Containing electric power shortage

Power shortage has been a perennial problem in Bangladesh for many years, and is still continuing. There appears to be little or no scope for any relief from it, in the foreseeable future too! Basically the reason behind is the lack of any local sources of solid and liquid fuel that is recovered from natural geological sources. The little coal that is extracted is like a drop in the ocean, nothing worth stating in the national context! Unfortunately, our natural gas has been taken for granted, and by and large, misused and in a sense wasted away! Not long back, perpetually running gas cooking stoves in the kitchen were taken for granted, as gas tariff was based on the number of burners used, and not based on the quantity of gas being consumed! In reality, throughout the day, excepting maybe when everyone was asleep at night and there was the fear of accidental fire, with no one awake; were gas cookers or ovens shut down! Even the authorities possibly never thought of the finite volumes of gas we have below our surface and lived on with this practice! Now the bitter reality has come home to roost; and the gas scarcity is the bitter truth, after ages of freely burning natural gas (valuable methane)! Now that we face the bitter reality, electric power scarcity has become the fact of life, and electric power rationing a factual reality! Should we therefore not urgently go for exploring all available avenues of non-traditional sources of power that is not dependent on availability of coal, oil and methane and all of which come from geological sources! Firstly, we should go all-out far maximizing utilization of solar power, freely available as long as the solar system exists! This should not be restricted to household solar panels only. We should go ahead and set up as many solar mini power plants; say 50 to 100 MW each; if needed on public-private partnership basis, particularly in rural and small urban areas. This needs to be executed quickly, and with minimum red-tape and hassle. For this, foreshore river bank areas, normally under shallow water and flooded during high tides may be the ideal location for installing solar panels on poles.
Another viable option is to go for dual fuel (oil-garbage) combination that can use sorted municipal solid garbage, along with fuel oil, firing the steam boiler, in various small towns and cities of Bangladesh! In France near suburbs of Paris, there is such a dual-fuel (coal/garbage) based power plant which has been running for many years! This can ease the problem of municipal garbage disposal, as well as reduce the possibility of spread of diseases, due to likely presence of germs in household garbage. Such municipal garbage-based power plant is operating in the suburbs of Paris. This is very cost effective, compared to tying up of scarce urban land for garbage dumping, and the related dangers of spreading of diseases! Municipalities and union council authorities must be encouraged and where needed given easy term loans to go ahead for setting up this type of fuel-free units for power generation! Power can also be tapped from natural gas pressure reducing station at the gas well head; by having an expansion turbine, instead of conventional manual/air or gas operated pressure reducing valve. The power so produced may be small, but it can supply the power needs of the wellhead facilities and its adjacent nearby localities. All gas companies should, like Titas and others, should be asked to set up such fuel free power stations!
Last but not the least is the perpetual and unfailing source of fuel, coming as methane gas from the natural decomposition of human solid toilet waste! In reality, for Dhaka and few other cities of Bangladesh, these sanitary wastes are dumped as earth fill, or even  pumped out to nearby rivers (Dhaka is an example!) that is a potentially dangerous source of germs and diseases being released into the rivers and this fact remains totally ignored by our authorities and is not known to most people! This solid human waste is a potential source of methane gas that can save our costly imported of coal and liquid fuel reducing the overall consumption of natural gas, for power generation! Thailand which has practically no local geological fuel resources has been producing methane gas from solid human toilet waste, for the past twenty years or more. They also use the leftover solid residue, after methane is extracted, and mix this odourless solid leftover mass, with wood dust from furniture making. This is mixed together with used liquid lubricants and grease and pressed into solid fuel cakes that are sold in the market as solid fuel, in place of coal that is popular in their rural areas where methane gas is not piped. All said, but sadly nothing is being done to exploit and use this potential source of methane gas that has remained unused and money is spent by WASA for pumping it all out finally into our rivers and water bodies as a potential source of diseases and infections while adding financial load for ultimate public healthcare!  The reality is that, in the name of municipal disposal of solid human waste at least in Dhaka, if not in other cities, we are spreading germs with no one being aware about it.

