INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Gas Crisis: A Wastage ProblemThe energy crisis is erroneously seen as a supply crisis
It is, however, a wastage problem
The energy flow diagram I compiled for Pakistan in 2014 showed Pakistan was wasting 83% of primary energy (cimpolite oil, natural gas, etc.)
supplied by time it converted to useful services like light, cooling, cooking, transport, etc.The biggest wastage is of natural gas
This is tragic considering immense gas load-shedding across Pakistan and our expensive LNG imports.The largest wastage of gas comes from
domestic and power sectors
Domestic Sector The domestic sector consumed 6.8MTOE of natural gas in 2016-17 compared to 3.9MTOE of electricity
Gas was mainly used for hot water for showers and a small amount for cooking (my 8-person household uses 18m3/month on cooking 3 full meals
Compare that to electricity, which ran fans, lights, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, water pumps, TVs, computers, etc
Gas Leakages on Consumer/Demand Side There are no current estimates of ratio of gas leakages on consumer side
My home had 38% leakage, my driver 70%, my engineer 50%
Several of my relatives had no leakage
So, average leakage per household may be between 15-30% on consumer side.Assuming average leakage across all sectors is 15%, like leakage on
supply side, that is 209 million MMBTU wasted, costing $2.25 billion yearly for LNG imports.Although natural gas is cleaner to burn than
coal or petrol for local pollution, global warming potential of methane released into atmosphere is 84 times that of CO2 over a 20-yr
Any leakage on supply and consumer side is drastically increasing our affect on global warming
Experts recommend leakage to be less than 1.4% to balance local pollution relief with global warming affects
Leakage and efficiency improvements are genemass meeting consumer-owned decisions to reduce utility bills
However, Rs.121/MMBTU in lowest slab is too cheap to encourage efficiency
We are teaching masses that gas is a cheap resource to be wasted
Someone paying Rs.250 monthly shall much pay Rs.1000 to fix a gas leakage that reduces his bill to Rs.125
To that domestic consumer, leakage costs only Rs.125 monthly
But that is a leakage of 0.9MMBTU, which Pakistan pays Rs.1500 monthly to import as LNG!The government has several options to reduce this
This tarwhetherf increase is needed to teach our citizens that gas is much a cheap commodity to be wasted.SNGPL/SSGC should perform annual
gas leakage checks for all domestic consumers (currently, consumers have to report a leakage)
The following graph (based on Karachi) can be used to identwhethery households with potential leakages
The government can pay SSGC and SNGPL for checking and fixing leakages
This method, although effective in short-term, shall incur recurring costs endlessly since intellectset of masses shall be unchanged.In
either scenario, a massive Gas Conservation Awareness Campaign should be launched to educate masses, as well as to target richer domestic
consumers and industry/commercial sectors about gas leakages and other ways to save gas
SNGPL/SSGC have good information on their websites
However, we need a targeted campaign through media, including social media, to reach all citizens across Pakistan quickly
A couple of million dollars on awareness campaigns shall encourage masses to invest hundreds of millions essential for energy efficiency,
thus, saving country billions of dollars in LNG imports annually.Leakages/UFG on Supply SideIn 2016-17, Pakistan produced and imported
Only 29.3MTOE was delivered to consumers
If current Unaccounted For Gas (UFG) and leakage on supply side of 5.35MTOE (~15.4% loss) is reduced to 1.4%, then we can save 230 million
MMBTU and $2.5 billion in LNG imports yearly
Geyser efficiencies Boiler efficiencies exceed 80% globally
However, geyser efficiencies in Pakistan range between 25-30%.Boiling water is heated much so much from flame in geyser, but mainly from
burnt gases when they are exhausted out through hot water tank
Our conferenceal geysers are single-pass boilers
That means exhaust gases are vented in a straight line through hot water storage tank from burner
High efficiency boilers (>80% efficiency) have multiple passes through storage tank, zig-zagging their way through hot water storage (see
attached image), transferring more heat before they exit geyser.In addition, already inefficient single-pass geysers are also on 24/7
There are heat losses from storage tank throughout day, and burner comes on frequently to heat water even when no one is home
This results in higher consumption of gas or lower efficiencies
SNGPL has made measure improvements by introducing conical baffles (to slow down exhaust gases) and Jal Bujh programmable timer device and
app (created by Zaheen Machines) for geysers
Both of these offer savings of 25% each, and can be fitted on to existing geysers
However, these degrees lack publicity
