Govt set to push shift from gas to electricity, energy-efficient buildings

The government plans to embark on a 10-year transition strategy to shift from gas to electricity in commercial, industrial and residential sectors, and push energy-efficient buildings under a Rs45 billion energy efficiency and conservation project, which envisages energy savings of over Rs500bn a year. The project was formally cleared by the Central Development Working Party a few days ago for negotiations with the World Bank for a $150 million loan, including a $15m technical grant for capacity-building of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. However, it was observed that a 10-year transition period was too long and should be minimised. The project’s sponsors — the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Energy Efficiency Authority — have reported to the Planning Commission that Pakistan’s current energy-saving potential was around 10m to 12m tonnes of oil equivalent — a unit of energy defined as the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil.