focus on the implementation of demand side management. "Consumers should take the initiative," said DC Srivastava, director, power ministry.

Among the various approaches for demand side management is the general awareness programmes for consumers. When buying electronic items, consumers are usually driven by price tags rather than by what they will spend on power consumption in the long term, he said.

"In the domestic area, the selection of the right type of equipment is very important. Utilities are helping consumers do that at the right cost," said VD Apte, General Manager, North Delhi Power Ltd (NDPL).

Utilities can act as intermediaries, place bulk orders and pass on the more energy efficient product to consumers. The utility could recover the cost through bills.

This is exactly what North Delhi Power Ltd (NDPL) is doing in north and north-west Delhi. It is in the process of tying up with an Ahemdabad based manufacturer of compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to provide consumers with CFLs.

The utility would recover the cost through bills and pay the manufacturer over a period of time, Apte added.

This would result in decreased load shedding because power would be saved, reduce unpaid electricity bills and improve system reliability, among other things.

For other types of consumers different methods need to be used to ensure more efficient energy use. For instance, in case of Delhi Jal Board, he said that inefficient pumping led to water supply at low pressure meant that consumers ran 1horse power motors to draw water from the main pipes. This alone added 100 MW load on the system.

Companies need to have a long term plan to meet load. Once they think in terms of 20 years plans, DSM will automatically come in," said Prem K Kalra, Professor, IIT Kanpur.

Sometimes the problem is quite simple. A study in the US found that plugging 'leaky electricity' that is what you lose by not switching off lights, fans and computers, you can save upto 23 per cent on you power consumption, he added.