Energy options
I'm writing in response to the cover-page articles in the latest issue of The Daily Star (30th April 2010) on energy options for us. The lead article 'The Case for Coal' explored, and, to a great extent, as I understand, suggested coal option to ensure our energy security, and the next article advocated for solar breakthrough. Well, the first thing first. The real solutions to the energy and climate crisis is well-addressed by it, and what the writer told are available today if we focus on what we have in abundance.
Emphasising efficiency and renewables, in that order, is already working in many houses, mainly in the rural areas, the solar panels erected by Grameen Shakti, Rahimafrooz, supported by Idcol and others in Bangladesh, which is demonstrating how we can change for the better by changing the way we think. Actually, there are plenty of opportunities to meet energy demand through efficiency, and it's not a wild idea, anyway.
Secondly, I wonder how we can even think that we need to fire coal for electricity. Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels and has caused most of the global warming crisis to date. Coal-fired power plants remain the largest source of global warming pollution in the world, and the climate crisis cannot be addressed unless we stop burning coal.
We know renewable energy is limitless. But to put it in stark terms, it is really amazing to know that the Earth gets enough solar power every 40 minutes to meet the whole world's energy demand for a full year! Apart from that, wind power and geothermal resources are similarly capable of providing for our needs. Our buildings can become part of a distributed, renewable energy infrastructure that's not only cleaner and greener, but also more resilient than one that depends on a small number of big power plants to keep the lights on. It's a myth that solar panels are costly, and even costlier to install. Now the scenario is changing little by little, and we're now armed with researches and good practices.
Yes, there are many clean options for electricity generation, and we should engage ourselves, our knowledge and our money in that direction.
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