Naif Al-Raqqas, technical affairs assistant to the director-general of the Saudi Center for Energy Efficiency, said that air conditioners are a major contributor to the rise in power consumption in Saudi Arabia. “This is especially true in cities that have higher temperatures, like Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah,” he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of an open meeting held in the Jeddah Chamber for Commerce and Industry, he told Arab News that “buildings consume more than 60 percent of electricity because they are either poorly insulated or have no insulation at all. Another reason is that air conditioning units have no thermal insulation, which means that 30 percent of their efficiency is lost. About 90 percent of power consumption in Saudi Arabia takes place in the three major sectors of buildings, transportation and manufacturing,” he said.
Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Mulhim, who heads the educational team at the Saudi Program for Energy Efficiency and was also present at the open meeting, called upon the private sector to stop wasting the Kingdom’s precious energy resources.
“I’m afraid that the current consumption trend, which recently saw a 30-percent increase, will negatively impact the Kingdom’s income from oil and gas exports. In contrast, the industrial nations were able to reduce power consumption by 51 percent over the last 30 years. “We have to be more careful,” he said.
“We are working in earnest on preparing a 3-year educational and awareness plan. This is the first phase. We need to educate the public about the most efficient and cost-effective methods to use power prudently. The media should play a major role in this. We also put our hopes in the generation of young people who will be tomorrow’s society builders. We want to cut down on wrong practices,” he added.
“We must conserve, and we must conserve efficiently. I see no other alternative,” he said.
