The country’s carbon dioxide emissions have been rising in the power sector due to the use of different kinds of oil and coal to produce electricity.
“The rising trends of carbon emissions in the power sector is ultimately the result of using more oil type substances like diesel and furnace oil as these produce more carbon dioxide,” said Prof Shahidul Islam Khan, a lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
The emissions will increase even more so if the government introduces coal-based power plants in the country as coal is considered to be the dirtiest fuel for power generation, he told the Dhaka Tribune.
Currently, the grid emission factor for Bangladesh is 0.67 tonnes of carbon dioxide per megawatt (MW) hour which, up from 0.62 tonnes in 2010, according to the Department of Environment (DoE).
He also said introducing energy-efficient technology such as solar and wind power could be a solution to reduce the rate of carbon emissions in the power sector.
Greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, and methane and nitrous oxide act as a thermal blanket for the planet, warming the surface to a life-supporting average of 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). The recently observed climate change can be attributed to an accelerated greenhouse effect caused by a boost in the levels of these gases in the atmosphere.
The total generation of electricity in Bangladesh is around 6,000MW against an assumed demand of over 7,000MW. Of the total production, 70% comes from natural gas, 26% from diesel and furnace oil while the remainder is from coal and hydro-power.
Two years ago, the contribution of natural gas was 85%, diesel and furnace oil was 7% and coal and hydro-power 8%.
The government, in cooperation with India, is working to establish a coal-based power plant with a capacity of 1,320MW in Rampal, near the Sundarbans. It has plans to set up eight other coal-fired plants in other areas with a generation capacity of 10,000MW.
The increasing trend of carbon emissions, however, will help the country to get more financial and technological benefits in terms of getting Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM), said AM Monsurul Alam, a director of the DoE who deals with climate change.
Bangladesh, which bears the main brunt of the impacts of climate change due to global warming, along with 160 other nations in 1997 finalised the Kyoto Protocol – the only legally-binding global agreement for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
The agreement stipulates the obligations of 39 developed countries responsible for global warming to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2% compared to the 1990 baseline.
It allows the developed countries to achieve part of their reduction obligations through investment in projects in developing countries that have reduced emissions through the CDM method.
In terms of the impacts on global warming, developing countries like Bangladesh contribute a very negligible amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the top three greenhouse gas emitters are China, the United Sates and India which contribute 23%, 19% and 6% of the global emissions respectively.
