(Abridged from Introduction and Promotion of Energy Efficiency in the Chelyabinsk and Tomsk Oblasts of Russia. You can e-mail a request for a Russian-language copy of the Chelyabinsk section.)
Authors: Natalia I. Mironova, Boris Nekrasov, John W. Parker (translator), Alexander A. Alekhnovich, I.I. Ivanov, A.N. Kibardin, V.A. Krasilnikov, A.P. Smirnova, Albert E. Vitske, V. Vukholov, A.I. Vukholova, A.K. Yashin, B.I. Yurgin, V.A. Zhilkin
May 1996
This report was developed during a project which began in April 1994 to
promote energy
efficiency in the Chelyabinsk and Tomsk Oblasts of the
Russian Federation. The project--Promotion of Energy Efficiency as an Alternative to New Power Plant
Construction in
Chelyabinsk and Tomsk Oblasts--was conducted jointly by Battelle, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL), the Movement for Nuclear
Safety (MNS) of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and
Ecological Initiative (EI), located in Tomsk, Russia. Efforts began in earnest in March 1995
when the project partners received funding from ISAR.
The materials in this report were originally written in Russian, and a Russian-language version of the Chelyabinsk section is available as a separate publication. The purpose of the project was to prepare an initial assessment of the potential for energy efficiency in each region, and to raise awareness of this potential among technical experts, governmental decision makers, and the general public. By promoting energy efficiency, the project partners sought to identify part of a cost-effective option for replacing hazardous nuclear reactors which continue to provide electricity and heat in these cities.
Energy efficiency is an attractive option for both oblasts, because it could help reduce costs of new supply options by cutting excess capacity requirements. Efficiency options could also improve local and regional environmental quality by reducing harmful emissions, and they could lower the cost of replacing risky nuclear facilities in these regions which have already caused serious damage.
Trends in Energy Use
While energy consumption in Chelyabinsk is relatively high for Russia, most of the fuel and electricity is used by the oblasts' industrial sector. As a result, household use of fuel and electricity is below the national average. The following chart compares energy consumption in Chelyabinsk with national consumption statistics.
| Energy Consumption in 1991 | Chelyabinsk Oblast | Russia |
| Per Capita Electricity Consumption (MWh/person) | 10.5 | 7 |
| Per Capita Electricity Consumption in Homes (MWh/person) | 1.6 | 8.4 |
| Per Capita Fuel Consumption (toe/person) | 14.0 | 8.4 |
| Per Capita Fuel Consumption (toe/person) | 1.7 | 1.6 |
Fuel Consumption: Chelyabinsk Oblast is a large consumer of boiler stove fuel (coal, gas, mazut, and other forms). The structure of fuel consumption has been fairly static. Most fuel is consumed by industry (49%) and power plants producing heat and electricity (34%). Gasification in the oblast has increased by 6 percent in recent years.
Electricity Consumption: Major electricity consumption sectors include ferrous metallurgy (41%), households (19%), machine building (12%), and transportation (10%). The share of industry in overall consumption has decreased by 3 percent in recent years, while household and agroindustrial consumption has increased slightly (by 3% and 1%, respectively). Overall electricity consumption has decreased in recent years, primarily due to decreases in industrial output.
Heat Consumption: Heat consumption in the oblast peaked in 1990 at 65.1 million gigacalories and then began to drop at a rate of 1-2 percent per year. Industry accounts for approximately 54 percent of heat consumption, transportation consumes 2 percent, and agriculture consumes 3 percent. The economic crisis in the oblast led almost immediately to a reduction in industrial output and the related level of industrial heat consumption. Heat use for ventilation, home heating, and hot water supply has actually increased recently because of the construction of new housing in the oblast at a rate of nearly 7.5 million square meters per year. Households currently account for 25 percent of heat consumption, as compared to 35- 45 percent in many OECD countries.