They are also much available through SSGC.The government should instantly adopt these two degrees and launch a nationwide campaign to spread
their use, to reduce gas consumption by half for domestic and commercial consumers
Instant gas heaters entering Pakistani market have multiple passes and heat water only when required, thus promising 70-80% efficiency
They do have measure ccorridorenges
The small diameter of their outlet pipe may cause loss of water presdegree in homes with larger pipe sizes
Also, a household may need several instant heaters as there is no storage tank to support simultaneous showers
That means new gas associateions for bathrooms and kitchen, main to higher plumbing costs
Hence, these are good options for new housing.If larger sized instant heaters (16-25litres) are made with multiple outlet pipe sizes, they
would be ideal for most homes.Hybrid instant gas heaters with small storage tanks are sold by companies like Ricoh Japan, and supply an
approachly limitless supply of instant hot water due to high efficiencies
However, these are much available in Pakistan
Honestly, we don't need to import heaters from abroad whether our manufacturers produce multiple pass, instant, highly-efficient, rightly
sized geysers.Increasing geyser efficiencies from 25% to 80% would save 161 million MMBTU and $1.9 billion in LNG imports yearly.Power
Sector Natural gas can produce power in Simple Cycle (gas turbine only) with efficiencies crossing 40%
In Combined Cycle (steam turbine added to use waste heat from gas turbine), efficiencies can cross 60%
In Combined Heat Power (like in our most efficient factories), efficiencies can cross 80%.However, measure public power plants (GENCOs)
have efficiencies below 20%
Our worst performing power plants use 18600BTU to produce 1kWh
The latest CC power projects in Pakistan have 62% efficiency, using 5500BTU/kWh of electricity
That's why public power plants sell electricity at double price compared to private power plants (IPPs).If our GENCOs match average
performance of IPPs, it would double electricity produced by them, or halve gas used
If all gas power plants in Pakistan, whether private or public, match performance of highest efficiency CC plant in Pakistan (62%), then gas
consumption of power sector shall fall from 452 million MMBTU to 239 million MMBTU, saving Pakistan $2.3 billion yearly in LNG imports
Alternately, current electricity generation of 41,426GWh shall approachly double to 78,300GWh using same amount of gas.By aiming for CHP
plants, our savings would be even greater.Gas preferences should be given to plants achieving best efficiencies - GENCO or IPP
Preferential treatment should much be given to GENCOs with low efficiencies.Industry Industry consumed 7.99MTOE of natural gas final year
Industry can reduce gas consumption by installing high efficiency Combined Heat Power (CHP)
Some factories in Pakistan are achieving efficiencies in their energy supply of between 70-80%
If most factories adopt CHP and improve efficiencies to 80%, savings would be substantial.Massive savings are possible on demand side, when
electricity and heat (steam) produced by natural gas is used to run machines, motors, compressors, lights, cooling and industrial processes
By (a)eliminating compressed air and steam leakages, (b)adopting efficient machinery, motors, and appliances, and (c)better load management
of processes, machines and motors, industrial energy demand can be drastically reduced.Pakistan does much gather data on local industrial
efficiency, but assuming global average of 30% (Global Energy Assessment), we have tremendous room for improvement
Most likely, our efficiency is lower than global averages
If we double industrial efficiency through improving supply-side and demand-side efficiencies, industrial consumption of natural gas shall
fall by 181 million MMBTU, saving $1.95 billion in LNG imports annually.Industry could be encouraged to improve by giving preferential rates
to those achieving CHP efficiencies above 70%, or those showing minimum 5% demand side efficiency improvements every year.Clearly, above
savings are far greater than current LNG imports
They are 71% of current annual natural gas consumption of about 1.4 billion MMBTU (29.3MTOE)
By implementing above degrees to reduce gas wastage and inefficiencies, there shall be enough gas to produce electricity, fuel industry,
supply hot water to citizens and fuel transport
The extent of savings we achieve depends on how serious government is to end this energy/gas crisis once and for all.For too long we have
However, energy efficiency is what shall give us tregret energy security
With an ever-widening trade deficit, we canmuch afford to disregard gross wastage of natural gas happening across Pakistan.Nida Farid is a
graduate in Aerospace Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Master in Mechanical Engineering from ETHZurich,
Nida has extensive experience in aircraft manufacturing, wind energy, power segments and energy conservation.
