For self-reliant rural energy
Rifat Munim is happy with a writer's recommendations
Thanks to continued development programmes funded by international NGOs and organisations in our country, there has been an upsurge in research on social development. Research works have focused on various sectors that are integral to projected development goals, such as education, employment and infrastructure. Many of those have taken extensively on predominant ideological stigmas standing in the way of development. Very few, however, have dealt with the fundamental inter-relation between energy resources and sustainable development. Seen from this perspective, Ershad Ali's Sustainable Energy Technologies for Rural Bangladesh: A Conceptual Framework appears to be a remarkable difference that attempts to bridge the gap between the energy sector and development. It also relates non-renewable energy such as fossil fuel to global warming and suggests thereby a set of renewable as well as sustainable energy technologies that as well as meeting the burgeoning demands are environment-friendly. The energy sector, Ali tells us, was responsible for 46% of the increase in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) effect until the last decade. Although developed countries are mostly responsible for the largest chunk of carbon dioxide emission, developing countries also contribute to it, though on a smaller scale, as they resort to deforestation as an alternative means to meet energy demand. This scenario applies to rural Bangladesh. So, Ali suggests that "one of the best ways to keep control on GHG emission is to generate energy from environmentally friendly sources instead of fossil fuel." The energy sector in our country centres on natural gas and imported fuel. As a result, oil price hike in the international market is creating tremendous pressure on the country's foreign reserves. Yet the gap between demand for and supply of energy is nonetheless widening with the major part of the produce being distributed to city dwellers while rural communities have barely any access to grid-supplied electricity. Acute shortage of energy supply, in Ali's analysis, is precisely what accounts for poor development in rural areas, thus impeding the country's overall progress. In matters of cooking, he points out, wood and animal waste are the main sources for rural people. Instead, he suggests that hydroelectricity, biomass, solar power and wind power can be turned into sustainable energy alternatives. But the alternatives are not without challenges because they entail certain technologies adopting which are not impossible but arduous due to several factors. First come the bureaucratic red tape and corruption in concerned government bodies. Then there has to be the necessary infrastructure in place for adopting the required technologies, which involves financing. Therefore, this aspect poses the biggest challenge. But each of the alternative means involves several other geographical and sociological factors that need to be addressed. For example, the technologies required for biomass are affordable but their success depends largely on the availability of land. Although it works as carbon dioxide absorber, it is not completely free from environmental hazards. On the other hand, solar power and wind power are very friendly to the environment but require considerable financing and involve fairly complex technologies. At the same time, the author is not oblivious of the need for an awareness campaign to make those means popular and acceptable to rural people. In spite of all the challenges, with an in-depth policy analysis Ali shows that if proper emphasis is put by policymakers on sustainable energy technologies, attaining a self-reliant rural energy sector is only a matter of time. Without adopting these means, he argues, rural areas cannot be turned into bustling places of economic activities and without sustainable rural economic growth national progress is sure to remain a far-fetched utopia.
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