Workshop Partner

Background

Ninety-five percent of the energy consumed in today’s world comes from fossil fuels, whose reserves are being depleted at a tremendous rate, and new resources are not becoming available so as to keep pace. It is estimated that at the current levels of consumption and depletion, our known reserves of petroleum will run out in 30 years and natural gas in 20. Coal may last a few hundred years more, but there are serious environmental problems associated with its increased use. Petroleum and natural gas have become the central sources and their prices have been spiraling up.

The Indian scenario over the past 50 years or so has been one of hectic development in various sectors, with energy needs, concerns, feasibilities not necessarily addressed always. Growth in urban, industrial, commercial, market sectors has witnessed haphazard exploitation of the available energy resource, and no comprehensive policy seems to govern or regulate this phenomenon.

Over the past few years, much research has gone into finding and exploring alternative sources of energy. At the same time, global consumption and waste of energy has increased manifold. There is urgent need to re-orient/ enrich education processes (especially in the Environment Education sector), to bring an increasing focus on

• the finite nature of known energy sources;
• the unsustainable patterns of consumption;
• the fast depletion of Earth’s sources of energy;
• the relationship of energy with environment;
• the complex nature of environmental impacts from energy production/development/use/ waste;
• the urgent need to explore additional sources that are renewable, non-conventional, less polluting, more sustainable;
• the urgent need for adopting more energy-optimal lifestyles and patterns of consumption.

The basic issue of access to energy – especially for large sections of rural society and the underprivileged urban communities – remains an area of concern. In the last two decades, developing countries have implemented a wide range of initiatives, which were expected to address this and other concerns. Initial indications from a wide range of developing countries, including India, however, seem to indicate that few of these initiatives have resulted in any significant improvement in the provision of cleaner energy services to poor communities.

What is particularly worrisome is the deterioration in quality and reliability of energy services available to the poor in spite of numerous energy reform initiatives. This is particular true of sub-Saharan Africa (and parts of Latin America & the Caribbean, Middle East and South Asia) where reliance on traditional bio-fuels is increasing and the proportion of the people with no access to electricity continues to grow.

Some experts contend that far from reducing energy poverty, reforms have contributed to the growing problem of energy poverty in many parts of the developing world. The experts argue that from the onset, energy reforms were not designed to address the energy problems of the poor but were explicitly aimed at improving efficiency, facilitating divestiture and guaranteeing future energy supply in an open globalized energy market.

During this workshop, discuss considered whether previous energy policy reforms have addressed the “energy access” challenge facing the poor, or have they actually contributed to the growing problem of inadequate energy services for the poor in the developing world?

Discussions also focused on the following issues:

• energy pricing policies
• impacts from practices such as offers of “free power”, especially as an election issue
• impacts from practices of subsidies for farm power
• which are the proven and robust policy options that would lead to improved, cleaner, and more sustainable energy services for the poor?
• identifying the contribution of Renewable Energy Technologies to poverty alleviation
• where and how should the education process engage in the policy dialogue process.

Topics covered:

1. Education on/ about Energy Sources
2. Education focusing on Energy Policy; and Energy Policy focusing on Education
3. Education on Environmental Impacts of Energy Use/ Production/ Distribution/ Waste
4. Education on Sustainability in Energy (conservation, recovery, waste minimization, optimized consumption);
5. Target groups for educating on energy issues.

Planned Outputs (immediate and long-term):

• Workshop recommendations;
• A draft Strategy on Education for Sustainable Energy Management;
• Formation/ start of a loose Network or Working Group, on energy education;
• Development of a database (Indian/ S.Asian) of energy education agencies and individuals;
• Identification of emerging issues/challenges that need to be taken up/ considered for future initiatives in the energy education sector.