Conserve energy and reduce costs

Energy-efficient appliances not only pare down electricity bills, they
reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power generation too.

AT the height of the oil crisis in the 1970s, renewable energy and
energy efficiency (EE) were touted as Malaysia’s fifth fuel. However,
the discovery of substantial deposits of oil and natural gas in the
1980s relegated EE issues to the back burner in no time.

The promotion of EE was “renewed” in the 1990s by the Electricity and
Gas Supply Department (EGSD) and the Ministry of Energy (now the
Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, or KeTTHA). Some
regulations on EE were drafted then but were not implemented due to
“legal issues”.

Looking back, there was actually an EE unit that was established under
EGSD (the predecessor of the present day Energy Commission), but its
regulatory scope covered only lamp chokes and fans. Efforts at
consumer education on EE was spotty and haphazard, though under the
8th Malaysia Plan (2001-2005), there was again some official
proclamation of making EE (and renewable energy) the “fifth fuel”,
after oil, natural gas, coal and hydroelectric.

Air-conditioners are another high energy user.
In his 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) speech, then Prime Minister Tun
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that adequate and quality energy supply is
key to the nation’s development. “The public has to realise the value
and scarcity of such resources. An energy conservation culture must be
inculcated. Buildings should be designed to optimise energy usage.
Such resources need to be prudently and carefully utilised.

“The Government will adopt measures to reduce wastage by enhancing
energy efficiency and increasing energy sufficiency. The Government is
also committed to reduce dependence on petroleum products through the
increased usage of alternative fuels such as biofuel and biodiesel as
well as renewable energy.”

Malaysia is now into its 10th Plan (2011-2015), and EE still remains
pretty much a concept that has yet to be translated into widespread
measures on the ground. If anything, national utility provider Tenaga
Nasional Bhd (TNB) has gone on a fuel oil buying spree due to the lack
of natural gas supply from Petronas for power generation, a phenomenon
labelled as “gas curtailment”. According to Petronas, supply has to be
curtailed as some of its offshore production facilities have to
undergo maintenance and upgrading.

The episode of gas curtailment blew away the myth of Malaysia having a
power generation reserve margin of 40%. In reality, reserve margin is
about reserve installed capacity, not actual amount of electricity
that is “put to waste” as reserve.

Having a hefty installed reserve capacity means nothing if there is no
fuel to power them, and this is precisely what happened at the height
of the gas curtailment in the first half of this year, where TNB even
had to buy about 180 megawatt (MW) of electricity from Singapore to
cover the shortfall in actual running reserve margin, marking the
first time that Singapore exported electricity to Malaysia. Just last
week, TNB said that it expects to spend an additional RM3bil this year
to buy fossil fuels (excluding gas) like fuel oil, coal and
distillates to run its stations in the face of sustained gas
curtailment.

The Energy Commission’s sixyear- old energy efficiency label is still
not compulsory for electrical appliances manufacturers and importers.
Energy guzzler

Malaysia is a high energy user. According to the World Bank, each
Malaysian used 2,693kg of oil in 2008. In comparison, each Indonesian
used only 870kg, Filipino 455kg and Chinese, 1,598kg. In terms of
electricity use, each Malaysian used an average of 3,667kWh (kilowatt
hours) in 2008.

A glance at the consumption pattern in developed countries shows that
Malaysia could easily double its demand for electricity as it
continues to climb the ladder of affluence. For example, Hong Kong’s
per capita consumption was 5,899kWh, Germany 7,184kWh, Switzerland
8,163kWh, Japan 8,474kWh and Singapore, 8,513kWh. According to KeTTHA,
electricity consumption is expected to grow at an average rate of 3%
to 4% annually until 2020.

In the face of depleting oil and gas reserves, and rising carbon
dioxide emissions, curtailing the amount of fossil fuel burnt for
power generation is the clear way to go. While waiting for that to
happen, KeTTHA has announced the banning of incandescent light bulbs
by 2014, and to mandate that air-conditioners be set no lower than
24°C, starting with Government-owned buildings.

As far as the consumer is concerned, the most visible manifestation of
EE education is the sweeteners amounting to RM50mil currently being
dispensed by KeTTHA called Sustainability Achieved via Energy
Efficiency (SAVE) programme. SAVE is envisaged to create a culture of
efficient energy usage among the general public and business entities
by inducing them to choose energy-efficient electrical appliance
through the offer of rebates for purchases of such goods. The
programme aims to save up to 127.3GWh (gigawatt hours) this year –
equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed by 425,000 houses
(assuming an average monthly consumption of 300kWh.)

It is hoped that SAVE could “save” the need to set aside 26MW in
generation capacity. For comparison, the latest coal-fired plant
ordered by TNB in Manjung, Perak, scheduled to be online by 2015, is
sized at 1,000MW.

KeTTHA hopes that widespread adoption of greener appliances can help
consumers save costs and at the same time, reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Targetting household appliances makes perfect sense,
especially those that consume the lion’s share of a home’s electricity
usage. Typically, these are refrigerators, air-conditioners and
clothes driers.

Modern energy-efficient appliances use significantly less energy than
older appliances. Current energy-efficient refrigerators, for example,
use 40% less energy than conventional models did in 2001. As such,
replacement of old appliances is one of the most efficient measures to
reduce electricity usage.