Energy Consumption in Industry: Industrial processes in Chelyabinsk are extremely energy-intensive. For example, the specific weight of steel smelted by open-hearth methods is 80 percent--the highest in Russia. Aging equipment predominates in factories, and levels of renovation are low;. 70-80 percent of the equipment used in metallurgy and power production is used beyond its recommended lifetime. As a result, there are region-wide deficits of fuel, energy, and water resources. The oblast is dependent on deliveries of coal, electricity, iron ore, and zinc concentrates. Restructuring in industry has been made very difficult due to a regional economic crisis and a sharp reduction in investment activity. Construction of green fields facilities has decreased by a factor of three, and only 0.3 percent of capital investment is directed towards defense conversion projects. Industrial restructuring has been made extremely difficult due to a regional economic crisis and a sharp reduction in investment activity.
Structure of Energy Consumption in Industry: More than 90 percent of expenditures for fuel in industry are made in the ferrous metallurgy sector. Metallurgical plants in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Zlatoustovsky, and other oblast cities consume a third of the natural gas that is used in the oblast--an amount equal to all of the natural gas used in heating and electricity production--and almost half of all mazut fuel.
Energy Prices
Energy Prices: The sharp rise in energy prices over the past several years has had a catastrophic effect on the financial well-being of enterprises in the oblast. These price increases were a major contributing factor to the drop in production and a reduction in industrial competitiveness. In many energy-intensive industries, energy bills began to swallow 60-80 percent of operating capital, placing many enterprises on the threshold of bankruptcy. When these enterprises were unable to cover their energy costs, the resultant non-payments jeopardized energy production and distribution companies.
Electricity Prices: Electricity prices in 1995 grew rapidly, increasing from 21 to 66 percent per quarter, depending upon the sector. Prices for grid-connected industrial enterprises with capacities of 750 kW more than doubled, and prices for agricultural customers more than tripled. As a result, industries were paying tariffs that were 16.5 times higher than they had been just three years before.
Heating Prices: Price increases in heating have been even more dramatic. In 1995, heating tariffs in for industrial consumers increased from 40 to 48 percent. Oblast residents living in cities saw their heating prices increase four-fold in just nine months.
Energy Efficiency
Overall Trends in Energy Efficiency: The seeming paradox of increases in energy consumption as a share of income in the face of spiraling energy prices has several explanations. First, resources devoted to energy management in enterprises have been curtailed. Second, delinquency problems with payments have meant that many enterprises have experience shut-offs or limitations in their supply, resulting in inefficient use of their facilities and equipment. Finally, overall growth in consumer prices covered some enterprises' rising production costs. However, growth in energy costs has now outstripped these increases.
Consequences of Inefficient Energy Use: Old equipment and inefficient use of energy has led to a very serious problem for industries in the oblast--a lack of competitiveness. A 1995 article in Chelyabinsk Worker found that a television set produced in the oblast cost as much as a Japanese model. The impact of this trend is clear: over the first eight months of 1995, production of electric engines, refrigerators, and radio equipment was less than half of what it had been during the previous year.
Potential for Savings: The inefficient use of energy in the oblast also means that there is a tremendous potential for savings. Energy researchers in the region estimate that a multi-faceted energy efficiency program for the oblast could reduce energy consumption by 20 percent over the next decade, at a savings of 10 million tons of conventional fuel.
Electricity Savings: Chelyabinsk Oblast could save nearly a billion KWh by the year 2000 using the following types of measures (with % reduction in electricity consumption): Using regulated electric drives in ventilators, compressors, and pumps (15-20%); upgrading process technologies in metal-working, using special profiles for metal rolling (5-10%); upgrading steel smelting techniques (20-25%); and switching to 1-150+ MW gas turbine and gas-steam stations (up to 10%)
Heat Savings: 1.2 to 1.3 million Gcal of heat could be saved by the year 2000 by the greater utilization of waste heat resources, the production of heat with turbine drives, and the use of efficient insulation materials.
