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Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation (1994)

Chapter: PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY

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Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
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PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
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EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR SUSTAINABLE UPPER SILESIA DEVELOPMENT

Jerzy Michna

Polish Academy of Sciences

Institute of Environmental Engineering

Energy Consumption Division

Ruda Slaska, Poland

Jan Uruski

Heat Services Enterprise

Katowice, Poland

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the current condition of development in Upper Silesia. Energy management topics including production, delivery, and consumption of energy are included. Probable trends in future energy development and the direction of education and training programs related to energy conservation in Upper Silesia are described. Recommendations are presented regarding the institutional arrangements necessary for education and training on energy conservation.

1. INTRODUCTION

The area of Katowice Voivodship contains the most of the region of Upper Silesia. It is the most urbanized voivodship in Poland. More then 18% of Polish national income is produced in the area. The Voivodship occupies an area covered by a rectangle 20×40 km with the longer axis directed east-west. Most of its population and industry is concentrated in a section called the Upper Silesia Industrial Region (GOP). The Voivodship accounts for about 15% of Poland's energy consumption. The consumption is broken down by different types of energy carriers and compared with Poland's national consumption on a percentage basis in Fig. 1.

2. ENERGY DEMANDS IN KATOWICE VOIVODSHIP

The dominant industries in the region are: coal mining industry (90% of national hard coal extraction), metallurgical industry (60% of national steel and steel products production), power industry (25% of national total electric power production), chemical

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×

industry (18% of total Polish production), nonferrous metal industry (20% of national total), and electro-machine building industry (20% of national total).

The housing sector in the Voivodship can be divided into two parts: the old urban buildings heated by the individual coal-fired stoves or boilers, and the newer buildings which are practically all heated by the district heating systems. The current and projected percentages of flats heated by the district heating systems are presented in Fig. 2.

The structure of energy consumption was shaped by policies of the former Communist government that required the Polish hard coal mining industry to provide 100% of Polish energy demand. This explains why our district heating industry is based on coal fired boilers and co-generation stations. Furthermore, 40% of residential flats are still heated by small, manually-fed coal-fired stoves in each flat. However, compared to the total Polish economy, per capita consumption of energy in the residential sector is rather low. Energy consumption in industry is based mostly on hard coal utilization, and to a lesser degree on oil and natural gas, which are used mostly in the metallurgical and chemical industries. Both the economic structure of the Voivodship and the structure of energy consumption provide the potential for conservation of energy.

3. DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN KATOWICE REGION

The current transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy is very painful for the region. The environmental conditions in our region are catastrophic and damaging to the health of the inhabitants. Thus, all development programs contain components of natural environmental rehabilitation to be achieved by installation of air pollution control equipment, improvement of water quality, and solid waste management. Pollutant emissions will also be affected by the following developments:

  • restructuring of industry involving steady decreases in production of hard coal and metallurgic products,

  • technical management for conservation of energy in industry, by improving the efficiency of machines by control and measurement equipment,

  • efficiency improvements in the residential district heating systems including increasing use of co-generation,

  • improvements in public transportation and roads,

  • increased mechanization in the agricultural sector, and

  • development of institutions supporting of the rational use of energy.

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
4. EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE EFFICIENT UTILIZATION OF ENERGY

The Voivodship of Katowice has its own base of professional educators employed in the energy sector, including secondary professional education for technicians as well as university programs involving energy engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, and automatic control engineering. The problems of efficient energy utilization have traditionally been treated from a strictly technical point of view, but recently, the economic aspects have also been included. The only exception to this rule involved the research of the Energy Faculty of the Technical University of Gliwice. Thus, the development of databases and educational programs dealing with the economics of energy management is a matter of great importance. Also, training programs, both specific and systematic, dealing with problems of environmental protection are foreseen.

The education of the public in problems of rational utilization of energy has occurred only in a small way, so there is a need to develop publicity in newspapers and on radio and TV. We are also considering the creation of training centers, equipped with computers and based on the best methods and experience of the western countries.

5. CONCLUSIONS

We describe here the state of development in the Katowice region and explain the need to change certain aspects of this development. Particularly there are two aspects which must be improved: environment protection and efficient energy management. Changes in the economic system from centrally controlled to market based are resulting in decreases in the amount of financial resources from centrally controlled sources directed towards rational energy utilization. Thus, we hope that financial participation in these problems by local authorities and industrial management will increase.

