Fuel Subsidy - Quo Vadis?

Recently there is a big discussion on the internet about the plan from the government to reduce the consumption of subsidized fuel (especially gasoline). There are some proposals to reduce the consumptions: ban the motor bikes from buying subsidized gasoline; limit the purchase per motorized vehicle per man per day; smart card to limit the purchase; and ban the cars from consuming the subsidized fuel. There is a big discussion about the proposed strategies especially the one that plans to ban motor bikes from buying subsidized fuel.

the motorists are against that particular strategy and their opinion is backed up by motor cycle industry. Their arguments mainly are: motor bike consumption is far less that car, therefore it is the car that should be banned from using subsidized fuel; motor bike users are mainly of lower income therefore using non subsidized fuel would certainly eat bigger part of their income. Final decision is not yet taken since any decision will certainly effect the national economy.

Basic Hydro Power - part 2

We already know that flow of water and the height of water fall (or height difference of water flowing from point A to point B or to be short "head") are the important things one needs to know correctly before deciding to go for hydro power or not. Measuring those two parameters needs special skill. Special skill means one has to understand how to use the method and its weaknesses. Let's discuss about measuring flow of water. There are many ways or methods of flow measurement: current meter method, float method, tracer method (salt dilution/water conductivity for example), sharp crested weir method, gauging station method etc.

Basic Hydro Power - part 1

Well I guess many has already understand better that I do about hydro power, however there are still people who simplify the complexity of hydro power even the micro one. Questions like: if I have 500 liters per second, how much kW would I get, still comes to experts. This kind a thing needs an education and complex explanation of things would not help at all. So, I will try to give very basic understanding of how modern hydro power (micro size maybe to be specific) works. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Hydro power is basically power generation by utilizing water power (in this case in general the potential energy of falling water). Therefore the original use of hydro power is to give movement. Water drops move a water wheel that eventually makes certain mechanism to rotate or move and provide specific service. In the old days many mills are using hydro power directly to give movement to their mill facilities. Old hydro power systems use the weight of the water to move the wheel.

Ban Plastic Bag - Now or Later?

In some cities around the world there are already movements to ban the use of plastic bags especially those that are not biodegradable. San Francisco claimed that it is the first city to ban non-bio plastic bag and replace the them with bio degradable plastic bags or recyclable paper bags. The ban of plastic bags in general will give positive impact to the environment. plastic material is based on oil which is non renewable resource. the manufacturing of plastic will certainly deplete the oil reserve although might not be as fast as car burning it. Normal plastic will not bio degrade and they just photo degrade. It means plastic will not rot. Normal plastic will turn into small pieces tiny enough to contaminate water and soil. If taken into the body, the plastic particles will contaminate the body and do harm to our health. Burning normal plastic will also not solve the problem. Burning plastic will emit toxic gases that eventually pollute the air and harm people.

Recent Trip to South and West Sulawesi

It was actually happened in late 2009 (December 2009), therefore this note might be a little late. Anyway, I guess after 6 months the conditions might still the same therefore it might be a useful info for people want to travel there.

Back in December 2009 during this PCNA (Participatory Capacity Needs Assessment) with a friend of mine Axel Biegert von Integration, I went to Makassar and Batang Uru in West Sulawesi province. We had to fly from Jakarta to reach Makassar and drive the whole day to Batang Uru. The road from Makassar to Polewali was under construction at that time. The government tried to pave the road using concrete but the contractor/s do it part by part. Therefore it's like "coitus interuptus", when one just experiencing comfort suddenly it has to stop. Stopping here means good road ends. It happens frequently and it has made the travel not so comfortable. Reaching Polewali took longer then 5 years ago.

During the trip we stopped in Pinrang for lunch at one of the famous sea food restaurants. The food was good but still the road was not. Starting at around 7 from Makassar we reached Pinrang at around 1 p.m. and I guess this was considered as slow. We reached Batang Uru when the day was getting dark and raining. The road from Polewali to Batang Uru was worse because of many holes in the road. Since the Kabupaten (one level lower than provincial government) of Polman (Polewali Mandar) was split into two Kabupatens (Polewali and Mandar), the road maintenance was done poorly. Therefore 5 years ago I can reach Makassar in just 5 hours using speedy public transport even.

On the way back we stayed overnight in Pinrang and again took the liberty to enjoy the seafood there. Back in Makassar we tried to go to Trans Studio but it was too expensive and too little time to enjoy so we just ate at a recommended seafood restaurant there and we ordered some nice stuffs to eat. When you are in Makassar do not forget to buy Minyak Tawon (literally means Bee oil) kind a rub only that really works for even small wound on your skin.

Explore Indonesia, there are many things to explore and exotic ones. Going abroad is fifth or sixth options (when there is enough money..)

ISO 50001 Energy Management

International community is moving forward on Energy Efficiency. Right now there is already a draft of ISO 50001 which standardize Energy Management. Energy management is an essential component of efforts to increase the efficiency of energy usage. It is an essential part because energy efficiency and conservation needs clear plan, strategies, and target to achieve. Energy, in a production process, is an important part that affects the cost of production therefore managing energy usage wisely and methodically will lead to reduced cost of production and eventually increase the competitiveness of the product and also the company.

Indonesia will certainly adopt the standard. The head of Standardization Agency (BSN) has informed public that they are on the track of adopting the ISO standard. As soon as the international draft is approved and becoming operation ISO, Indonesian government will immediately adopt it.

