Environmentalists call energy conservation the fifth fuel. Yes, beyond petroleum, coal nuclear and alternative energy (all lumped together) there is the one fuel given the least attention: conservation and efficiency. And it is a wonderful sort of a fuel. It does not have a carbon footprint; in fact, it takes away from the footprint of other sources. It does not cost much; it is the only source of energy that saves you money if you use it. It is, in a manner of speaking, both regenerable and sustainable. It is, at the risk of sounding too emphatic, awesome.
Yet, news of the energy conservation plan that minister for water and power Naveed Qamar unveiled the other day is going to be met with derision. The principle basis for this scoffing is not going to be the ‘failure’ of last years energy conservation plan (a failure because it was expected- unreasonably, given the scale of our deficit – that there would be no load shedding since energy had been conserved). The derision, instead, is going to stem from the deep-rooted belief that the scarcity of anything is always a shortcoming on part of the incumbent government and that conservation is a lily-livered, half-baked approach that runs away from the problem rather than taking it on. That sustainable development is the stuff hippy, new-age types are bothered with, not the engines of real economy. But rethinking the inefficiencies in consumption patterns – commercial, industrial and household – is becoming a priority the world over. It’s about time we do too.
Under no circumstances should this be interpreted as giving up on the capacity building front. That is, as it should be, underway. The government should be held accountable for any perceived lack of pace in that department. But the public should be cognizant of the fact that the present government inherited this huge power deficit from the previous regime. It should chip in as well. Switching off that extra light or keeping the AC at the prescribed 26 degrees adds up to the national grid, just the way a new run-of-the-river power project does.
