Are you listening?

Excellent artwork...

Earth day with a twist :)

Bio-fuel or Food?

Here is a very interesting analysis by a senior columnist of daily DAWN:

"The rising world food prices seem to have forced the UK government to take a second look at its transport fuel policy which compels suppliers to provide 2.5 per cent of their sales as bio-fuel. The policy took effect last week. The proportion is to rise to five in 2010.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement last Tuesday, ahead of a meeting on food prices with industry leaders and development experts, that if a UK government review of the impact of biofuels now under way “shows that we need to change our approach, we will also push for change in EU biofuels targets”.

The review was launched in February and is due to deliver initial conclusions next month, with a full report by the end of June.

As food prices have risen environmental and social groups have intensified their campaigns, arguing that governments are diverting production away from food and animal feed. Until now, the government’s policy has been to support the increased use of biofuels.

Biofuels produced from crops such as corn and soya provide a small but fast-growing share of motor fuel, and had been expected to make an important contribution to meeting growing demand for fossil fuel.

Biofuels have strong political support in many countries. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, said last week: “Those rising global food prices have nothing to do [with] biofuels.”

Agriculture diplomats have expressed concern that governments are focusing on biofuels as the main reason for rising food prices. They argued that the use of agricultural land and crops for fuel is only part of a mix of problems including higher demand in Asia, climate change, declining growth in farming productivity and water scarcity.

The European Commission has been defending its 10 per cent biofuel mix target for motor fuels. Asked by reporters last Monday whether the EU was reconsidering its position on the biofuels target, a spokesman said: “The answer is very simple. No.”

Meanwhile, the world is still not very sure what is causing the international oil prices to shoot up so steeply over the last one year. The price has almost doubled in the 12 months from $60 to $120 a barrel. The producers claim that there has not been any disruption in supplies during this period. There has also been no significant increase in consumption in major consuming countries like the US, Europe, Japan and the UK.

China’s consumption is said to be rising at a breakneck rate. Chinese demand for oil is said to be accelerating ahead of the Olympics with crude oil imports up by almost a quarter to 4.07 million barrels a day in March, compared with the same month last year. For the first quarter, crude imports rose by 14 per cent compared with the same period last year. But then it has also been busy in Africa exploring new fields and developing them.

One would certainly find it hard to disagree with the argument that the declining dollar could have forced the exporters to push up the prices of their commodity to protect the purchasing parity of the currency they receive in exchange for their oil. But the increase in the price of oil is decidedly too high compared to the dollar’s decline.

So, there certainly appears to be a very generous speculative component in today’s oil prices. But who is fueling this speculation and why? Nobody has an answer.

Opec ministers have blamed rising oil prices on speculators and the weakness in the dollar at last week’s meeting of the International Energy Forum in Rome.

But in an effort to reassure the market, Opec’s secretary general highlighted the cartel’s plans to expand capacity. Right now, Opec has 120 projects worth $160 billion just to increase capacity by five million barrels a day to 2012. However, Opec is said to have no plans to meet before September, suggesting little prospect of any relief on supplies before then.

Developments in the dollar are likely to dominate oil price movements in the short-term and could even drag Brent crude as high as $125 per barrel this quarter. Nevertheless, with a recovery of the dollar and easing of oil market tightness in the pipeline, the Capital Economics (CE) a London based research firm expects prices to drop back to around $85 per barrel by the end of the year.

The three key drivers of the recent rise in oil prices (a falling dollar, tight fundamentals and speculative pressures) look set to ease and probably reverse in the second half of the year.

Another factor blamed for high oil prices is the inflow of capital from investors, partly as a hedge against general inflation. However, the argument for buying commodities to hedge against commodity-driven inflation is dangerously circular and it is only a matter of time, according to CE, before fundamental demand and supply conditions reassert themselves.

The demand for commodities such as industrial metals is expected to moderate on slower economic growth, while the supply response to high food prices has historically been quicker than in energy markets. The upshot is that as general inflationary pressures ease, speculative positions in oil should also be unwound, potentially leading to a very sharp correction.

