Climate change impacts in Bangladesh
With the Himalayas to the north and the Bay of Bengal to the south, Bangladesh sits on one of the world’s largest and most densely populated deltas, where the Jamuna, Padma and Meghna rivers converge.
With the Himalayas to the north and the Bay of Bengal to the south, Bangladesh sits on one of the world’s largest and most densely populated deltas, where the Jamuna, Padma and Meghna rivers converge.
President Zillur Rahman yesterday said Bhutan could export hydropower to Bangladesh to help mitigate the current power crunch here as the Himalayan country hold a huge potential for producing about 30,000-megawatt hydroelectricity. He stated this when the newly appointed Bhutanese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Dasho Bap Kesang, presented his credentials to the President at Bangabhaban.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) through UNDP has selected National Energy Conservation Centre (Enercon) to initiate a regional project titled 'Barrier Removal to Energy Efficiency Standards and Labelling', in Pakistan costing $7.8 million of which an amount of $1million has been allocated to ease regional trade in energy efficient appliances.
Like all rural Bangladeshis, Saidul Islam knows the hardships of summer, when his tin-roofed house turns into a furnace with not enough electricity to power even a fan. For the 100 million Bangladeshis -- most of them farmers -- who live in the countryside, the notion of electricity supply is little more than an empty promise bandied about by politicians at election time.
The government has decided to set up 20 new plants with a generation capacity of 3,551 megawatt electricity by 2014 to meet the growing demand in the country. As per the decision, 20 power plants would be built under short-term and long-term plans in both public and private sectors.
Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd is set to assemble solar panels to grab the domestic market for solar home systems that are on an upward curve on the back of the government policy support to help off-grid people get electricity.
Renewable energy service providers yesterday urged the government to form a body to implement the renewable energy policy to develop the green energy resources and meet 10 percent of the national demand for power by 2020.
A GTZ senior energy adviser has suggested the government take necessary measures to create awareness among rural people to use energy saving systems such as solar, biomass, biogas, wind and hydropower.
Bangladesh Solar Energy Society placed yesterday a 14-point proposal including easy term loan for self-financed renewable energy projects before the government for the expansion of the sector amid increasing power crisis. Secretary of the society Prof Saiful Haque placed the proposals at a press conference at Renewable Energy Research Centre at Dhaka University.
A parliamentary standing committee yesterday asked the power and energy ministry for taking an immediate initiative for generating wind and solar-based electricity as alternative sources of power due to gas crisis.