Increases of electricity consumption in Kuwait, and the Gulf as a whole, have steadily been on the rise. The white paper released by Deloitte titled “Energy on Demand: The Future of GCC Energy Efficiency”, showed that per capita electricity consumption is set to rise 2.5 percent per year. This forecast spans all the way to 2035, which poses a daunting prospect if accurate. The Gulf states see a staggering 47 percent of their electricity consumption taken up by residential use. Eng. Suhaila Marafi, Director - Department of Studies and Research, Ministry of Electricity and Water, Kuwait said earlier Kuwait plans to spend KD7.5 billion ($27 billion) through 2014 to develop its water and power infrastructure. Marafi said Kuwait's current capacity stood at around 11,300 MW and power needs called for an additional 10,000 MW over the next 10 years. “Power is a big problem in Kuwait but the water situation is manageable,” Marafi said. Kuwait's water capacity is 390 million gallons per day (MGPD) and it needs 760 MGPD by 2020, she added. According to Kenneth McKellar, Partner and Energy and Resources leader at Deloitte Middle East, this is higher than even the amount consumed for residential use in the US. The World Bank's development indicators further revealed that in 1997, the electricity consumption per capita was 12,265 kWh. By 2008, however, it had reached 16,747. According to the US Department of Energy, lighting is a leader in electricity consumption at homes, consuming around 44 percent of electricity used. When there aren't worries of a hefty bill resulting from leaving lights on, it seems it's all too easy to forget about turning them off at all.
