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THE OBSERVER

The Oldest English Newspaper in South Asia
Founded 4.2.1834
P. O. Box 1217,
35, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha,
Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.
Telephone: Editor - 94-1-429226; Fax: 94-1-429230

Energy : ecology vs. economy

The power crunch is on. While in the seventies there was much pride in Sri Lanka’s primary dependence on ‘clean’ and cheap hydro-electric (hydrel) energy, by the 1980s it was clear that given the chosen economic development path, our river systems were not adequate to meet all our energy needs. Furthermore, the very pattern of ‘development’ itself seems to have contributed to the degradation of that essential factor for hydrel energy : a lavish rainfall.

Although no studies have proven it, the stark fact is that the development strategy of rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and intensive, commercialised agriculture may have speeded up the denudation of forest cover and thereby contributed to a serious disruption of our traditionally high rainfall pattern.

The rapid rise in demand for energy due to industrialisation has not been complemented by a carefully planned development of thermal energy production to offset the anticipated shortfall of hydrel energy by the 1980s and has made us dependent on costly petroleum-based thermal plants.

The haphazard planning for cheaper coal-based thermal energy plants has drawn an equally haphazard opposition from non-governmental environment protection groups.

What is needed now is some creative collaboration between the Government and the eco-NGOs on safe sites, and environmentally friendly designs, for coal-fired energy units that will ease the burden on hydrel power and free the country of a dependence on expensive petroleum-based thermal energy generation.

Meanwhile, there is also need to review our currently blind dash along the path of high-energy industrialisation and urban lifestyle. Improved demographic planning, proper zoning of industrial areas and the careful distribution of the energy grid to ensure an ecologically as well as economically rational consumption pattern will all help us and this ‘emerald isle’ survive the energy crunch.

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