The energy crisis has become so colossal that while treading the path to solve it, we have forgotten the purpose itself. The purpose of meeting our present energy demands, without compromising the ability of the future generations, through better technologies and sustainable development. But though everyone today dreams of a sustainable world, hardly any have realised that we need to first wake up to accomplish it. Wake up soon, before it becomes a nightmare.
Energy is the biggest and fastest growing problem contributing the maximum to environmental transformations today. And when you take a close look, it has two facets: Firstly, the contribution to the carbon emissions and Secondly, the depletion of our already exhausted natural resources. We need to accept the fact that there is no utopia and resources are going to deplete if we continuously consume them, culminating in not only an energy but also a food and social crisis.
And when we talk about an energy crisis, the question that must be asked is, “Does it really exist? Or are we just blinded by the headlines of the newspapers and powerful speeches of our leaders which only highlight the problem without any signs of solution. Our feeble efforts have been defeated and finally we have easily surrendered ourselves. How can we forget the law of conservation of energy? And for the luxury of those who haven’t heard of it or have forgotten it; it states that Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. It remains constant. Then how can we have an energy crisis? Are we really short of energy?
NO. NOT AT ALL. It is not a resource crisis but only a technology crisis. All past endeavours have failed to a large extent in purporting our short sightedness and lack of understanding of the whole panorama of the slump in our energy supplies. We need to shift our focus from conventional technologies to this realm of green & renewable energy. We need to understand the fact that there are resources other than coal also. Resources like solar energy, wind energy and geothermal energy which, if tapped properly, will ensure that the energy crisis does not become a pain our neck. We need to explore more opportunities, opportunities which behold the answers to today’s biggest problems.
The writer is a correspondent of Youth Ki Awaaz.