We continue to face serious energy challenges and yet we are totally oblivious to the obvious option of energy conservation. How can the very expensive LNG-based fuel be our "best" option at present tariff of Rs 1200 per MMBTU? At nearly US$ 12 for million BTU, we are at an unaffordable energy cost level which no industry can sustain if it has to compete in international market.
Why do we need to import such large quantities of exorbitant LNG? The obvious answer is that not only we are a wasteful nation (where all influential people can "afford" to literally do anything) but also, vested interests have stopped economical piped gas supply from Iran! The real price of resulting high inflation due to above has been deliberately ignored for too long. It is all catching up with us and the sooner we take the best option of energy conservation, the better it will be for the coming generations since the immediate future is already lost due to huge debt collected specially in the last few years.
Can we really stand up to the energy challenges and save the country from entering into "eternal slavery"? If we do not have basic economic independence, we are really not a free nation, in spite of immense sacrifices of millions of Pakistanis. Just to give examples of best options in the energy sector conservation technologies, following are well-accepted options in commercial as well as industrial sectors the world over:
Utilize waste heat from thermal power plants, since all such power plants have enormous waste heat which we simply allow not only to be wasted but spend resources, specially water. We are great proponents of thermal power plants which bring windfall "profits" in matter of months, unlike the much-needed hydel projects which require many years for completion but are essential for Pakistan's existence due to both low-cost energy as well as strategic water storage capacity.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017