Poorly designed malls gobbling up electricity

Poorly designed malls gobbling up electricity
PANAMA MALLS, not using construction designs suited to tropical climates use the same amount of power each year as Chiriqui province with 410,000 inhabitants, or that consumed by the three provinces of Herrera, Los Santos and Veraguas with 420,000 people.

Meanwhile lack of investment in the Panamanian energy market is compounding generation and transmission problems while customer demand grows annually at an average of 6%.

To meet consumer requirement experts estimate that an investment of approximately $300 million each year in new generation plants is needed and building designers and construction companies need to become aware that Panama is a tropical country.
The malls built in different parts of the country over recent decades require about 100 megawatts. This equates to the same amount of energy required by Chiriqui province.

Among the commercial centers of the country, Albrook Mall has the highest demand, with nearly 20 megawatts to power the lights and air conditioners of the plaza and shops.

While most malls have emergency plants they depend on the electrical system to operate.

Together all commercial customers consume 46% of the country’s demand, according to statistical data reflected in a report by the National Authority of Public Services (ASEP). It is a heterogeneous group of consumers who number some 90 000 locations throughout the republic, ranging from small shops to grocery stores or shopping malls and plazas.
“We should not be surprising that these activities represent the highest consumption of energy, as the economic model favorsPanama trade and services,” says Isaac Castillo, former manager of the Electric Transmission Company, SA, reports La Prensa.

Shops are followed by the residential sector, which consumes 33.5% of demand, with about 800,000 thousand residences . The government sector absorbs 11.6% of demand; industrial activities, 6.7% of electricity, and the remaining 2.2% distributed by Ensa, and Edemet Edechi for street lighting in according to Asep.

The consumption of electricity in the country is concentrated in the provinces of Panama, Chiriquí, Colón and surrounding areas.
72.5% of the energy sold during 2013 was consumed in the province of Panama, where 1.6 million of the population resides.

Urban planners advocate developing commercial buildings that have areas and corridors with natural ventilation and lighting.

Experts say that in Panama there are no construction patterns adapted to the tropical climate and buildings deigned to reducing the massive use of air conditioning systems
“The current type of building is uninhabitable without air conditioning. It should work on new construction standards that favor bioclimatic designs, says Castillo. In some advanced countries buildings are certified according to their energy consumption (class A, B, C, etc..), Which relate to energy consumption and which are reflected in the selling price per square meter.

“This way the client buying or leasing a home or apartment knows the classified energy efficiency level of the building.

The country needs to guide the construction to those patterns to keep improving the level of consumption, experts say.
In many cases, the designer of the building is not aware of the energy issue and develops a model without considering these factors, they say.

There should be legislation to cover these consumption patterns.This involves changing laws and regulations and technical reforms, said Castillo, who also worked in the ASEP.