Power dressing ... casual clothes to save energy

In an effort to save electricity, the government of Bangladesh has ordered male employees to stop wearing suits, jackets and ties to work.

Bangladesh, like many countries in south Asia, has for years been struggling with chronic power shortages that have held back economic development and created misery for millions of people sweltering through the blistering summers.

This year, thousands of workers fought running battles with police on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, after severe shortages halted work and forced students across the country to sweat through their annual exams.

Now, in the latest of several initiatives to try to ease the situation, the Government of Sheikh Hasina has decided to set an example by amending a 1982 dress code for its staff.

According to those regulations, male workers, or at least those at a mid-ranking or a senior level, were required to wear suits and ties or else jackets, despite the long, hot summers when temperatures can often rise above 40C.

But the Government is hoping to reduce the need for energy-hungry air-conditioners by saying that men can simply wear trousers and short-sleeved shirts. They will not even be required to tuck those shirts in.

"The point is that some people wear suits and ties and then have the air-conditioning up high. That can use up a huge amount of electricity," said Ruhul Alam Siddique, a diplomat at the Bangladesh High Commission in India. The dress code is the most recent of several Government undertakings to try to address the power shortages.

This summer, for instance, it told its 150 million citizens to set their clocks forward by an hour in the country's first daylight savings effort. Officials estimated this would reduce the power demand by about 5 per cent.

The Government also said that from next year it would distribute for free almost 27 million energy-saving light bulbs with help from the World Bank, estimated to save about 350 megawatts of electricity a day.

Watts up

3800 megawatts of electricity produced daily.
5000 megawatts used daily.
45 per cent of the population has access to electricity.
6 per cent annual economic growth.
500 megawatts annual increase in electricity demand.

- INDEPENDENT