Get Ready for April Electricity Blackouts

[Guest fountainhall]

Every year during Songkran when many businesses are closed and many Thais are out of the country on holiday, the supply from two rigs supplying gas off Myanmar is halted for a few days to allow for pipeline maintenence. This year, though, for reasons unspecified, the maintenance will take place between April 4 and 12. Not unnaturally, being the hottest month, blackouts will occur unless major steps are taken to reduce demand. The shutdown will cut off a daily supply of 1 billion cubic feet of gas and affect all six power plants in western Thailand.

 

The head of the the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has asked consumers to turn off electrical appliances - including air conditioners - between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm each day! 

 

I suppose asking the population in the west of the country to increase the temperature throughout the day by just a couple of degrees in this period is considered too much of a burden. Given that the huge shopping malls and many offices are already over air-conditioned, I would have thought this a far more practical course of action than a big reduction at the hottest time of the day. They have always been quite strict about temperature regulation in countries like Japan. But then, TIT!

 

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2013/02/19/Thailand-to-face-April-energy-crisis/UPI-27841361299277/

[Guest thaiworthy]

Would it help any if I used less ice cubes?

[Guest abang1961]

Rationing of essential utilities  is nothing new to many countries in South East Asia.

In Singapore, we had water rationing back in the late 80s where there was a prolonged period of drought.

Fortunately with newer technologies of water conservation and water treatment, water rationing is a thing of the past.

However, Singapore still depends on Malaysia and Indonesia to supply water.

 

I remembered they had rationing of electricity In Philippines, in Japan (after the Tsunami)...

Like FH had said accurately, I find the practice of excessive air-conditioning in many shopping malls in this part of the world.

There must be pockets of lull periods e.g. before lunch, between 2 pm to 5 pm where the majority of office staff are working whereby the human density is minimal.  I don't know but some seems to set the thermometer at 18C instead of 22C upwards.

[Rogie]

The head of the the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has asked consumers to turn off electrical appliances - including air conditioners - between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm each day! 

 

Money-saving tip! 

 

Posters in previous discussions have said they spend a fair amount on their electricity bills owing to AC.

 

 

[Guest]

Right, so switch off the aircon at one of the hottest times of the day, then presumably everyone might just suddenly switch it back on at the same time.

 

Passing a law banning over cooling of shops, malls, skytrains etc would make more sense.

Set a minimum temperature of ~27°C, send inspectors around to make random checks and fine offenders.

 

If it's too damn cold for a Brit like me, I figure the Thais can cope with higher temperatures.

[ChristianPFC]

Most aircons are set to 25C (I saw thermometers in shopping malls and in MRT), which is at first a bit cold when you come in from outside, but then it is ok. Now living in Bangkok and using aircon I am quite surprised about the energy consumption (with room partition, I have 11 sq to cool from 30 to 25C for about 10 hours which consumes about 4 kWh).

 

The major problem is that all electrical devices in an air-conditioned room produce heat, which has to be removed by aircon. Hot air hand dries in toilets are a multiple considerable waste of electrical energy, as are microwaves or other ways to heat food and drinks in 7/11!

[Guest]

I think the biggest waste of air conditioning energy is from a lack of insulation and shop doors that are almost constantly opening.

Building without insulation might have made sense in the old days, when Thai buildings would not have been airconditioned. However, now aircon is more common, it makes sense to insulate houses in the same way we do in Northern Europe. Have about 30 cm of fibre insulation above the ceiling, 75cm of PU insulation in the walls & double glazing.

[Guest fountainhall]

Insulation makes so much sense, but does require an initial investment. I spent Bt. 50k to insulate the ceilings of my apartment. Like most top floor units, there is blank space between the ceilings and the roof, and that is like an oven on sunny days. I wish I could have quantified my savings, but I am sure the cost was more than covered several years ago.

 

Seoul recently set a minimum summer indoor temperature of 26° C for large buildings like malls, government offices, airports etc. This follows Japan which has had legal minimum summer temperatures of 28°C for many years (as anyone who has had to wait in long Immigration lines at Narita will know only too well). Even California recommends a minimum of 26°.

 

I am very surprised that malls in Bangkok are set at 25C. I can tell that on some floors, they are definitely a degree or two lower. Cinemas in malls seem to be the worst. I always have to wear a long sleeved shirt or take a light sweater with me.

