Pakistan Observer
Published Date: Mar 30, 2014
Experts recommend sustainable solutions to energy crisis
A three-day workshop on sustainable solution of energy crisis tilled “Bridging government, industry and academia” closed here with recommendations from all three stakeholder.
The workshop was held in joint collaboration of Center for Advanced Studies in Energy (CAS-E), University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Peshawar and University of Cambridge, UK, sponsored by the British Council Researchers Link Programme.
The energy experts from Cambridge University and leading Pakistani universities including LUMS, NUST and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) deliberated on best practices of how experts in the field and academics are finding out solutions to energy problems, and working together with government in managing resource depletion and alternate solutions on non-conventional energy sources.
Arshad Abbasi, Advisor SDPI also launched a report on Shale Oil and Gas: The Life Line of Pakistan on the occasion.
The Higher Education Commission Chairman and Vice Chancellor UET Peshawar, Syed Imtiaz Gilani spoke on the occasion saying CAS-E should be placed at public policy level where consortium of international experts on energy should be gathered and present practical solutions.
He highlighted the importance of developing shale oil and gas for energy starved country where the energy demands are mounting at an exponential rate while the natural gas reserves are depleting at faster pace.
The shale oil and gas resources if developed would be enough to meet the energy needs “for more than 50 years and would help to save $ 15 billion spend on importing petroleum products. Moreover, the exploration phase being more labor intensive as compared to conventional resources would generate employment for around 750,000 people. Dr Gulfaraz, Chairman Government’s Task Force of Exploitation of Shale Gas, said Pakistan has the potential of becoming 9th largest country in the world having shale gas resources, adding the Task Force will come up with the Shale gas policy soon for proper exploitation of this resource.
He urged academics; investors and government should come at a common forum to bring out this potential and turn this opportunity in to reality.
Engr Arshad H Abbasi, Senior Advisor, Water and Power, SDPI stressed that the Chairman HEC ought to be from an engineering background as most of the problems related to energy, economics and water can be addressed only through engineering oriented solutions.
He further emphasized that in the absence of vigilant institute on water and energy, it is the prime duty of HEC to formulate a think tank on water and energy as both of them have been included in security paradigms.