Self-powered housing model for low-income families

Wednesday, 17 July 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Public Utilities Commission signs MoU with University of Moratuwa for key initiative

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), the electricity sector regulator, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka on Monday to collaborate and introduce a self- powered housing model for low income households with the aim of providing best architectural housing structure with the use of maximum daylight for low income households.

“Energy conservation is one of the functions that PUCSL is empowered with by the Sri Lanka Electricity Act and we have taken regulatory measures over the past years to promote energy conservation to stabilise increasing energy demand in Sri Lanka,” Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka Chairman Saliya Mathew said at the signing ceremony of the MoU.

“We are keen for regulatory intervention in energy conservation of Sri Lanka and it is an honour to collaborate with the University of Moratuwa. Signing MoU is indeed an important milestone for us.”

The MoU will lead the University of Moratuwa and PUCSL to carry out a collaborative research project to identify the energy demand patterns of low-income households and to establish ‘End User Energy Demand Indices’ with a sample housing model for low-income households in rural, estate and urban.

“This initiative fulfils a significant national need on satisfying Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) to reduce GHG emission from energy by 4% unconditionally and 16% conditionally (against 2010 baseline) by 2030. Moreover, this helps to promote awareness on energy efficiency and energy conservation among low-income families in Sri Lanka,” University of Moratuwa Vice Chancellor Prof. K.K.C.K. Perera said.

The project, led by University of Moratuwa Department of Architecture Senior Lecturer Dr. Indika Rajapaksa and PUCSL Director Corporate Communication Jayanat Herat, will investigate a sample of 300-350 houses in each district of Monaragala, Kandy and Colombo in order to identify the low-income household energy usage patterns in rural, estate and urban.

The two-year project was proposed through the corporate plan of PUCSL 2019 with the aim of improving environmental conditions for every living being and to contribute towards easing the national burden related to energy costs in Sri Lanka.