The increases in world oil and food prices have devastated the economies of low and middle income oil importing countries. With soaring oil and food import bills and not much to export to pay for the costly oil and food, these countries are now looking at multilateral aid agencies for help. But there is said to be an upside as well to this steep increase in the world prices of these two essentials.

At $120 a barrel, oil exploration and development is said to have become not only an economically viable venture the world over but profitable as well for even those countries which are blessed with shallow fields. At these prices even the windmill driven energy and solar energy too are said to have become commercially economical for developing countries.

And those developing agricultural countries which so far had found it economically unprofitable to invest in food crops because of the heavy subsidies that the rich countries were giving to their farmers would now find it commercially viable to grow food commodities for home consumption as well as for export."

Reference: http://dawn.com/2008/04/28/ebr18.htm

Pakistan: Sugar mills to the rescue

ISLAMABAD: In order to meet the growing power requirements of the industry, government has decided to develop co-power generation plants on fast track basis. In this regard the government has exempted such power plants from the fulfilling of pre-qualification criteria, submission of feasibility study and obtaining of Letter of Intent (LOIs) from Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB).

According to the guidelines prepared by PPIB for facilitating the setting up of co generation power plants in the country on fast track basis, the sugar industry will be issued Letter of Support (LOS) by PPIB after the tariff determination by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA). The tariff will be levelised for 30 years and will be available for 60 MWs or above the capacity based on 28 percent net thermal efficiency.

According to the guidelines, the existing standardised power purchase Agreement (PPA) and Implementation Agreement (IA) will be modified to provide Power co-generation specific projects. The incentives available to the Independent Power Producers for power generation projects 2002 would also be available to the power co-generation units of sugar mills.

The power generated by the sugar industry will be purchased by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) concerned at agreed/negotiated and competitive rates to be approved by NEPRA. Power Sale/Purchase Agreements, valid during the life of the power co-generation units will be signed with sugar mills on the lines of the agreements signed with IPPs. Bagasse and imported/local coal will be consumed as per requirement of the plant without any limitation of inter-changeability.

The sugar mills selected for power co-generation will be required to set up the plant on the fast track basis, not later than 36 months of issuance of Letter of Support (LOS). Power co-generation plants set up by sugar industry will not be treated as part of sugar industry but as a separate entity for tax purposes and the existing tariff rules and guidelines for the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) would be applicable for such power generation plants/units.

Government has announced guidelines for power co-generation plants to be set up by sugar industry that would be able to bridge the gap between supply and demand in the winter season by supplying power to national grid.

There are 83 sugar mills in the country having a potential to produce 3,000MW electricity to national grid in the coming years. Co-generation projects will be based on bagasse (sugarcane waste) during the cane-crushing season (November-February) as main fuel whereas from March to October on coal as the main fuel. Sugar industry will be able to supply power to national grid during winter season when the hydel generation is at its lowest ebb. Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has sought tariff determination of 60MW and above co-generation power projects for delivery of electricity and submitted tariff petition to National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) in this regard.

PSMA has submitted a typical two part tariff structure with an energy tariff of Rs 3.368/Kwh for the energy actually dispatched and a capacity tariff of Rs 4.506/Kwh based on contract capacity or tested capacity for a period of ten years. PSMA has also sought an energy charge of Rs 3.368 /Kwh tariff and Rs 1.377/Kwh capacity tariff for year 11 to 30 years.

This means that the number of stakeholders in the power sector are soon to increase requiring new processes to resolve mutual conflicts and ensure smooth supply of electricity. Good news any way!

Source: Zafar Bhutta, Daily Times, March 25, 2008
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C03%5C25%5Cstory_25-3-2008_pg5_9

Suggestions by a Pakistani government officer

Farkhand Iqbal, a joint secretary with the Ministry of Textiles (and Electrical Engineer by eduation) has written a letter to Irshad Haqqani, one of the senior news columnists in Pakistan. He has contemplated that the suggestions being given to Pakistan government may not be able to alleviate the energy pains even in the next 3-5 years. Instead, he is proposing the following:

1. Engaging sugar mills for production of electricity
2. Metering all the premises of Power company employees (where a lot of energy remains unaccounted for)
3. Converting gas geysers into solar geysers on emergency basis

Urdu image (partial) is given below and you can read the complete post in Urdu language at: http://jang.com.pk/jang/apr2008-daily/24-04-2008/col1.htm

Opportunities amidst crisis - another example

As people run helter-skelter to get their hands on generators and inverters or Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) to cope with frequent power breakdowns and massive load-shedding, there has emerged a handy alternative to cater to their problems. Solar energy, which is being used selectively in the rural areas of the country, is an alternative that has the propensity to revolutionize the way the power-deprived citizens of the provincial capital deal with their electricity woes.

