We have an acute energy crisis and really, no action is being taken to ensure high efficiency for both power generation and distribution. Immediate directives are required to be taken up at highest level to ensure we have an affordable overall Energy Policy covering both environmental and economical issues.

Due to supply constraints, and the resulting inflationary pressures, base energy costs covering both oil and gas will remain very high in future, thus undermining overall planning in most developing countries! For Pakistan, we have an urgent need to understand that we are basically an “energy deficient” country and need to conserve energy in all sectors till we are blessed with new sources of gas/oil wells.

Two major sectors need urgent and intelligent actions. Buildings, in general, need to be Energy Efficient. Although we have an “approved” Building Energy Code, adopting the international recommendations to make our buildings meet the minimum energy conservation requirements, nearly all buildings defy logic and waste enormous amount of energy (at least 30 percent above required energy for sensible planning), causing havoc to our overall energy sources, covering basically our critical dependence on natural gas.

(To be continued tomorrow)

Engr. Ainul Abedin (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022