Fuel consumption is over and above global standards and 40% of the energy is lost before it reaches consumers, the director of Iran Fuel Conservation Company said.
“Annual energy waste alone is equal to the energy that is produced by burning 445 million barrels of crude oil,” Mohsen Delaviz said, noting that energy consumption in the household, industrial and transportation sectors is equal to 396, 331 and 319 million barrels of oil respectively, the Oil Ministry’s Shana news agency reported.
Households in Iran consume the equivalent of 1 million barrels of oil per day, which is eight times above the most energy-efficient countries.
Large amounts of energy are wasted in the household sector in Iran whereas the bulk of energy in developed countries is used in industries.
The massive energy consumption and waste are rooted in age-old heating systems and poorly insulated walls, the fuel official rued.
“Traditional heaters consume 11.5 million cubic meters of gas per day. If these are replaced by smart heaters we can save a lot,” Delaviz said.
There are currently 20 million traditional gas heaters in the country. Smart heaters have much lower consumption levels compared to the old and traditional units.
School Heaters
The official pointed to his company’s plan to replace 150,000 heaters in schools across the country by the end of 2021.
National Iranian Gas Company paid $96 million between 2015-17 to the Organization for the Development, Renovation and Equipping of Schools affiliated to the Education Ministry to help renovate schools in the deprived regions.
As per law, NIGC must pay the Education Ministry 20% of its revenue to be spent on building new schools, renovate old ones and get rid of old kerosene heaters that have created disaster in the classroom and killed and burnt schoolchildren.
Nonetheless, the dilapidated heating systems are still used despite earlier pledges by officials that all classrooms would have safe heating systems.
Energy overconsumption and waste are critical issue that need to be dealt with sooner rather than later. Experts have often warned that Iran will turn into a major energy importer within a few years if the problem of unusually high consumption is not resolved
There are classes in deprived regions like Sistan and Baluchistan that lack proper heating systems and innocent children are sometimes trapped in fires in classrooms due to the malfunctioning heaters.
In addition, to help reduce energy consumption and waste, outdated industries too need to improve the energy efficiency of machinery and production procedures while public consumption trends should be revisited to cut waste.
Energy use and waste are highly critical issues that needs to be dealt with systemically and sooner rather than later. Experts have warned that Iran will turn into a major energy importer within a few years if the problem of unusually high consumption is not resolved soon.
Gasoline Consumption
Delaviz said the increasing number of old cars and gas-guzzlers are responsible for the prohibitive fuel consumption levels.
Iranian motorists use an average 90 million liters of gasoline per day.
Despite recent reports that the government intends to raise prices at the pumps and possibly ration fuel, he said the government and parliament so far have no plans to raise gasoline and diesel prices in the coming fiscal (begins March 21).
"Prices are the key to help curb consumption, however, it should be noted that the per capita income in Iran is low. Therefore, this issue (of raising prices) needs to be studied thoroughly.”
Iran ranks higher than China in terms of energy consumption and spends unacceptably high amounts on fuel subsidies, he noted.
With 82 million people, Iran annually spends $45 billion on energy subsides and China with a 1.4 billion population spends $38 billion.
According to the International Energy Agency, Iran topped the global list by spending $45.1 billion on fossil fuel subsidies in 2017.