Savings in Heavy Industry: In ferrous metallurgy, promising measures include process restructuring in metal-working plants; improved management of coking coal reserves; the replacement of founding cast iron with synthetic substitutes and pig iron with scrap metal; the replacement of blast-furnace production with non-coking metallurgy; and increased use of less intensive processes such as non-coking metallurgy, continuous casting, and external stove processing.
Savings in the Building Materials Industry: Promising measures in this sector include expanding the use of "dry" production of cement blocks, increasing the production of ceramic bricks from ash and ash slag waste from combined heat and power (CHP) plants, and increasing the share of combustible secondary energy resources.
Oblast-Level Energy Efficiency Activities: The Chelyabinsk Oblast Administration understands the necessity of realizing energy efficiency and energy conservation policies in the oblast. It has begun to introduce regulatory structures, economic mechanisms, and specific projects to capture energy savings. The Chelyabinsk Oblast Duma developed and passed a law on energy conservation, the administration has created institutions to implement conservation policies conduct public information campaigns on energy conservation.
The Oblast Administration Energy Conservation Fund has supported the following types of activities:
1. The creation of an independent energy company and a CHP plant that utilize fluidized bed combustion technology and by-products from coal enrichment. This plant, located in the vicinity of Kopeysk, has allowed the oblast to close several inefficient boilers. Air pollution levels have fallen, the competitiveness of Chelyabinsk coal has increased, and jobs in the coal industry have been saved. The payback period for this project is three years, and there is demand for at least two additional plants using the same technology.
2. Proposed construction of a garbage reprocessing plant with a capacity of 500,000 tons per year in the city of Chelyabinsk. This project was developed by the Oblast Administration, the municipal enterprise "Chelyabspetstrans," the Moscow-based firm "Termoecologiya," and the St. Petersburg-based Leningrad Association of Project Organizations. The proposed technology provides waste-free, high-temperature reprocessing of residential and industrial wastes, and it utilizes heat from exhaust gases to produce electricity. The investment will be repaid with revenue generated from the sale of granulated metals and slag from the process. The payback period of this investment is estimated at under five years, and annual profits are projected at $10 million.
Public Awareness Activities: The following activities have been undertaken to promote public awareness of energy efficiency issues: 1) In November of 1994, a comprehensive exhibition of Chelyabinsk Oblast enterprises was presented at the International Exhibit on Energy Conservation in Moscow; 2) in February of 1995, CENEf (the Russian Center for Energy Efficiency) and Estcenter (Chelyabinsk) conducted a seminar entitled "Energy Efficiency in Russian Cities;" 3) in May of 1995, an international exhibit entitled "Energy Conservation in Our Lives" was staged in the city of Chelyabinsk; 4) additional seminars and a permanent exhibit on energy efficiency are being planned; and 5) the oblast newspaper, Chelyabinsk Worker, has begun to publish an energy efficiency bulletin.
General Guidelines: The main goal of an energy program should be to provide industrial, residential, and agricultural consumers with energy in a way that facilitates regional development while reducing the environmental impacts. Many of the factors that have contributed to the oblast's energy crisis lie outside of its boundaries. Approaches, therefore, should be developed in conjunction with Russian federal programs, such as "The Energy Program of Russia," and the program "Fuel and Energy."
Recommendations for Industry: Technology transfer will be critical to addressing the current energy crisis in energy. The introduction of new process technologies, a shift to high-tech industries, the development of environment-related industries, and a growth in outside investors all depend upon successful transfer programs. Defense conversion in particular will require a major overhaul of technologies and plant structures.
Institutional Recommendations: The functions and structures of the Oblast Administration Energy Commission should be reorganized. Currently, the commission focuses mainly on setting prices for electricity and heat. Their scope should be broadened to include the following: 1) Strengthening economic incentives for energy efficiency; 2) introducing metering for utility customers (this is not currently done); 3) developing efficiency standards for new and remodeled buildings (including industrial facilities) and a means of enforcing them; and 4) implementing energy efficiency demonstration projects.