Here in Karachi, Azhar Ayub is the man trying to promote this fledging alternative by putting together solar-powered lights, fans, mobile chargers and several other products as per the needs of not only the people of Karachi but the entire country.

Sitting in his make-shift workshop in the SITE industrial area, Ayub prepares solar-powered systems, as per needs of his customers, by assembling imported Photovoltaic (PV) cells — or solar panels, — special batteries, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), wind turbines and other equipment.

“Hundreds of people in the remote areas of Sindh and Balochistan are using solar lanterns, mini solar desalination plants for water purification and solar-wind hybrid systems to light their homes. The technology is quite expensive but it is environment-friendly and ideal for remote areas,” Ayub tells the The News.

Despite being a business graduate, Ayub claims that research and promotion of alternate energy is his passion.

He admits that the most important components of his solar-powered systems are the PVs (solar panels), which are imported either from Europe, the US, China or even India. He says however, that he personally designs and assembles the solar energy units at his workshop in accordance with local needs.

“Actually, the production of PV cells that convert sunlight into electricity requires an investment of billions of dollars and nobody in Pakistan is ready to make such huge investment. The technology is in the grip of oil giants and they are not allowing it to get cheaper,” he claims.

After the entrance of China and India into the field of production of solar panels, however, the cost has decreased to a large extent and now solar energy is coming into the reach of common people, Ayub says optimistically.

Elaborating on the products available at his workshop, Ayub tells The News that he has complete solar home systems through which several rooms can be lit up for up to 10 hours in addition to which one or two fans of 60 watts can also be powered.

Moreover, there are also solar garden lights and street lights, solar mobile chargers, water heaters and even solar water desalination plants that run using only sunlight, he adds.

“People come to me from the rural areas of Sindh like Badin, remote districts of Balochistan and NWFP for power solutions and I provide them equipment to light their homes as well as water desalination plants and even solar-wind hybrid systems” he claims.

Ayub argues that in countries such as Pakistan, the solution to power shortage lies in people generating their own electricity. “At least a person can afford solar-electricity to power at least two lights and two fans for his small house up to a period of 30 years without any worries.”

Ayub deplores that currently, no research is underway in Pakistan, even by the Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB), to promote solar and wind energy in Pakistan as authorities and academicians as well as local industrialists lack awareness of alternate energy sources.

“In the name of research, our students prepare idiotic projects to get marks in exams; people write theses only to acquire a Ph.D. Research needs money, government patronage, facilities and resources, which are all lacking in Pakistan” he says.

Bitterly criticizing AEDB officials, he charges them with “doing business” instead of promoting alternate energy resources and cites various countries, including India, where government institutions not only ‘invent’ products but also and provide them to people on easy installments.

“Solar energy is an expensive technology but it is a one-time investment and also very user- and environment-friendly. In India, government institutions provide such products on lease so that people can afford them. In Pakistan, people are making money through them,” he explains.

On the other hand, Ayub openly admits even his failure in promoting windmills or wind turbines in Pakistan, saying that the best solution to power problems in Pakistan lies in a hybrid system that harnesses both solar and wind energies. Such a system, according to him, could cater to all the power needs of an average domestic household.

“Through a solar-wind hybrid system, all electrical appliances used in a domestic house, except air conditioners, can be powered,” he says, adding that a solar-wind electricity generating system was the best but also a bit expensive as an alternate to generators and UPSs.

According to him, although windmills produce a lot more electricity than solar panels, there were many technical problems associated with them. “Air remains stationary for four months — October to February — in Pakistan and in those months, wind turbines would fail to produce the required electricity.”

