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R Chandrasoma

While it is fit and proper that all energies should be focused on the erasure of the menace of terrorism that has plagued our country for so long, there is another looming crisis that we ignore at our peril. That Prabhkaran's glory days are over is a truth that will be conceded by even those NGO-wallahs and peace-tykes who made a great business of the 'war' in the years past. Age tells and it is an established fact that tyrants age faster than most. This being the case, the middle-aged Prabhakaran may be at deaths door (if not already dead) fighting off hot-blooded rivals who sense the presage and portent of the demise of a once indomitable leader. There is, of course, a man in the Sinhala South - the leader of a once-great political party to boot - who is 'boiling pots of koth-thamalli' to assuage the raging ague of his dying Northern Friend, but this is surely an exercise in futility.

Let us turn to the other crisis that threatens to overwhelm our unfortunate country. It is the critical shortage of indigenous sources of energy at a time when the model of energy consumption of our populace is fast approaching that which is characteristic of the developed world. That the latter is profligate and damningly unconscionable in the use of the world's energy resources is a fact known to all. That we in Sri Lanka should ape this destructive pattern is deplorable - the more so because we have no oil, coal, forest reserves or geothermal sources of energy. The frightening prospect of paying fantastic prices for Arab oil - indeed, this is happening right now - to meet the basic energy needs of the people of this country has political overtones of a portentous kind that must be urgently assessed. It is political because the draconian measures needed to meet this crisis head on is a matter of painful politics that will have opportunists jousting with each other to gain the votes of the hungry and the disaffected.

The UNP is shouting about the high cost of living while craftily concealing the fact that there is a global energy crisis that will hit hardest countries such as Sri Lanka where the ratio of the burden of population to the resource-base of the land is among the highest in the world.

What is lamentable is the lack of foresight in those chosen to lead. Building power-stations ad lib is like building roads - the greater the road-network, the greater the density of traffic that will use those roads. There will be no let up in the use of oil and coal to power the vehicles that run on these roads. Likewise, lighting, air-conditioning, refrigeration, cooking etc will depend on centrally generated power using imported fuels. As prices rise to fantastic levels (over 100 $ per barrel of Brent Crude) there will surely be a meltdown of some kind since the economy of a country based on the balance of imports and exports cannot sustain itself with energy-costs at this level.

What remedial measures can we take to beat off this deadly challenge? Of two kinds, surely. The first is to abjure and resolutely reject the Western pattern of energy-use. We do not need wide screen flat TVs that are switched on all day to tillitate the senses of the jaded rich. We can do without luxury cars and SUVs. We must have natural air-conditioning. We can do without those fancy electrical gadgets in the kitchen. Above all, a spirit of patriotism must be instilled in the favoured sections of our society that calls into question the belief that the ability to pay is the sole warrant for purchase and use of energy-consuming devices.

While prohibitions are necessary, there is the positive task of the expeditious use of what is bountifully given. We have an abundant energy- resource - the sun. Is it not disgraceful that the state - which spends billons on power-stations of the conventional kind - does nothing to foster the use of solar power? Every household in Sri Lanka can generate 100 watts of electric power using current panel technology. Has any big-wig -some highly paid - suggested this? Conventional cooking and water-boiling use massive amounts of power based on very expensive imported oil and gas. Has the matter of solar cookers been looked into? Is the Solar Chimney a viable option? Our technologists and scientists are of the 'low energy' kind - they await foreign inputs.

What has been said for solar power can be extended to wind-energy and dendro-power. The bottom line is to act creatively to beat off a crisis. While the current leadership (under MR) is savvy in public relations and is genuinely concerned about the hardships of the poor, it is all at sea in technical matters. There are no scientific advisors to the President. The Minister of Science and Technology is not interested in science and technology - he is a specialist in constitution making and devotes all his energies to the resolution of conundrums in this field. With a surfeit of cabinet ministers and diverse portfolio holders, is it asking too much to have a Minister of Energy Resource Development? The next 'war' will be fought on this front.

7.8.07.

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