Development of educational programs related to energy conservation will occur only when we begin cooperation between our institutions and similar institutions in highly developed countries. These problems are closely connected to the overall development of the economy of the Katowice Voivodship, particularly the energy economy and environmental protection.

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×

Figure 1

Fig. 1 Share of Katowice Region in Global

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×

Fig. 2. District Heating in Communal

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×

Fig. 3. End Energy Consumption

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×

EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR SUSTAINABLE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Christine Nevin Albrecht

Manager, Communications, Training & Procedures

Consolidated Edison Company of New York

New York, New York USA

The Consolidated Edison Company of New York (Con Edison) is the electric utility company that serves New York City. The efficient use of energy is an ethic at Con Edison, an integral part of our future. This paper presents some of our ideas for educating our customers and our employees about the benefits of energy efficiency and conservation.

For twenty years, beginning in 1971 with our Save-a-Watt program, Con Edison has continued to highlight the advantages of conservation. Save-a-Watt was designed to encourage our residential and business customers to turn lights off when they weren't in use. A “stick-on” reminder message for the on/off light switch was widely distributed throughout our service territory and proved very successful in helping people to think about conserving energy. Our message continues to stress that being the most efficient we can be will help guarantee a reliable supply of electricity for all.

Con Edison operates in the Northeast part of the United States, a region which is comparatively energy efficient. An October 1990 study by a group called Public Citizen noted that while New York and the five New England states are home to nearly 11% of the U.S. population, together they use less than 7% of the nation's energy. This is even more significant when you take into account the colder climate and longer heating season of this region. We serve the five boroughs of the City of New York and Westchester County and include among our customers such diverse locations as the world financial center and the United Nations, the row houses featured in the popular sitcom “All in The Family” and the famous golf course at Westchester Country Club. The following demographic information describes our service area:

  • Con Edison has approximately 2.9 million customers. Of these, approximately 2.5 million are residential customers and 400,000+ are business, or what are commonly referred to as commercial and industrial, customers.

  • Of the 400,000+ business customers, very few of these are industrial in nature. Many of these businesses are housed in high-rise office buildings. And a growing number are expanding their use of office equipment such as computers, printers, and FAX machines.

  • We have an exceptionally high concentration of office buildings and they account for 31% of our peak demand.

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
  • Over 70% of the 35 million MegaWatt-hours sold annually are used by our commercial and industrial customers.

  • Approximately 75% of our residential customers live in apartments. This contributes to the energy efficiency of the area with smaller refrigerators and fewer washing machines, dryers, and other appliances that require space.

  • We have a summer peak, with a very high saturation of individual room air conditioners and a relatively low number of central air conditioning systems in homes and apartments.

  • We have a very low number of electric space and water heating customers (I should mention that these items constitute a large market for energy conservation in many other parts of the United States).

  • As I mentioned earlier, we have very little heavy manufacturing load.

  • We have a high density underground network distribution system with many miles of cable in the streets. It has been said that if all the cables were laid end-to-end, they would stretch from New York to the West Coast of the United States a few times over.

Over the next twenty years, we are projecting a growth rate for electricity usage of less than one-half of one percent per year and a net reduction in peak electric demand. While the U.S. Department of Energy and others are forecasting national growth rates in electric demand of about 2 percent per year, we foresee a relatively flat growth rate. Why? Because of an aggressive new program we call Enlightened Energy. We will be working with our business and residential customers to significantly reduce the amount of electricity used in New York City and Westchester County. And we will do this while fostering economic growth.

Enlightened Energy provides our customers with expert advice and financial incentives to take advantage of the latest equipment and technologies to significantly improve energy efficiency. By using electricity as wisely and efficiently as we can, we help preserve our environment and natural resources, hold down the cost of electricity, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. At the same time, because using energy efficiently means doing more with the same amount of electricity, it promotes economic growth. The program is designed to balance the often conflicting demands of environmental, energy, and economic issues.

More specifically, we are aiming to reduce overall consumption of electricity in our service territory over the next 18 years by 15 percent, and peak demand by 23 percent, from what they would be without our program. Without Enlightened Energy to control growth through efficiency, we would need about 2,800 megawatts in new capacity by the year 2008. That's the equivalent of three or four large, expensive power plants.

