Energy is crucial to running the economy. India is experiencing rapid economic growth, but it needs more and more energy
to drive its booming economy.
The oil crisis has two dimensions: Most of the oil producing nations are in terminal decline. And fuel prices are rising continuously. But the oil crisis need not translate into an energy crisis, giving the availability of alternative energy sources such as wind power, solar power, hydroelectricity, biomass and nuclear energy. What will happen when the oil wells dry up? And, with so many alternative energy options to choose from, why aren’t we shifting right now?
The
transport sector is one of the largest users of our energy
resources. Almost 50 per cent of the world’s oil consumption goes into running vehicles. The Railway system can transport much more, while using much less energy. But people still depend on trucks and trailers... What the country needs today is to focus on developing a strong public transport consisting of buses and railways.
The industrial sector consumes about the other 50 per cent of the total energy produced. There is a large scope for improving energy efficiency in industries, and for energy conservation.
The author says that the root of the problem is the huge rich-poor divide – both within nations and across nations. While the rich continue to enjoy and waste these (energy) resources, the rural poor cannot afford to use any.
Unlike the previous oil shocks (in 1973 and 1979), the current oil crisis is fundamentally different, in that it is of a permanent nature. The challenge before us is to come up with a strategy / policy initiative that combines developments in the realms of science, economics and politics – instead of regarding them as separate events.