The writer is a retired engineer

Containing electric power shortage

Power shortage has been a perennial problem in Bangladesh for many years, and is still continuing. There appears to be little or no scope for any relief from it, in the foreseeable future too! Basically the reason behind is the lack of any local sources of solid and liquid fuel that is recovered from natural geological sources. The little coal that is extracted is like a drop in the ocean, nothing worth stating in the national context! Unfortunately, our natural gas has been taken for granted, and by and large, misused and in a sense wasted away! Not long back, perpetually running gas cooking stoves in the kitchen were taken for granted, as gas tariff was based on the number of burners used, and not based on the quantity of gas being consumed! In reality, throughout the day, excepting maybe when everyone was asleep at night and there was the fear of accidental fire, with no one awake; were gas cookers or ovens shut down! Even the authorities possibly never thought of the finite volumes of gas we have below our surface and lived on with this practice! Now the bitter reality has come home to roost; and the gas scarcity is the bitter truth, after ages of freely burning natural gas (valuable methane)! Now that we face the bitter reality, electric power scarcity has become the fact of life, and electric power rationing a factual reality! Should we therefore not urgently go for exploring all available avenues of non-traditional sources of power that is not dependent on availability of coal, oil and methane and all of which come from geological sources! Firstly, we should go all-out far maximizing utilization of solar power, freely available as long as the solar system exists! This should not be restricted to household solar panels only. We should go ahead and set up as many solar mini power plants; say 50 to 100 MW each; if needed on public-private partnership basis, particularly in rural and small urban areas. This needs to be executed quickly, and with minimum red-tape and hassle. For this, foreshore river bank areas, normally under shallow water and flooded during high tides may be the ideal location for installing solar panels on poles. Another viable option is to go for dual fuel (oil-garbage) combination that can use sorted municipal solid garbage, along with fuel oil, firing the steam boiler, in various small towns and cities of Bangladesh! In France near suburbs of Paris, there is such a dual-fuel (coal/garbage) based power plant which has been running for many years! This can ease the problem of municipal garbage disposal, as well as reduce the possibility of spread of diseases, due to likely presence of germs in household garbage. Such municipal garbage-based power plant is operating in the suburbs of Paris. This is very cost effective, compared to tying up of scarce urban land for garbage dumping, and the related dangers of spreading of diseases! Municipalities and union council authorities must be encouraged and where needed given easy term loans to go ahead for setting up this type of fuel-free units for power generation! Power can also be tapped from natural gas pressure reducing station at the gas well head; by having an expansion turbine, instead of conventional manual/air or gas operated pressure reducing valve. The power so produced may be small, but it can supply the power needs of the wellhead facilities and its adjacent nearby localities. All gas companies should, like Titas and others, should be asked to set up such fuel free power stations! Last but not the least is the perpetual and unfailing source of fuel, coming as methane gas from the natural decomposition of human solid toilet waste! In reality, for Dhaka and few other cities of Bangladesh, these sanitary wastes are dumped as earth fill, or even pumped out to nearby rivers (Dhaka is an example!) that is a potentially dangerous source of germs and diseases being released into the rivers and this fact remains totally ignored by our authorities and is not known to most people! This solid human waste is a potential source of methane gas that can save our costly imported of coal and liquid fuel reducing the overall consumption of natural gas, for power generation! Thailand which has practically no local geological fuel resources has been producing methane gas from solid human toilet waste, for the past twenty years or more. They also use the leftover solid residue, after methane is extracted, and mix this odourless solid leftover mass, with wood dust from furniture making. This is mixed together with used liquid lubricants and grease and pressed into solid fuel cakes that are sold in the market as solid fuel, in place of coal that is popular in their rural areas where methane gas is not piped. All said, but sadly nothing is being done to exploit and use this potential source of methane gas that has remained unused and money is spent by WASA for pumping it all out finally into our rivers and water bodies as a potential source of diseases and infections while adding financial load for ultimate public healthcare! The reality is that, in the name of municipal disposal of solid human waste at least in Dhaka, if not in other cities, we are spreading germs with no one being aware about it. The writer is a retired engineer