Along with the rest of the world, Bangladesh is also currently in the middle of an energy crisis, but the effects of which are obviously far more debilitating to a developing country such as ours.
According to a report by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, the government's recent decision to move towards liquefied natural gas-based power generation as a way to quell the crisis is the wrong one. We cannot help but agree on this.
The basis of CPD's statement is that LNG wastes this opportunity to pivot towards renewable energy-based power plants, on top of the fact that LNG, as it stands, would end up costing us far more than whatever returns it may yield in terms of energy. It is nothing short of concerning that around 97% of our power generation capacity is based on fossil fuels, and that far from seeing a reduction this reliance is instead growing.
This is clearly not the way.
Renewable energy is seeing a rapid uptick in terms of adoption worldwide as it is cheap and leaves next to no impacts on the environment. In fact, our very prime minister has made directives to relevant authorities to ensure that all irrigation pumps in Bangladesh be powered with solar energy -- a plan that is said to save $1 billion worth of diesel.
If the highest seat of power in the country understands the value of renewable energy, what is keeping the rest of the government?
Bangladesh cannot keep on relying on importing fuel to meet the demands of its burgeoning population. We must prepare to power the nation with renewable energy soon. There is no other alternative.
