Indonesia’s Implementation In Shifting LPG Stoves to Electric For Achieving Net Zero Emission 2050 – OpEd
The world is currently trying to combat global warming which is increasing day by day. One of the reasons is the high carbon emissions produced in the countries. Currently, the world is intensifying in dealing with increasing carbon emissions, one of the government’s concerns in overcoming carbon emissions is by switching stoves as household appliances used in every day in society. The stove is one of the causes of carbon emissions produced, especially on LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) stoves. Indonesia is one of the countries that is still active in the use of LPG stoves as household appliances in everyday activity.
With the high use of LPG stoves in daily life, Indonesia’s LPG consumption increases every year. Currently, LPG demand reaches 8.8 tons per year, while production is only 2 million tons per year, so around 6.8 million tons per year LPG needs are still imported (Kompas.com,2021). Indonesia imports 90% of LPG from the Middle East region, mostly in Iran and Saudi Arabia (Ahustinus, 2017). For this reason, the government should be able to rely on or take advantage of existing the country’s Natural Resources especially oil refineries. So that they can be developed and reproduced in order to stop imports of LPG and maximize Indonesia’s resources. And also switch to using electric stoves as an effort to stop LPG imports and achieve Net Zero Emission 2050 in the future.
With the large use of LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) stoves in Indonesia, it will harm the country. Indonesia is the 9th largest country in the world and the amount of LPG import is 82.00 Thousand Barrels per day (indexmundi,2021). With Indonesia’s high demand of LPG import, it can cause Indonesia to become a country that is dependent on LPG imports which continues to increase every year by Rp50.6 trillion per year (Endarwati, 2021). Apart from the economic aspect, the use of LPG has a negative impact on the environment, where the continued use of LPG can contribute to producing Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Formaldehyde gases contained in LPG.
In addition, gas stoves produce 400% more Nitrogen Dioxide than electric stoves (Proline Range Hoods, 2017). Each contains compounds in gas stoves, it causes the content of compounds to be released into the atmosphere that can threaten the life of the earth’s ecosystem and air pollution. Compared with the use of electric stoves, electric stoves have more significant advantages compared to LPG stoves, because electric stoves are more environmentally friendly and do not contain harmful compounds. Not only environmentally friendly, but the use of electric stoves is more efficient than LPG stoves. Reporting from the Indonesia Stock Exchange account, explained that the use of electric stoves is 30% more efficient than LPG stoves (Hartomo, 2021). And the use of electricity for cooking using an electric stove will save the previous LPG expenses from Rp147,000 to Rp118,000 (Wareza,2021).
This shows that Indonesia still plays an active role in the use of LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) stoves which causes high consumption of LPG compared to domestically produced production, thus requiring Indonesia to import LPG from other countries. With the still high use of LPG stoves in daily life, many negative impacts are caused to the ecosystem, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) produced from LPG. If the use of LPG Stoves will continue, this is one aspect that can contribute to carbon emissions spreading to the world. The next factor lies in the excessive import of LPG which makes the country have to have more expenditure, it is another case if Indonesia can utilize and develop oil and gas refineries in the country itself will have a much cheaper LPG production cost if it can be maximized well. With the high import of LPG which reaches around 6.8 million tons every year, we as a society must be able to take action accompanied by the government’s contribution to switch to using Induction Stoves as a form of assisting the government’s role in stopping the LPG import chain which increases every year.
One of the forms of transition to the use of induction stoves has advantages in domestic life and will have a positive impact on the country. The good impact caused by switching to an induction cooker is that it will save household expenses from the previous use of LPG stoves, induction cookers have a fast and even heat distribution so they can save time in household life. Not only saving costs and time, electric stoves also save pollution because induction stoves do not emit carbon dioxide (CO2) like previous LPG stoves, so they are more environmentally friendly.
Therefore, this form of implementation of the transition from LPG stoves to induction cookers has an important role for the government, where the government can provide convenience for the community to be able to use electric stoves by providing an electric stove selling price that can be reached by all levels of society. Therefore, with the implementation of Indonesia in transitioning LPG stoves to electric stoves, this can be one of the strategies to achieve Indonesia’s target towards Net Zero Emission 2050 which is clean from using non-renewable energy.
*Ramadhan Dwi Saputra, Research Assistant at Universitas Islam Indonesia
References
Agustinus, M. (2017, January 17). RI Impor 5 juta ton LPG di 2017, dari Negara Mana Saja? detikfinance. https://finance.detik.com/energi/d-3397947/ri-impor-5-juta-ton-lpg-di-2017-dari-negara-mana-saja
Endarwati, O. (2021, November 11). Kementerian ESDM Ajak Masyarakat Berpindah ke Kompor Induksi, Ini Keuntungannya. https://www.idxchannel.com/economics/kementerian-esdm-ajak-masyarakat-berpindah-ke-kompor-induksi-ini-keuntungannya
Hartomo, G. (2021, Maret 9). Lebih Hemat 30 Persen, PLN Rayu Masyarakat Pakai Kompor Listrik. https://www.idxchannel.com/economics/lebih-hemat-30-persen-pln-rayu-masyarakat-pakai-kompor-listrik
indexmundi. (2021). Liquefied Petroleum Gases Imports by Country. https://www.indexmundi.com/energy/?product=lpg&graph=imports&display=rank
Kompas.com. (2021, 05 03). Indonesia masih impor 6 juta ton Elpiji, bisa stop di 2030? Kompas.com. https://money.kompas.com/read/2021/05/03/153755926/indonesia-masih-impor-6-juta-ton-elpiji-bisa-setop-di-2030?page=all
Proline Range Hoods. (2021, Agustus 4). Is A Gas Or Electric Stove Better For The Environment? https://www.prolinerangehoods.com/blog/gas-electric-stove-better-environment/
Wareza, M. (2021, Maret 31). Program 1 Juta Kompor Listrik, Erick Thohir : RI Hemat 60 T. https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/market/20210331181517-17-234483/program-1-juta-kompor-listrik-erick-thohir-ri-hemat-rp-60-t