Energy conservation for sustainable future

Why energy is important?

    Man power was heavily used for agriculture and production process before industrialization. With the industrialization, way of thinking of society changed. New machines and equipment were invented to produce in efficient manner. Energy sources were essential for the operation of those machines.  Earlier coal power was used. Later fossil fuels and natural gas were burned to obtain energy. Energy has become essential factor both service factor and production industries. Energy cutoff may cause breakdown of the whole process of the industries.

What are the renewable and nonrenewable sources?

Renewable energy source can be replenished within short time period after usage. Hydro power, solar, wind, geothermal heat and tide are the example for the renewable energy sources. Non renewable energy sources cannot be replenished within short time period after usage. Fossil fuel and coal are the example for the non-renewable energy sources.

Why energy is needed to be conserved?

Most of the energy sources are non-renewable so conserving energy help to save the resources for future generation. The world still depends on the fossil fuel to fulfill the energy requirements. Since most of the countries haven’t crude oil deposits, they have to import from Middle East countries. Ultimately it increases the price of the fossil fuel due to the transport cost and refinery process so it accounts a large portion of expenditure in the counties like Sri Lanka. Therefore reduction usage of energy can save money. Due to the reduction of the rainfall, fossil fuel is massively used for electricity generation in large scale. Burning of fossil fuel releases lots of harmful pollutants including oxides of sulfur, oxides of nitrogen, oxides of carbon, particulate matter, and volatile organic matter (VOC), mercury and lead into the environment. It may not only affect the air quality. Some pollutants end up with aquatic bodies through process including acid deposition. The emission of carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxides accelerate the global warming. The interactions between the gases cause photochemical smog.  Therefore reduction of the fossil fuel preserves the air quality.

Measure to reduce the energy consumption

1)      Lighting within factories accounts for a large portion of energy consumption. Florescent bulbs can be replaced by using energy efficient LED bulbs.  Skylights are placed at the top of the roof to harvest sunlight for lighting during daytime.  Thereby it reduces the electricity for the lighting. The building should be construed to get maximum amount of natural light for the indoor lighting. Sensor lights can be used for lighting outside the buildings.  The sensors are able to recognize the daytime and switch off the lights. The sensor lights can be operated through solar power by using recharging battery during day time.

2)      CRT televisions can be replaced by using energy efficient LED televisions.

3)      Energy labeling is taken into consideration to reduce the energy waste so each and every electric appliance within the factory is labeled. So it prevents the use of electric appliances unnecessarily.

4)      Fossil fuel consuming boilers can be replaced by using biomass boilers. Cinnamon woods, beli fruit, ice cream beans and bora are grown as fuel wood. Fuel woods are used as a renewable energy sources and it reduces the carbon dioxide emission. It provides employments for local people. 

5)      Water pressure pumps are replaced by using gravity flowing drainage systems.

6)      Most of the industries tend to rely on renewable energy sources as a solution for the global energy crisis.  Mini hydro power plants are established across the streams and rivers. Although it has the zero emission of carbon dioxide during the operation, essential strategies are needed to be taken to protects the watershed areas of the countries. Unless it causes serve environmental problems and effects the downstream living hoods. Solar panels are placed at the top of the roof of buildings. As the solar energy recharges the batteries during day time, usage of solar penal is not restricted to daytime.  As the seasonality is absent in the tropical countries, solar penal can be used throughout the year.  Although solar penal harvest maximum amount of sunlight, it leaves hazardous waste at the end of their life span.  Biogas is used as an alternative for LP gas. It is produced from organic waste under anaerobic condition. Canteen waste, sludge from wastewater treatments plants and feces are used as sources for methane production.  The biogas can be used for the cooking in the canteen.

7)      Energy audit can be conducted per every month. It helps to identify the places with leakages and highest energy consumption. Thereby appropriate measure can be taken to reduce the energy bill.

8)      Capacitor bank can be installed for the main electrical system to regulate the energy consumption. It helps to manage the additional load and maximum demand.

9)      Inefficient old motor can be replaced by using modern efficient motors. The capital cost of energy efficient motors may be higher than that of the older motor but it reduces largely the operational cost compare to the capital cost. Motors are switched off when they are not being used. Uses of oversized motors which highly consume energy are avoided. 

10)  Energy content of the fossil fuel is transformed into heat of the stream. Stream is used to provide energy for processes including serialization, drying and ironing.  During this transformation, considerable amount of energy is lost to the environment. The lost energy can be recovered by appropriate techniques.

11)  Continues awareness programs should be conducted for the workers to get their best support for the reducing energy consumption. The notices related to energy saving can be shown in the public places including canteen and toilets in the factory.  The working people can be persuaded by conducting a competition. The worker or group of workers can be evaluated and awarded according to their high performance for energy saving and conserving in the factory for a given time period.

12)  Environmental friendly multi-compressor system can be used for air conditioning instead of single- compressor.

13)  Usage of natural ventilation can be maximized to reduce the cost to operate fans and air condition machines.

What are the benefits of conserving energy?

1)      Energy conserving approaches lead to a green production process. The carbon emission to the atmosphere is minimized.

2)      It attracts the more customers over conventional industries because customers are more confident to buy environmental friendly products.

3)      Conserving energy is one qualification for applying for international certification systems.