According to Bosch Germany: “Modern household appliances consume up to
73% less electricity than comparable appliances of 15 years ago and
thus offer enormous potential for reducing energy consumption and CO2
emissions. The highly efficient appliances that were sold in Europe in
2010 by Bosch (including Siemens) will lead to electricity savings of
1.9 billion kWh.’’

Following this, if all households in Europe changed their more than 10
years old appliances into new ones, 20 billion kWh of electricity
would be saved annually, hence reducing carbon dioxide emissions by
almost 18 million tonnes.

Efficiency labels

KeTTHA’s way of informing consumers on what constitutes an
energy-efficient appliance is through its little known EE label, which
uses a star rating, with the most efficient appliance having a
five-star rating. EE labelling is entirely voluntary at the moment but
at least a dozen manufacturers have come on board to support SAVE,
which is actually a rebate system to induce consumers to choose
five-star rated appliances over those that are less efficient.

Even though SAVE was launched in Putrajaya two months ago, those who
are familiar with the pulse of green purchasing do not think that
Malaysians are aware of the concept of energy efficiency in the first
place.

“I don’t think Malaysians have been properly educated on energy
efficiency concepts. This view is, of course, not backed by
statistics, but merely an observation. This is because our
electricity, being subsidised indirectly through lower priced gas to
TNB, is relatively cheap,’’ said David Lee Boon Siew, managing editor
of Green Purchasing Asia, a publication specialising in green
procurement.

Anthony Tan, executive director of the Centre for Environment,
Technology & Development Malaysia (Cetdem) feels the same way,
remarking that what attracts Malaysians are low-priced products.
“Understanding about saving electricity is perhaps confined only to
the use of low-wattage compact fluorescent lamps or LED bulbs instead
of high wattage incandescent bulbs or fluorescent tubes.”

It also does not help the cause of EE or conservation when households
using less than RM20 (or up to 92kWh) of electricity a month get away
with paying nothing since October 2008.

Lee is of the opinion that Malaysians are generally unaware of the
Energy Commission’s energy efficiency labelling. “The industry has
been using other more well-known labels (from Europe, the United
States, Japan or Singapore). Unless it is made compulsory, they will
not want to paste so many labels on a product. The Energy Commission
will have to do more to promote the label if it wants buy-in.”

According to Tan, the average Malaysian does not recognise the EE
label, let alone understand what it means, even though it is already
six years old. “The voluntary part actually serves as a disincentive
to retailers to display the label on products. While the intentions of
SAVE are good, the Malaysian consumer has to first understand what EE
is all about, and why it is important to achieve EE as a nation.
People have to understand the concept of climate change and the
relationship between wasteful energy use and high carbon dioxide
emissions. Good intent and good results don’t necessarily come hand in
hand.”

Tan is cautious in his prediction whether SAVE will achieve its
intended objectives. “Some people might end up buying larger capacity
equipment because they realise that they can get away with paying the
same amount every month yet enjoy the use of a larger capacity
air-conditioner, television, or refrigerator. To overcome this,
education and awareness are key issues that need to be addressed.”

Carrots and sticks

At any case, those who have bought five-star rated appliances are
happy with the results they are seeing. Lee had bought a five-star
rated Panasonic inverter 395-litre fridge last November to replace his
creaky 15-year-old fridge. “I noticed an immediate drop in my
electricity bill by about RM40. While I didn’t do an in-depth check on
whether it was due to the fridge alone, I would say it definitely
helped. My normal electricity bill is about RM200.”

While giving of rebates is practised by some countries, other
developed countries like Singapore has chosen a non-rebate model to
push for EE. It made energy-labelling compulsory for air-conditioners
and refrigerators in 2008, and added clothes dryer to the list in
2009. Early this month, it enforced a “minimum energy performance
standards” (MEPS) on all registrable appliances (air-conditioners,
refrigerators and clothes dryers) sold there, with regular audits and
checks on the stock sold in the market to ensure compliance.

KeTTHA denies that it is putting the cart before the horse by dishing
out rebates in the face of non-compulsory EE labelling, and the
non-existence of MEPS for most products on sale now. “Actually, there
are lots of things we have to do. We are currently preparing the EE
masterplan for the Government’s approval, but there are many things
that need to move first. Getting the law sorted out takes at least 16
months, and we cannot be waiting for everything to fall into place
before doing things,” said Badriyah Abdul Malek, KeTTHA’s
under-secretary for the sustainable energy division.

Pointing to the feed-in tariff (FiT) programme which is expected to be
implemented by Dec 1 after several postponements (due to various
regulatory hurdles), Badriyah said that the raising of awareness is
important in the meantime. “We want people to know about EE, and to
get their buy-in, even as the regulations are being worked upon. We
cannot wait until the entire EE masterplan is ready before we start
doing things. We do not want it to be like the FiT where nothing can
move until all the laws are in place.”

She maintains that pushing for EE through appliance purchases is a
quick and effective way of achieving the Government’s goals of curbing
carbon intensity and at the same time, provide real savings to the
people. Alluding that this is indeed the plucking of low-hanging
fruits, Badriyah said that pushing the entire slew of EE measures will
be a long journey. “Yes, it is carrots first, but rest assured that
the whip will follow. You don’t want to start by punishing people.”

Green fridge
Assistant Editor Meng Yew Choong has consistently clocked less than
220kWh per month since purchasing a four-tick rated (given by
Singapore’s National Environment Agency and equivalent to a five-star
rating) 460-litre Panasonic refrigerator nearly two years ago.
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