Sitting at the base of Islamabad’s Margalla Hills is the Raziuddin Siddiqi Memorial Library, a four-storey building packed with more than 2 million books, CDs and DVDs.
Along with being one of Pakistan’s largest libraries, Raziuddin Siddiqi is unique for another reason: on entering the building one won’t hear the tell-tale flicker of fluorescent lights.
That is because the library has replaced all 103 of the fluorescent tubes on its ground floor with energy-efficient light-emitting-diodes (LEDs), part of a complete overhaul of its lighting system. The LEDs use around one-quarter the power of the library’s old setup and provide better illumination.
“We understand the importance of energy-efficient lighting both in terms of the environment and as a cost saving measure,” says Anwar Ejaz, the chief librarian.
The library lighting overhaul was part of a larger project supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Global Environment Facility and the Pakistan National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. The effort encourages homeowners, companies and the private sector to switch from power-hungry incandescent bulbs and florescent lights to high-quality energy-efficient lighting products.
The transition could help save three power plants worth of energy by 2030. That is considered an important step for a country facing power shortages and aiming to reduce its emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases.
“While energy efficiency seems like a relatively small thing to do, and it often gets overlooked, its impact can be huge,” says Paul Kellett, the team leader of UNEP’s United for Efficiency programme. “It has the potential to be a game changer.”
Kellett’s comments come just ahead of the first International Day of Clean Energy on 26 January, which is showcasing how energy efficiency can help counter climate change. According to the International Energy Agency, energy efficiency could deliver over 40 per cent of the greenhouse gas reductions needed to achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Pakistan relies on oil, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, coal, hydroelectricity and nuclear energy for its power. During summer, when demand for air-conditioning peaks, the country faces an energy deficit of 5,000 megawatts. This leads to rolling black outs, which limit economic growth and make life difficult for citizens.
The energy sector is the most significant contributor to the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. In 2018, Pakistan emitted 489 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, nearly 45 per cent of which came from energy. By 2050 energy is expected to make up 64 per cent of total emissions in Pakistan.
Around 17 per cent of Pakistan’s population is still without access to electricity. As people are connected to the power grid, demand will rapidly increase, making energy efficiency more important, say observers.
Alongside its work in energy efficiency, the Government of Pakistan has taken a number of steps to combat climate change. These include the Billion Tree Tsunami project. Launched in 2014, the project aims to turn 350,000 hectares of degraded land into forest, which will sequester over 148 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over the next 10 years. The government has also pledged to derive 60 per cent of its energy from renewable sources and said no new coal power plants will be built.
Increasing energy efficiency
Along with the work at Raziuddin Siddiqi library, the UNEP-backed energy efficiency project supported the development of regulations to facilitate the national switch to energy-efficient lighting. The project also helped to strengthen national monitoring, verification and enforcement capacity and to roll out a country-wide LED lighting awareness campaign. The initiative is valued at US$7.4 million and received core funding from the Global Environment Facility. “The project is part of a far-reaching drive to bring more efficient lighting projects to Pakistan,” said Kellett.
By 2030, the transition to energy-efficient lighting in Pakistan could deliver 1.3 terawatt hours of annual electricity savings, the equivalent of three 100-megawatt power plants. That would spare building owners more than US$290 million in annual electricity costs. The embrace of efficient lighting could also prevent the release of nearly 1.2 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, the equivalent of taking more than 630,000 cars off the road.
UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2023 has found that based on current government policies, the world is on track to warm by a potentially catastrophic 2.9°C by century’s end. The report found that to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement humanity needs to reduce greenhouse gases by unprecedented levels over the next seven years.
“Projects such as this are crucial in helping countries reach their climate pledges,” says Kellett. “We know we need to reduce emissions and projects such as this can show us how.”
The Sectoral Solution to the climate crisis
UNEP is at the forefront of supporting the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise well below 2°C, and aiming for 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels. To do this, UNEP has developed the Sectoral Solution, a roadmap to reducing emissions across sectors in line with the Paris Agreement commitments and in pursuit of climate stability. The six sectors identified are: energy; industry; agriculture and food; forests and land use; transport; and buildings and cities.
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