Letters to the editor
Conservation of gas is badly needed
Sir,
It is becoming clear day-by-day that gas reserves in Bangladesh are getting depleted faster than the new discoveries of gas. But one of the main reasons for this rapid depletion of gas reserve is the misuse of gas in every sector. People as well as government are equally responsible for this terrible situation. Too many people do not turn off their gas burners to save a matchstick!
The government could have prevented this from the very beginning by : implementing prepaid system for gas use and making it mandatory to use gas burner which is turned on only when there is something on the burner and turned off when it is removed from the burner. This burner was invented by one college student that was displayed in the science fair about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, none of the governments has tried to implement it.
Nowadays we are facing serious shortage of gas. Due to insufficient gas supply industrial production is getting seriously hampered or cannot increase. But it is a matter of great regret that we have no headache about this. It was estimated that if it becomes possible to raise one per cent efficiency of the industrial boilers, 95 million cubic feet (mcf) of gas will be saved . In Bangladesh, some 5,700 industries consume nearly 1020mcf of gas per day. Out of the consumption, 95 per cent are fed by their boilers.
A government survey during the last caretaker government found that gas-fed boilers in different industries under Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd. franchise areas consume 20 to 30 per cent extra gas due to their inefficiency and wrong operation.
Bangladesh, one of the growing economies in Asia, has more than 500mcf of gas supply shortage per day against the demand of nearly 2500mcf. As a consequence of gas supply shortage, power generation at the gas-run power plants has plunged by 500 to 600 megawatt. But this could be prevented by conservation measures. The government study said that the thermal efficiency of gas-run boilers in different industrial units was 62-72 per cent, which could be raised to 80-85 per cent through upgrading.
It has been imperative for a long time to set up at least three major compression stations on the gas distribution lines to raise pressure of gas so that different categories of users can utilize the gas efficiently . But the projects to set up these compressor stations have been stalling for years. Only one of these compressors have been set up so far.
Md Obyadullah
Magbazar, Dhaka
