SUSTAINABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

Carbon off-setting: Thailand

Abstract

During the last decade, the average annual energy demand increased by about 4.3%. Fossil fuels represented 81.4% of the total energy supply in 2009. Indigenous natural gas accounted for 33.7% of the supply. Biomass resources including fuel wood, paddy husk and bagasse whose utilization generates a very small amount of net greenhouse-gas emission account for about 16.6% of the total energy supply of the country. In 2009, 37.6 % of the total energy demand in Thailand was used in transportation. Diesel oil accounts for more than 50% of the petroleum products consumed in transportation. As a result, particulate matters from diesel engines are the most serious air pollutants in Bangkok. The 24-hr average value for small particulate matter is more than twice the limit in Thai air quality standard. Since 2000, transportation has contributed about one third of carbon dioxide emission from fossil fuel utilization. To further reduce the traffic congestion and air pollution in Bangkok, existing electric mass transit systems should be extended to the outskirts of Bangkok as soon as possible.

Since Thailand has increasingly depended upon imported fossil fuels, greenhousegas emission in Thailand has increased so rapidly that its emission per capita before the year 2015 may exceed the world average emission in the base year 2000. Electricity generation has had the largest share of carbon dioxide emission. The present methods for the assessment of carbon dioxide and methane emissions from deforestation and agriculture grossly exaggerate the emissions in developing countries including Thailand. Energy conservation seems to be the most effective method to mitigate both air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Energy conservation measures such as demand side management have been attempted at national level. However, management development, transfer of better energy conservation technologies are still needed for further control of energy consumption and emissions. Fast-growing trees, ethanol and plant oils, still have potential for providing larger shares of the total energy supply. Thailand has sufficient surplus of cassava and molasses for gasohol with 15% ethanol content. Hydro-energy resources in Thailand and its neighbours are very much under-utilized and should be further harnessed preferably by small and run-off river hydro-power plants without large reservoirs. Nuclear power should still be kept as the last option.

Carbon off-setting: Thailand

General Energy Situation Energy Supply

In the year 2009, fossil fuels accounted for 81.3% and indigenous energy sources including natural gas, lignite, hydro-energy and biomass shared about 52.9% of the total energy supply for Thailand. [DEDP, 2002], see Table 1. Non-commercial supplies of solar and wind energy were not officially reported. The share of renewable energy sources decreased to only 18.2% in the same year.

Source

2005

2008

2009

Fossil Fuels:

76.5

79.6

81.8

Petroleum and Products

51.1

44.7

42.6

Natural Gas

14.8

24.9

28.2

Lignite and Coal

10.6

10.0

11.0

Hydro-energy

2.3

2.0

2.0

Biomass:

21.2

18.4

16.2

Fuel Wood

14.8

12.3

12.0

Paddy Husk

1.9

2.3

1.5

Bagasse

4.5

3.8

2.7

Total, Mtoe

66.5

78.1

80.3

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