The business community consists of the higher portion of electricity consumption in any country.
To realise the pledge made by our prime minister to reduce 40 percent carbon intensity by 2020, business community needs to move forward.
The Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer ) has conducted series of consultation with business groups and respective government agencies to identify core problems faced by them in achieving energy efficiency.
Lack of expertise and knowledge within an organisation as well as expensive energy audit cost were identified as the main reasons.
There are three factors that contribute to electricity consumption in any operation.
The first factor is the electricity consumption of the equipment itself. In our site visits, we have observed purchase of second-hand equipment and non-energy efficient equipment is normal among some businesses.
The main reason is the initial investment cost for such equipments is very low. Once purchased, the operating cost due to high electricity consumption is going to stick with them for a very long period.
The second factor is the number of equipment used. The total number of equipment is directly proportionate to the total electricity consumption.
Finally the third factor would be the usage duration. If a company purchase non-energy efficient equipments in large quantity and use it for long hours, you can imagine the increase of their operational cost.
Awer have merged these three factors in our Low CO2 Tool named Click d' Thief to assist businesses to carry out simple energy audit for free.
This calculator caters all types of tariff in Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah. It will also assist them to identify high energy consuming equipments with their respective carbon footprint.
Therefore, the obstacles faced by businesses can be reduced via this calculator.
The business community must also abide by the current trends that the electricity pricing around the world will continue to increase with the projected world primary energy demand increase.
The energy resources will be a limiting factor. We have only one way forward, that is to be energy efficient.
In addition to that, the Click d' Thief calculator will be a good measuring tool to identify environmental parameter on electricity consumption (which is carbon footprint) for ISO 14001 certification process.
This will allow business entities to make informed decision.
We invite the business community to clickto a low carbon lifestyle via www.click.org.my to reduce electricity cost, carbon emission and increase competitiveness which eventually will be beneficial for the people and country's growth.
PIARAPAKARAN S is president of the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer).
