For 3 weeks from the middle of May I visited Oman to investigate energy saving conditions and power consumption in residential units, as part of a project to draft energy saving measures there. It exactly coincided with the holding in Japan of the world cup qualifying match between Oman and Japan.
I covered this project in and earlier blog, but with the aim of promoting the saving energy policy to control electric power consumption in Oman which an electric power demand is rapidly on the increase, this project team is composed of specialists in various fields in order to formulate the most appropriate energy saving policy for Oman through a succession of meetings with the government of Oman.
I really got to experience the climate and temperature in Oman. From the standpoint of energy usage the year in Oman can be divided into 2 main periods, the summer season from April to September, and the rest of the year when basically little or no power is necessary for either cooling or heating. In particular the heat peaks between June and August, when the average temperature reaches 40ºC. It was my first experience of such heat, and just walking in the mid-day left me dizzy. Then on the roof top where the A/C outside units were installed it exceeded 50ºC, and sweated profusely while working there. However, the mid-day humidity was low at about 20%, so it was not so bad in the shade. With this kind of heat, I suppose that the cooling of offices and shopping centres to below 22ºC is looked on as a kind of complimentary service.
What was of deeper interest on this trip were the power measurements actually taken in households, and what temperature settings or specifically the temperatures at which people live, in order to understand current power usage. Over 50% of power generated in Oman is used by households so the first thing to do is to promote residential energy saving. Next time I’ll introduce the actual measurements we took.
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| Thermometer in Muscat displaying a reading of 41ºC |
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| An office |
Akira Katayanagi – International Projects Group
http://www.ptmtokyo.co.jp/
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