Amman — Experts affirm that the use of renewable sources in electricity production, and their lower cost compared to conventional sources, does not eliminate the need for rationalizing consumption.
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Experts stressed the necessity of improving energy consumption efficiency before expanding renewable energy projects, so that the energy produced isn't used in the wrong place.
Experts note that improving energy consumption efficiency can come through several means, beyond just lowering the electricity bill, including reducing loads, cutting losses, reducing maintenance costs and downtime, and extending the lifespan of machinery and equipment.
Economic expert Eng. Mousa Al-Saket said: "Renewable energy doesn't eliminate the need for rationalization and consumption efficiency," explaining that renewable energy addresses the source of energy and its cost, while energy efficiency addresses the way energy is consumed.
Al-Saket noted that it wouldn't make sense to produce cheaper or cleaner energy, only to waste part of it due to outdated equipment or inefficient production processes, affirming that energy efficiency and renewable energy are not alternatives to each other, but part of a single industrial strategy for reducing production costs and raising the competitiveness of Jordanian products.
He explained that when energy costs can be reduced, this strengthens competitiveness in both domestic and export markets, which ultimately reflects on the entire national economy.
He noted that in production sectors specifically, every kilowatt-hour saved through improved efficiency is equivalent to producing energy we no longer need to buy or generate, which is why rationalization and energy efficiency should be the first step before investing in increasing renewable energy capacity.
Al-Saket added: "Directly and measurably, savings don't come only from lowering the electricity bill, but also from reducing loads, cutting losses, reducing maintenance costs and downtime, and extending the lifespan of machinery and equipment."
He said: "Many industrial energy efficiency measures don't require large investments, as there are operational and administrative procedures, along with improvements to motor, pumping, compressed air, cooling, lighting, and thermal insulation systems, that can achieve tangible savings within a short period."
Al-Saket noted that investing in energy efficiency typically reduces the amount of energy a factory needs in the first place, and therefore also reduces the size of investment required in a renewable energy project, pointing to significant opportunity in Jordanian industry.
He stressed the need to shift from the concept of rationalization, meaning simply reducing consumption, to the more advanced concept of energy efficiency, meaning producing the same, or a larger, quantity of products using less energy.
For his part, director of energy and environment programs at the EU delegation, Omar Abu Eid, said that "rationalizing energy consumption in production sectors is extremely worthwhile, as it falls within the concepts of resource-use efficiency, which makes its calculation method and applications have a significant positive impact on these sectors."
Regarding the comparison between the value of rationalizing energy consumption versus renewable energy, Abu Eid explained that renewable energy is beneficial for the climate and for reducing carbon emissions, and represents an alternative to conventional energy sources, and may be more cost-effective, but the principles of energy rationalization, being part of resource-use efficiency concepts, typically have a greater impact.
He added that renewable energy, even when applied, should go hand in hand with energy rationalization concepts, as an alternative source of electricity, and may at certain stages be more economical than conventional energy sources, noting that industry uses electricity sources cheaper than conventional ones, including gas and renewable energy, affirming that combining both approaches is the appropriate choice, rather than viewing one as more worthwhile than the other.
Abu Eid explained that the starting point is typically rationalization, as part of the process of optimal resource use, involving an audit that reveals areas for savings and usage patterns, alongside identifying certain optimal administrative tools for rationalization and their effects on the production process.
He said: "The starting point is always optimal resource consumption, with energy rationalization coming as part of this process, alongside the possibility of supporting the factory with renewable energy."
He noted that fully supporting a factory with renewable energy can be difficult, since without storage, the factory won't be able to get electricity around the clock, so the support could be partial or part of a shared system, for example, with several production factories in the area or within industrial cities.
He added: "Rationalization is always part of a joint process, including, for example, concepts of integration between energy, water, and the environment, as well as resource-use efficiency, as a comprehensive review is conducted of the resources used in the production process, including raw materials, water, energy, and electricity."
He explained: "This has important implications, as other parts of the industrial process are sometimes included within energy efficiency and rationalization principles and applications, such as the use of steam produced by industry, as well as heat exchange generated by industry."
For her part, CEO of SustainMEN and green economy expert Shatha Al-Sharif said that "energy efficiency goes hand in hand with renewable energy," noting that priority should actually be given to focusing on energy efficiency first, before considering the integration of renewable energy technologies, in order to ensure that the scale of investment in renewable energy is at the highest possible efficiency.
She added: "Instead of installing a 10-megawatt system, implementing energy efficiency measures first could allow for investment in a suitably smaller-sized system, and consequently at a lower cost, which raises the economic return on these investments."
She noted that energy efficiency is closely tied to energy security, reducing reliance on imports, lowering the national energy bill, as well as reducing the energy bill for institutions, while this also falls within the sustainable resources growth engine within the economic modernization vision, and strengthens the move toward a circular economy built on efficient resource management and enhanced supply security.
She explained that efficiency begins at the design stage of facilities and buildings, so that they align from the outset with green building codes and energy-saving building codes, noting that these codes exist and are developed in Jordan, but there is a need to further develop them and apply them on the ground, and then consider introducing renewable energy technologies at the appropriate investment scale, without wasting energy sources.
Al-Sharif noted that efficiency measures can also be applied to existing buildings, not just new ones, explaining that the Ministry of Energy recently launched the third National Energy Efficiency Program or Plan, alongside recent incentives and a push toward energy efficiency, specifically in the government sector, given that it's among the most significant energy-consuming sectors, and holds substantial potential for savings.
Resource: Al-Ghad. Reporting: Reham Zeidan