Recommendations for Oblast-Level Initiatives: Energy efficiency initiatives for the oblast could include the following programs: 1) Improving energy efficiency in buildings and work sites; 2) supporting demonstration projects; 3) improving the efficiency of residential heating in urban areas; 4) expanding the use of cogeneration; 5) providing meters and controls for energy consumers; 6) providing incentives for energy audits; 7) introducing a standards program for buildings; 8) creating energy efficiency consulting services; and 9) educating consumers to be energy-literate. Government agencies would a natural candidates for organizing and managing these programs, but there is also a significant role for regional industries and other large energy consumers in the initiatives described above.
Recommendations for Pricing Policies at the Oblast Level: Ideally, the Chelyabinsk Regional Administration and the Oblast Duma should create a comprehensive set of financial incentives for energy efficiency, including 1) A consistent pricing policy for industrial energy consumers; 2) a series of tax incentives and credits for efficiency investments; 3) a regional grants program for energy-saving projects; 4) programs that attract foreign firms and firms from other regions of Russia involved in energy efficiency business; 5) incentives for transmission and distribution companies to invest in efficiency programs; and 6) tax breaks for producers and purchasers of energy efficiency equipment.
Recommendations for Alternatives to the Proposed Construction of the South Urals Nuclear Power Plant: There are several types of projects could serve as alternatives to the construction of a South Urals nuclear power station. First, the wide-scale introduction of energy conservation measures, including a series of industrial energy efficiency projects with quick payback periods, would substantially reduce energy demand in the region. Another possibility would be to create energy companies that would be independent from Chelyabenergo and the RAOEES Rossii energy stock company. Such companies could attract regional funds, Gazprom, and foreign investments. Repayment guarantees would be available in the form of output from financially competitive metallurgical companies. For example, one project that is under development involves creating an independent energy company (49% funds from the region, Chelyabinsk Coal and Chelyabenergo) to construct a 50 MW CHP plant using fluidized bed combustion technology. An international tender for this project has been announced. In another project, the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMC) has reached an agreement with Western investors on the construction of a CHP with gas turbine blocks. The Western investors will be repaid with profits from the combine. The regional administration in neighboring Kustanaisky Oblast has proposed the creation of a company that would expand mining in the Priozernyi coal reserve and construct a coal-fired plant to produce electricity for both the Kustanaisky and Chelyabinsk oblasts. Finally, the regional administration has commissioned a local company, Energoperspektiva, to conduct a market analysis of the demand for small gas-fired CHPs in the oblast.
Recommendations for Grass-Roots Activities: There should be support for a citizens' movement for energy efficiency that involves training volunteers, citizen monitoring of energy efficiency, demonstration of new equipment and instruments, and education of non-governmental organizations in the field of energy conservation and ecology.
A shortage of heat in Tomsk, currently estimated at 600 Gcal/hour, has been constraining development in the residential and municipal sectors. The situation is exacerbated by the continuing threat that Tomsk will be disconnected at some point from its heat supply in the city of Seversk. At present, the construction of new blocks at TETs-3 power station has been proposed as a means of addressing Tomsk's heat shortage. The project, which would require more than one trillion rubles to complete, would do nothing to address the serious problems in the transmission and distribution system. Moreover, it would generate additional tens of thousands of tons of nitrous oxide, sulfur, and ash1.
Heat Losses in Tomsk: The primary causes of the heat shortage in Tomsk are the significant transmission losses in the grid, losses due to buildings design, and the poor management of heat production. Accounts conducted by the All-Union Scientific Research Project Institute (VNIPIET) and Sibterm show that heat losses equal 55 percent of all heat produced in Tomsk. 30 percent of these losses stem from heating pipelines, and an additional 25 percent result from buildings that are not built to code.
