Owing to considerable share of energy in total operating cost and anticipated higher cost of energy, Pakistan’s textile sector faces significant challenges in local as well as international markets. This was stated by speakers at a ceremony held by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) in collaboration with GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) and SMEDA.

On the occasion the speakers said that in the wake of growing supply demand gap and also due to the strident rise in energy prices, APTMA representing the textile sector in Pakistan has embarked upon “Sustainable Energy Conservation Project”.

They said that textile sector consumes around 1500MW of electricity, while in-house gas based power generation systems supply 70% of this power. Energy Conservation Cell has been established in APTMA at Lahore. The objective of the cell is to train energy managers of the industry on Energy Management System (ENMs). The industry will in turn conserve energy as well as benefit from being energy efficient.

The speakers said that rising energy costs demand textile sector to take initiatives to improve energy efficiency performance, which will help the sector to stay competitive and achieve higher profits.

Energy efficiency improvement measures are based on regularly assessing energy performance as well as planning and implementing action plans, thus a sound energy management system is a prerequisite for identifying and implementing energy conservation measures, sustaining momentum and achieving improvements on a continuous basis.

It is to be noted that an energy management system, like all other management systems, is cyclical in nature and a formal system which requires the support at all levels within the company. Once implemented it offers a structured approach to dealing with energy issues and is the basis for continuous improvement.