 

Singapore's used to be as low as 22°C resulting in some Japanese visitors complaining they did not know how to dress to cope with the big temperature differences!

[Guest thaiworthy]

The coldest buildings in the USA are hospitals, I guess because bacteria multiply in heat. I had visited two hospitals last year, St. Louis Hospital and Vejthani, neither of which were very cold. Why would a shopping mall be kept cooler than a hospital? Doesn't make sense. But then again, TiT.

[Guest fountainhall]

The cooler shoppers are, presumably the more comfortable they'll feel and thus the more likely they'll spend time just wandering, looking and perhaps buying. Even having a snack or a meal.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Something we can do for water conservation:

 

[Guest fountainhall]

Something the government could have done when constructing new government offices was ensuring they are energy efficient. But clearly that is not one of its priorities. Renewing my visa the other day, I took a photo of the vast unused space in this relatively new building. What on earth all that air-conditioned space is needed for, totally beats me. Surely it would be a simple matter to take off the roof structure above the space and build an energy saving wall around the office and corridor areas?

 

[Guest scottishguy]

Fortunately my main "appliance" is battery operated.

 

[Guest]

Fountainhall, I'm also sure any insulation you put above the ceiling of a top floor apartment would pay for itself very quickly too. Even on the rare hot days we get in the UK, I notice the benefit from that, however of course the real advantage is keeping heat in for longer in winter.

 

As for that government building, it's ridiculous to have such a vast space with what looks like a glass ceiling, in the tropics!

Surely it would be much more efficient to have a insulated & reflecting roof, with big overhangs & natural light coming in through glass that has some shade ?

[Guest fountainhall]

Hard to say what what materials were used in that ceiling. I think it may not be glass as each section seems to be moulded in some way. So it may be some sort of reinforced perspex which may indeed include some sort of insulation. Even so, that vast space underneath has to be air-conditioned for seemingly no reason whatever. That's what I find so ridiculous.

[Guest]

Glass or perspex, that ceiling is likely to suffer from solar gain and behave like a greenhouse.

 

So they need to stop all that solar energy entering the building, otherwise the air conditioning bill will become unreasonable.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Glass or perspex, that ceiling is likely to suffer from solar gain and behave like a greenhouse.

 

I think they should turn the place into a giant hydroponic garden and move all of Immigration closer to town like it was before!

[Guest abang1961]

Space is never a major concern in Thailand, right?

In land-scarce Singapore, such spaces will be an extreme luxury.

 

Ways to cool down during the hot months ...

wear cotton clothes or for better or worse, wear less clothes..

soak yourself in a hot tub/swimming pool..

or like me, do both..

 

 

 

 

[Guest fountainhall]

move all of Immigration closer to town like it was before!

 

Great idea - preferably back to Suan Plu so I can walk there 

[ChristianPFC]

I am not sure if insulation would be helpful in Thailand. In Europe in winter, we have an average temperature difference of 20C (20C inside, 0C outside), in Thailand it is 10C (35C outside, 25C inside). In Europe, we have to heat 24h per day (or at least keep the temperature inside above 10C) whereas inThailand they can switch off the aircon when the place is closed, so let's say they need aircon 12h per day. On the other hand, winter in Europe is only 3 months (depending on where you live), in Thailand they need aircon all over the year.

[Guest scottishguy]

At the risk of jumping in - I must say that if there is any way that consumption can be reduced/money can be saved on electricity generally or on air- Con in particular, then Christianpfc is certainly the man to tell you.

 

[Guest fountainhall]

I am not sure if insulation would be helpful in Thailand.

 

I am very happy to defer to your expertise Christian. But surely your comment can not be wholly true in respect of a private dwelling. Yes, I have to use air conditioning for much of the year. But the fact that I have insulation above my ceiling must mean that I must use less power and pay less in electricity charges. Less of the cooler air in my condo escapes out through the ceiling, and less of the heat from above bleeds down through the insulation.

[Guest]

Any properly installed insulation will definitely help.

 

Halve the rate of heat loss and you halve the electricity consumption. That's why fridges have insulation around the outside of the box. Of course, the temperature differential makes a difference.  However, temperature is measured in the shade.  If the roof of the Fountainhall residence receives direct sunlight, the surface temperature will be higher & some of that will be conducted into the room below.