Heat Losses from District Heating Pipes: According to data from, losses of heat as a result of wear on the grid, damaged insulation, and ground water heating total 30 percent or more. For example, heat losses from an average pipe measuring 1 meter in diameter and 1 kilometer in length equal 0.63 Gcal/hour2. Insulation in heat pipes, frequently decayed after long periods of use, covers 50 percent of the surface of heating pipes at most. Losses from the partially covered pipes can reach 2.5 Gcal/hour on the coldest days. Several systems, such as the district heating pipes from Seversk to Tomsk, have no insulation whatsoever. These pipes lose about 3.18 Gcal/hour on an average winter day.
The Tomsk-Seversk district heating network loses enough heat during the winter--35-46 Gcal/hour--to heat an entire housing development. Thus, reducing inefficiencies in the current district heating system will be critical to the success of energy-saving measures in Tomsk. Reducing pipe length alone would cut heat losses substantially and generate significant savings in expenses for repairs. Accounts show that the cost of laying or repairing one km of 300-mm pipeline costs about 1.5 billion rubles, not including expenditures related to the roadbed. The greater the diameter of the pipe, the greater the repair costs: the bill for a 50-mm pipe would be nearly 3 billion rubles. Given that 10-15 kilometers of pipeline has to be replaced every year even when the network is in good condition, the tremendous cost to the city is evident.
Heat Loss from Buildings: For many years, buildings in the city of Tomsk and Tomsk Oblast were not built to code regarding the requirements for providing resistance to heat transfer to external surfaces. The thermal resistance of prefabricated concrete panel walls in Siberia (according to data from the Siberian ZNIIPI) averages 70-75% of the regulatory standard. Air permeability of windows exceeds allowable norms by 2-2.5 times, even though the air permeability standards are considered to be very weak. Studies in the region have shown that heat losses from buildings exceed norms by 50-60%. 20-40% of this heat loss occurs through walls, while 60-70% occurs through windows. The consequences are sobering; Russian buildings with centralized heating use 425 KWh/sq. meter/year, compared to 135 in Sweden, or 120 in the United States. The resultant heat loss from building surfaces comprises nearly one quarter of all heat lost in the oblast.
The first and most basic solution to Tomsk's heating crisis is conservation, or the introduction of energy conserving technologies in all sectors of the economy. Experience in many countries has shown that technical policies directed at energy conservation are the most effective means of reducing energy consumption. Standards for the cost-effective use of energy are an important part of this policy. Tomsk should develop a new approach to establishing norms for energy consumption. These norms should form the basis of gradual reduction in long-term expenditures related to the heating system. An argument can be made for very strict standards because they can reduce uncertainty in forecasts of future demand for energy, and they can obviate the need for additional heating plants, which are seen as necessary only in scenarios where energy consumption grows quickly and buildings efficiency remains low. Reducing energy consumption in new buildings by means of stricter standards is cheaper than expanding the heat supply system.
The formation of a commission to develop a regulatory framework should be considered as part of this strategy. The commission could be composed of local experts and heating engineers, project planners, firefighters, ecologists, and other interested agencies and organizations
"Cradle-to-Grave" Efficiency Measures: In the city of Tomsk and the surrounding oblast, it is necessary to develop a system of norms that address efficiency standards in building materials throughout the construction process; i.e., from drafting and materials selection to installation and subsequent use. Basic indicators in this approach should specify annual expenditures for heating and coefficients for heat transfer in buildings.
In addition, a systematic conceptual approach to energy conservation should involve the creation of a database on energy-saving technologies, and the development of energy "passports" for buildings and facilities should be considered.
Guidelines for an Energy Efficiency Strategy: First and foremost, energy prices must reflect the cost of production. In addition, legally-enforceable standards should be introduced to prohibit the sale of energy-intensive products that generate harmful emissions. Marketing programs that encourage consumers to choose efficient appliances and materials that exceed standards could also have an important effect. Finally, the region should support analysis and research aimed at the development of energy-efficient goods and services that correspond to needs in the oblast.
