Comparing with Competing Energy Sources Clause Samples

Comparing with Competing Energy Sources. With about 72% of Sri Lanka population living in rural areas, their typical energy sources for water heating applications are biomass, kerosene, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and electricity. The urban domestic users use electricity or LPG for water heating. While commercial and industrial water heating applications generally use electricity and fuel oil. During the last 7 years, all the above energy sources recorded a good percentage of price hikes. The annual percentage increase in the prices of electricity and LPG are 10% and 13% respectively. On the other front, the use of solar energy for water heating applications requires comparatively high initial investments but the system once installed will be operational for about 20 years with marginal maintenance activities. The financial viability of solar water heating systems over other sources of energy is illustrated below. 23 Exchange rate: 1 USD = 112 Sri Lankan rupee 24 Underlying assumptions and workings are attached in Annexure I. Source of Energy Simple payback period (Years)25 Residential Commercial Industrial Electricity 16 10 14 LPG 13.4 - - Kerosene 9 - - Fuel Oil - 28 28 Generally the payback periods are very long since the cost of SWH systems is very high in Sri Lanka and electricity and fuels are comparatively cheap.