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×

Enlightened Energy includes more than 75 programs and projects. These programs include business customers as well as residential customers. Our free energy audit can show businesses many ways to improve energy efficiency and qualify for cash rebates from another of our programs known as the Enlightened Energy Rebate Program. Rebates, which are cash payments to help defray the up front cost of an energy-efficient measure, are designed to help any business customer invest in energy-efficient lighting and cooling equipment and efficient electric motors. The customer buys qualifying equipment and Con Edison gives him a sizable cash rebate after it is installed. A few examples of equipment eligible for rebates are high-efficiency fluorescent lamps and ballasts, compact fluorescent light bulbs, occupancy sensors and other lighting control devices, steam air conditioning, gas air conditioning, high-efficiency electric air conditioning, cool storage systems, and high-efficiency motors and variable speed motor drives. Rebates are also available for individual proposals by customers to improve their own lighting systems. For residential customers there are also free energy audits for those customers living in one- to four-family dwellings and apartment building conservation surveys for buildings with at least five units. Compact fluorescents have been made available to our residential customers through coupons redeemable at our Conservation Center and through a discount offer in the customer bill. This offer alone generated over 170,000 orders for more than 500,000 light bulbs. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, a very high volume of our residential customers live in apartments and many do not pay their own electric bills. They live in buildings with master meters and are, therefore, less able to calculate their energy usage. We have begun a program that offers $100.00 per apartment toward the cost of conversion when an entire building changes to individual electronic submeters. We also work with appliance dealers to encourage them to sell very high-efficiency room air conditioners and refrigerators that meet our efficiency standards. These are but a few of the many programs and projects that form the partnership we are forging with our customers.

Customers are educated about our programs through every form of communication. We feature customers who are already participating in our programs in ads, in publications and periodicals, and on radio and television. We regularly create and update brochures and informational pamphlets on each of our projects and programs. Displays are created for exhibitions and seminars, and we print monthly energy reminders in customer bills. We periodically offer fluorescent light bulbs at deep discounts and educational videos on a whole host of energy and environment-related topics, including case studies of innovative ways our customers have found to be more efficient through the monthly bills. In addition, we distribute the videos everywhere we go and make them available, in volume, to business and community groups, schools, and trade organizations. We offer a one-stop source of energy-saving ideas for homes and apartments at our Conservation Center, the Conservation Van, and at the Energy Action Center. Our toll-free GUIDELINE is an 800 number that offers current information about energy-efficient appliances. And, of course, we participate in forums and workshops such as this one today to bring the message to as many of our customers as possible.

Our approach to training is equally comprehensive. For our employees we conduct regular orientation and training programs, involving management in every phase of program design. Some of the training is technical in nature and is offered to employees in our Energy

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×

Services group, while other programs are designed to keep employees up-to-date on the latest developments in energy efficiency. All employee publications include a regular message about Enlightened Energy and some in-house computer systems carry daily reminders. Our Customer Service organization publishes a newsletter they call INFOLINE which includes answers to questions employees are most frequently asked about Enlightened Energy. We publish a monthly report entitled SCORECARD that records activities towards achieving the goal, and the Company has a monthly video magazine called Edison Edition which carries a regular Enlightened Energy message. In the more formal training mentioned above, we have offered numerous sessions over the last year resulting in the equivalent of 500 days of training in the past twelve months.

For our customers we offer courses in energy management in addition to the guidance provided in all of our printed materials and the expertise offered by our employees. We have found that conducting these sessions in pleasant surroundings, providing lunch or appropriate food, and charging a nominal fee creates additional motivation for customer participation.

We view both education and training as opportunities for dialogue with our customers—a communication that should be two-way. Many helpful suggestions have come from this dialogue and have lead to the creation and/or modification of some of the items I have mentioned.

Education and training are critical elements in achieving our Enlightened Energy goals. If we are successful, we (Con Edison) and our customers will have formed a partnership that will cultivate a joint commitment to conservation and energy efficiency and we can avoid imposed regulations that attempt to accomplish this same thing. Our economy and the environment will be better for us in the future and for those we pass it on to.

Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
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Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 60
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 61
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 62
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 63
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 64
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 65
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 66
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 67
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 68
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
Page 69
Suggested Citation:"PART II: EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY." National Research Council. 1994. Poland's Transition to a Market Economy: Prospects for Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9155.
×
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