Recommendations for Reducing Heat Loss: Heat grids should be centralized, insulation should be improved, and transmission leaks should be eliminated. Heat grids should also be design to take advantage of the optimal distance between source and user. In addition, a targeted program of metering for heat and hot water should be introduced in residential buildings.
Individual heating units should be constructed where they are cost-effective. One solution for this may be to phase in autonomous heating systems, such as small boilers for homes. These systems could be equipped with modern Russian or foreign products. The cost of free-standing, in-home boilers supplied by Weissman, for example, would not exceed 1.5 billion rubles, which is comparable to the cost of repairing one kilometer of roadbed heat pipe.
In addition, industrial enterprises and research institutions should be transferred gradually to individual heat supply systems. This would allow the oblast to divest itself of significant demands for heating capacity (in the Kirov Industrial Center, these demands reach 100 Gcal/hour), freeing up capacity that could then be directed to residential and municipal buildings.
Send an e-mail to:
Integrated Program of Energy Conservation for Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russian Ministry of Fuel and Energy, Ural VTI, and the ENSI company, 1993.
Integrated Program of Energy and Fuel Supply for Chelyabinsk Oblast with Forecasts to 2010, ENSI, B.A. Davidov, 1994.
Charter of the South Urals Center for Energy Conserving Technology.
I. Osipov. Energy Conservation in Chelyabinsk Oblast: Tasks and Problems. Energy Efficiency, 1995, Number 6.
"On the Structure of Energy Conservation in Chelyabinsk Oblast," Chelyabinsk Worker, December 21, 1995.
Materials from seminars and exhibitions in Chelyabinsk Oblast on energy conservation.
Addressing Plutonium. Report to the scientific seminar of NATO on the draft study Use of Mixed Uranium-Plutonium Fuel in Reactors." N.N. Yegorov (Russian Ministry of Nuclear Energy), V.M. Murogov (FEI, Obninisk), 1994.
Report of the Chairman of GAN Yu.G. Vishnevsky to MVK on December 9, 1993. [need help on these acronyms).
Study of Radiation Effects on the Populations of the Urals and Other Regions. Source Report on Sections 1-3. St. Petersburg, July 11-13 1995.
G. Kessler, Nuclear Energy, M., Atomic Energy Press, 1986, pps. 216-217.
Study of the composition of plutonium in outdoor facilities of the Northeastern part of the territory of Chelyabinsk Oblast. F.F. Faizrachmanov, Ural Atomic, International Symposium, Zarechny, May 29 to June 2 1995.
Specification of the Radioecological Situation in the City of Chelyabinsk. Report on Agreement NIR N RK-4/92, 1992.
Prospects for Production and Use of Plutonium Fuel in Russia. V.V. Orlov. Report on the International Seminar "Reprocessing of Nuclear Fuel, Storage and Use of Energy and Defense Plutonium." December 14-16, Moscow.
Energy Production. Figures and Facts. TsOI on Atomic Energy. Moscow, 1993.
Technical-Economic Feasibility Study of Construction of a Nuclear Plant with Reactors of the Type BN-800 (breeder) in the Mayak Complex, 1990.
Response of the Urals Inspection GAN Chairman to N. Mironova of the Movement for Nuclear Safety. CI/186 from April 1, 1994.
Decision on Expanding the Technical Council of Uralenergosetproekt (Urals Energy Grid Project) on TO Construction of Vl 500 KW Tyumen-Kozirevo. August 17, 1994.
Joint Electric Power Alternatives Study. Investment Program for Russia. Source Report on the JEPAS Program, 1995.
J. Coffey. Nuclear Energy and its Role in the Energy Market in Great Britain. Nuclear Technology Abroad, Number 11, 1995.
(2) This figure assumes average temperatures of -8.8 degrees celsius. On the coldest days (-40 degrees celsius) heat losses from pipes with full insulation are closer to 0.83 Gcal/hour.