Background Of Energy Saving In Nigeria
Reducing the impacts of the use of energy has been described as one of the key technical, political and moral challenges facing the world today. While the world works towards the use of cleaner energy, our priority should be to use the energy we generate more efficiently.
Energy efficiency measures are usually cheaper, cleaner and faster to install than any other energy options. Energy efficiency measures have the potential to promote economic development and can lead to job creation and saving of personal income. More also, energy efficiency will play a pivotal role in the mitigation of climate change; a large part of the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere come from energy generation.
In Nigeria, experts have asserted that Nigeria can save up to half of the energy currently consumed in the country if energy is efficiently utilized. The major challenge has been that energy policy in Nigeria has undermined the importance and gains of energy efficiency to the environment and economic growth. In the midst of the prevailing energy crisis in Nigeria, energy efficiency will play a pivotal role in ensuring access to energy. Efficiency is not only cheaper than all other options; it also leads to growth in jobs and personal income. By reducing energy bills, it frees up money that can be spent elsewhere in the economy.
Importance Of Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency has become the key driver of sustainable development in many economies in the world. If we use energy efficiently, it will lead to the saving of personal income; families will not have to spend so much money paying for energy. It will help to reduce the building of more power stations, thus the money for building power stations will then be spent on other sectors of the economy. More also, more people will have access to energy; if we save energy in one part of the country, the energy saved can be made available in another part. In Nigeria, where the utility companies do not have enough energy to meet the needs of everybody at the same time, energy supply is alternated. With good energy management at the residential, public and private sector, there will be no need to alternate electricity supply.
Most of the energy we generate in Nigeria comes from the burning of fossil fuel (oil and gas). For every kilowatt of electricity we consume, there is an equivalent emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Energy efficiency can help to reduce the emission of GHGs and reduce the reliance on petroleum to drive our economy. The negative environmental impacts associated with the generation of energy will also be reduced if we use energy efficiently. Many people can be employed during intervention programmes to change the behavior of people to use energy efficiently. For companies manufacturing electrical appliances, there will then be competition among them on who manufactures the most efficient appliances to capture the patronage of consumers.