Bangladesh's efforts to improve energy efficiency paying off: IEEFA

With targeted measures, the nation can build on this momentum and achieve its energy efficiency goals a year early. With households and industry consuming two-thirds of the country’s energy, these sectors should be the focus for greater energy efficiency gains, noted the report by Shafiqul Alam, lead energy analyst for Bangladesh at IEEFA South Asia.

The sustained national effort created a framework for energy efficiency. However, after initial gains from fiscal 2016-17 (FY17), progress slowed until FY21, when energy supply disruptions and higher tariffs made efficiency a priority.

Since 2016, energy efficiency gains have saved Bangladesh billions in fossil fuel imports, with great economic and environmental benefits for the nation, it said.

“In FY23-24 alone, energy efficiency gains helped Bangladesh cut fossil fuel consumption worth 7.02 million tonnes of oil equivalent, avoiding approximately $3.34 billion in import bills,” the report, titled ‘Bangladesh’s energy efficiency goals within reach’, said.

Initially, progress was encouraging but patchy until the global energy price shock and supply disruptions in FY22 made energy security and efficiency an urgent priority. Fortunately for Bangladesh, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Master Plan developed in 2016 laid the groundwork to respond to such eventualities, observed the report.

Proper standards and labels, and passive design features will ensure optimal energy efficiency in buildings. In industry, efficiency improvements in motors, motor drives and captive power generation, and switching to electric boilers, will cut energy consumption significantly.

Subsequent regulations, low-cost financing and allied programmes have put Bangladesh on track to achieve, and even surpass, its energy efficiency goals.

“Bangladesh’s average annual energy efficiency improvement rate hovers around 1.52 per cent, a trend that will likely help the country achieve its 2030 goal a year ahead of the deadline,” Alam added.

Even greater gains are possible with measures targeting the household and industrial sectors, which are responsible for two-thirds of Bangladesh’s energy consumption, the study noted.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)