There are some options of adaptation. First is full adaptation and only translation is needed. The second is slight changes and most of the ISO standard is included. This strategy needs longer time to finish. The last one is creating new national standard with the ISO standard as the reference. This last strategy takes longest time. BSN is likely to choose the fast track strategy, or 100% adopt the ISO. To my opinion, this strategy is the most appropriate one. Indonesia now is badly in a need of Energy Management standard to improve national competitiveness and also energy performance.

Hopefully many companies will in the future voluntarily apply the new ISO or new National Standard to improve their performance and competitiveness. Now there is a big need for energy managers.

Lesson of the day

a perdurable a day, helps you sleep, work and play

The sentence above is a bit difficult to understand for me. This has proved that I need to learn English more. Anyway, I guess the meaning of the sentence above is when you enjoy the day, you can sleep, work and also play a little bit. However, make the use of the day optimally is the challenge. Optimizing or tuning the system so that it uses energy more efficiently is a challenge. I am on the opinion that optimizing the energy system in Indonesia, especially, faces very big challenges. The challenges are not just technical but also non-technical.

Non technical challenges in optimizing energy systems for example are: regulatory framework and also the mindset of the people. Mindset of the people, especially the policy makers, would certainly affect the resulted policies. Policy makers can easily be affected by interests either personal interests or other interests. If the good for the greater is not in the list of interests then the policy will fail. I guess the failing of Indonesia's system is done more systematic now. People who understand laws and regulations bend and create new laws/regulations so that those laws/regulations can support their short term objective (most probably group interest or personal interest). For example fuel price. Government, especially the president, wants to be reelected and for that he/she did not reduce the subsidy for fuel price, instead keeping the subsidy that makes state financial condition get worse (at least higher debt is the sign).

So, I guess politics should be put far away from energy issues. Although it seems impossible (maybe one big example of this is the raid to Iraq), but let's hope that in the future it certainly will be possible. It's all depending on the young generation now. Let's educate them and create greener generations.

PrePaid Meter

Approximately 2 months ago I saw prepaid kWh meters are installed at some new houses in a housing estate near my home in Bogor. I was quite surprised that PLN did it since, as far as I know, PLN still in pilot testing phase for those kind of meters. the meters are installed at houses that are still constructed. I guess that was intended to secure the electricity payment by housing estate developer during the construction. The already inhabited houses (new ones) use normal kWh meter (not prepaid). According to the brick layers that are working in those houses, their foreman has to go to the bank to get electricity "credits" that later are charged into the meter by putting in codes. I did not see any external MCB, that usually accompany normal kWh meters. this meter should not be unlimited (by MCB) because basically it will make the power planning difficult for PLN.

searching the internet, I found that since 2005 PLN already started using prepaid kWh meters in Bali. Bali is the first because there are many houses or villas without are empty without any people staying. to avoid bad cash flow, off course, this prepaid system is very rational. After Bali, PLN then made the pilot projects in Jakarta and Tangerang area. In 2007 people in the thousand islands are equipped with prepaid kWh meter and starting 2009 the "land" customers have the chance to use this prepaid system also. According to the sources in the Internet there are now approximately 27.000 customers of PLN using prepaid system. PLN now limits the prepaid connection up to only 5.500 VA. This means the kWh meter system has a limiting device. I guess it can be electronically programmed to exactly trip when the current is reaching certain level.

I found this prepaid system both interesting and practical. It is interesting because it is new and opens many possibilities for privacy, flexible payment, and no penalties for late payment. there is no validity limit on the credits (not like most prepaid GSM systems). One still can use the 2 years old credit. This is great. It is practical because one can and have to manage his electricity consumption wisely. For budget limited families, this can be a useful solution. For example: one family only allocate IDR 50.000 per month for electricity. By adjusting power usage, this target can be achieved. One can buy the credits everywhere such as in banks, ATM, or directly to nearest PLN service points. However the lowest credit one can buy is IDR 100.000, but this can be used more than 1 month if a family uses electricity conservatively.

However there is one thing in my mind that is so far unanswered: the tariff. I guess the tariff still follows the national tariff now. Therefore tariff below and above 60 kWh will be different. What about the connection fee or the subscription fee? Is there any subscription fee? Is there any grace period, after the credit finish, before someone has the chance to recharge the credit? Does it temper proof? Are there any possibilities for someone to hack the system? PLN once said that this meter system will make their work easier since it is not needed to check the stand of the meter. But if rarely checked then there might be people trying to bypass the meter and tap the electricity directly from the connection cables.

The prepaid meter opens many opportunities both positive or negative. Now it’s time to prove the performance of the system and also it’s realibility.

First Half Year of 2010

Many things happen in the first half year of 2010. First thing is the birthday of my daughter. She is 1 year 4 months now and she officially walked her first step in February. As for me, end of January 2010 marked the third year I am with GTZ MHPP/AGMHP. Time flies very fast and you'll never realized it. This year I decided to reduce my working days from 5 days in a week to just 4 days in a week. The one day left suppose to be my personal working day. This means I can now look more on energy efficiency.

The decision to take 4 days working days for the office also due to the load I am having now. The load was so far not very heavy so that it gives me hard time to write for my blog. There are actually many important issues to share but the spirit is not there. Due to quite low work load, I am becoming lazy. But this has to change and it has to change now.

I also started my docstoc account. One can search for specific topic for example Demand Side Management Sinar Rinjani. The search result will certainly put my master thesis at the first row. The Docstoc account hopefully will expand my exposure. I hope many are enjoying my writing there. Beside my writings, there are also documents publicly available to download that comes from my project (GTZ supported). Hopefully with this Docstoc the good work can be replicated somewhere else.

Happy reading and do not hesitate to leave comments.

Happy new year