He says that a lot of research would have to be done in Pakistan to make wind energy a workable solution to local needs as, currently, locally-produced wind turbines were ineffective, useless and beyond the reach of even the wealthier segment of society.

Source:
THE NEWS Karachi,
Sunday, April 06, 2008
By M. Waqar Bhatti

Pakistan talking with Iran to alleviate its power crisis

Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Masha Allah Shakeri on Thursday called on the Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf. Both countries have agreed to expedite the process of importing 1,000MW power by Pakistan from Iran on fast track basis for early completion of the project. They also agreed to work out the possibilities of import of an additional 1,000MW power from Iran.

Iranian ambassador offered to supply power and gas and also wind turbines to Pakistan to promote alternative energy from Iran. apparently, Iran is also interested to work in the water sector of Pakistan. He said that joint investment companies may also be set up to boost economic ties in various other sectors. He also said Iran is also interested to invest in infrastructure development projects in Pakistan. He also suggested establishment of a joint investment company to look into the exchange of expertise to pave the way for investment opportunity in water and power sectors.

He offered sizeable investment in hydropower plants and expressed intention to finance power projects in Pakistan. The Pakistani minister lauded the Iranian offer and said Pakistan has already signed an agreement to purchase 25MW electricity from Mund (Iran) and recently signed another agreement for purchase of 125MW and 1,000MW power from Iran.

The government of Pakistan is looking for all options ranging from import to development of new energy resources amidst the current situation. Loading shedding in the major cities has started to increase above 5 hours a day as the mercury has started rising above 40 degrees Celsius and air-conditioning systems are being turned on by the consumers. The country is yet to see a mass awareness drive for conservation of energy as trumpeted by the new government about three weeks ago.

Coconut Oil powered flight: Richard Branson yet again!

The first commercial airliner to fly using biofuel took off only yesterday in what is being hailed as a breakthrough in the search for alternatives to oil. The Virgin Atlantic Jumbo jet flew from Heathrow to Amsterdam with one of its engines partly powered by a mixture of coconut oil and oil from babassu trees found in Brazilian rain forests. Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson said the flight proved the possibility of an alternative to fossil fuel and could lead to a cut in CO2 emissions. Virgin has always tried to do something out-of-the-box to make sure it hits the headlines.

Environmentalists dismissed the launch as a gimmick which would do little to halt climate change. They say biofuels push up food prices and hasten deforestation. But then all those who dismiss the claim forget the fact that the scientific community is trying its very best to produce biofuel from bacteria and other sources which do not affect the food supply of the world.

Sir Richard said that this pioneering flight will enable those who are serious about reducing carbon emissions develop the fuels of the future which will power aircrafts through sustained oils from sources such as algae. He himself admitted that coconut oil was ‘not the answer’ but the project would act as a catalyst to develop plant fuels which could eventually replace the kerosene used today.

Source: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=103576&in_page_id=34

Pakistan: Will energy saver bulbs have an impact?

According to a news report, the government of Pakistan plans to distribute 10 million low-consumption light bulbs to reduce the load on national grids.

Pakistan is currently producing around two-thirds of its power demand, with an overwhelming deficit of around 3,000-4,000 Megawatts. Domestic and industrial consumers have been hit hard by continual power cuts.

The state-run National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON) on Monday tasked the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) with arranging the delivery of energy-saving bulbs across the country, the daily newspaper Dawn reported this Tuesday.

PEPCO will assess the capacity of local manufacturers to fill the huge order, and in case of shortfall, it will approach the authorities to import the bulbs.

Pakistan's new coalition government that swore in last month had announced a 100-day relief package with an improvement in energy situation high on the agenda.

The bulbs commonly used in rural Pakistan are of 60 - 100 Watts rating. In cities, 40 Watt tubelights are utilized mostly but the trend towards 20 - 40 Watts energy saver bulbs is increasing. Average operating life of a standard light bulb is far less as compared to the energy saver bulbs though the capital cost is currently over 6-7 times lower. The new move by the government may decrease the impact of the crisis a bit but not solve it. A lot more needs to be done in terms of energy generation from renewable sources if Pakistan aims at getting out of the current crisis.

