Load shedding may not fully deliver the intended results unless people become proactive
People have important roles to play in the present energy sector crisis. They need to bring about changes in their energy consumption patterns
The extraordinary situation, led by the price hike of fossil fuels in international markets, has been affecting the world for months. With a significant reliance on imported energy resources, Bangladesh is feeling the heat of international markets quite badly.
As a last resort and in the absence of any immediate alternative, the government of Bangladesh has, of late, devised a load shedding plan for the country. Different areas of the country are bracing for load shedding of up to two hours each day in alternate hours.
There has also been discussion on reducing office hours and/or introducing work from home modality to contain national energy consumption. Certainly, all these will help people of different areas and categories to prepare well ahead to cope with the situation.
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However, we are not in an ideal world. The government measure, like load shedding, may not fully deliver the intended results. In megacity Dhaka or other major cities, commercial buildings automatically switch to their generators in the event of load shedding or power outages. People in many residential buildings in cities will also take the advantage of the small generator sets. Notably, these small generators are not energy efficient.
Therefore, people have important roles to play in the present energy sector crisis. They need to bring about changes in their energy consumption pattern. If the load shedding for one or two hours results in increasing use of small power generators, the load shedding plan will not be effective.
Likewise, when electricity is available, people should be cautious so as to ensure that electricity is not misused or wasted. Other resources, like water and gas, at households should be utilised prudently, too.
In the present context, the best decision has been taken by the government to ride out the challenges, but people need to play their part with conscious behaviour. Unfortunately, we have no other choice now. However, we must draw lessons from this crisis for immediate and future energy sector planning.
We need to truly assess the respective advantages and disadvantages of different alternative energy pathways. In such planning, measures to increase the deployment of solar energy and exploration of local gas shall be prioritised in lieu of import dependence.
As the net metering guideline is in place, industries and commercial buildings shall be encouraged to install rooftop solar systems to generate part of their electricity demand by themselves.
In a nutshell, we must mobilise efforts for ensuring energy security rather than electricity security. It is understandable, we will not be able to fully rely on local energy sources, the aim should be reducing imports as much as possible. This will help avoid future energy crises in this disruptive world and save foreign currency reserves.
Shafiqul Alam is an environmental economist and a clean energy fellow of the National Bureau of Asian Research, USA.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.