ALL ABOUT WIND: DANISH WIND INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION WEBSITE

If you are looking for the best tutorials on how wind energy works, try http://www.windpower.org/en/tour.htm.

You'll not regret the visit.

World's Largest Tidal Turbine installed

The world’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy, when it begins operation later this year.

(www.talkgreen.ca)

Pakistan energy crisis and opportunities

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's electricity production was nearly 3,000 megawatts short of demand in March. The country made up the difference by turning off lights, and everything else, for several hours a day.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani after being sworn in March 25 put the "energy crisis" up with terrorism as a top issue to address during his first 100 days in office. But things will get worse before they get better, Gillani warned, with power outages increasing through June when air conditioners are turned on to beat the heat.

Pakistan is experiencing these shortages despite its miserly electricity use with per-capita consumption of 546-kilowatt hours per year, a fifth of the global average of 2,586-kilowatt hours, according to statistics from the seven-nation South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation.

The problem stems from the fact that Pakistan has failed to build new power plants to keep up with the demand for electricity.

As a result, the poor who are connected to the grid are going without during the nearly four hours of outages that are occurring per day this month. In wealthier neighbourhoods, however, the streets come alive with the sounds of generators.

The power outages have increased generator sales - and their price tags - but have also cooled sales of fans, air conditioners and other appliances with consumers asking why have such devices without the electricity to run them.

A graver concern for the economy is the outages' effects on the industrial sector, which is Pakistan's biggest consumer of electricity, and factories having to shut down during the outages. Police have also reported increased crime during the blackouts in bigger cities.

The blackouts have shed light on many problems, but just as many solutions are on offer.

Of Pakistan's 19,500 megawatts of production capacity, a little more than 60 per cent is from imported oil and domestic natural gas power plants. Hydropower generated from the country's two major dams accounts for about 30 per cent, and its one nuclear power plant produces less than five per cent.

Coal plant production is even less, but that could change if Pakistan exploits what has been estimated as the world's third-largest known coal reserves in the south-eastern part of the country.

"The answer lies in using local coal," Tahir Basharat Cheema with DG energy Management said in a recent televised debate about the energy crisis.

Cheema suggested the government's Water and Power Development Authority develop coal generation, adding Pakistan cannot "solely depend on the private sector, (which) wants everything developed" for them.


More nuclear plants and dams are other options often put forward while others tout solar and wind power.

Ejaz Ahmad, deputy director of the Pakistani branch of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), said a big part of the answer is blowing in the wind. "It is practical for cost reasons as well as environmental," he said.

With power needed immediately, wind farms look good because they are relatively fast to install whereas dams and nuclear power plants take five to six years to complete and thermal power plants a couple of years at least, he said.

The WWF erected three 500-watt windmills in a rural area of the southwestern province of Sindh. Each windmill cost about $1,000, including installation, and provides electricity to homes that never had it before.

"It's a small project to show wind works," Amad said.

Real small - the country would need at least six million more of those windmills to meet the electricity shortfalls it is experiencing in early April.

The windmills are in the region of Pakistan's coal reserves, which Amad warned would be a political as well as environmental disaster if they are mined.

"The winds blow to India, so the pollution would blow into India, and that would cause political problems," he said. Harvest that wind instead, he suggested.

Professor Irfan Younas with the Institute of Information Technology in Rawalpindi agreed wind should play a big part of solving Pakistan's energy shortages, adding that comprehensive wind maps have already been researched in the country.

"Karachi's energy problem could be answered with wind energy," he said of Pakistan's biggest city of about 15 million people on the southern coast, where there are consistent breezes all year.

Cost-effectiveness attracted Younas to both wind and solar energy, he said, but added that in the long-term, Pakistan should also build more nuclear plants and dams.

"There is money to be made, no doubt about it," he said. "We need people to come and invest in independent power producers here."

"We are at the point that people really need to act," he said.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Pakistan_searches_for_solution_to_power_shortages/articleshow/2929969.cms