Energy Crisis
An energy crisis is any great bottleneck (or price rise) in the supply of energy
resources to an economy. It is often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and
place, particularly those that supply national electricity grids or serve as fuel for vehicles. The
energy crisis is the concern that the India’s demands on the limited natural resources that are
used to power industrial society are diminishing as the demand rises. These natural resources are
in limited supply. While they do occur naturally, it can take hundreds of thousands of years to
replenish the stores.
Causes of the Energy Crisis
1. Overconsumption: The energy crisis is a result of many different strains on our natural
resources, not just one. There is a strain on fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal due to
overconsumption – which then in turn can put a strain on our water and oxygen resources by
causing pollution.
2. Overpopulation: Another cause of the crisis has been the steady increase in the population
and its demands for fuel and products. No matter what type of food or products you choose to
use – from fair trade and organic to those made from petroleum products in a sweatshop – not
one of them is made or transported without a significant drain on our energy resources.
3. Poor Infrastructure: Aging infrastructure of power generating equipment is yet another
reason for energy shortage. Most of the energy producing firms keeps on using outdated
equipment that restricts the production of energy. It is the responsibility of utilities to keep on
upgrading the infrastructure and set a high standard of performance.
4. Unexplored Renewable Energy Options: Renewable energy still remains unused is most of
the countries. Most of the energy comes from non-renewable sources like coal. It still remains
the top choice to produce energy. Unless we give renewable energy a serious thought, the
problem of energy crisis cannot be solved. Renewable energy sources can reduce our dependence
on fossil fuels and also helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
5. Delay in Commissioning of Power Plants: In few countries, there is a significant delay in
commissioning of new power plants that can fill the gap between demand and supply of energy.
The result is that old plants come under huge stress to meet the daily demand for power. When
supply doesn’t matches demand, it results in load shedding and breakdown.
6. Wastage of Energy: In most parts of the world, people do not realize the importance of
conserving energy. It is only limited to books, internet, newspaper ads, lip service and seminars.
Unless we give it a serious thought, things are not going to change anytime sooner. Simple things
like switching off fans and lights when not in use, using maximum daylight, walking instead of
driving for short distances, using CFL instead of traditional bulbs, proper insulation for leakage
of energy can go a long way in saving energy.
7. Poor Distribution System: Frequent tripping and breakdown are result of a poor distribution
system.
8. Major Accidents and Natural Calamities: Major accidents like pipeline burst and natural
calamities like eruption of volcanoes, floods, earthquakes can also cause interruptions to energy
supplies. The huge gap between supply and demand of energy can raise the price of essential
items which can give rise to inflation.
10. Miscellaneous Factors: Tax hikes, strikes, military coup, political events, severe hot
summers or cold winters can cause sudden increase in demand of energy and can choke supply.
A strike by unions in an oil producing firm can definitely cause an energy crisis.
Possible Solutions of the Energy Crisis
Many of the possible solutions are already in place today, but they have not been widely adopted.
1. Move Towards Renewable Resources: The best possible solution is to reduce the world’s
dependence on non-renewable resources and to improve overall conservation efforts. Much of
the industrial age was created using fossil fuels, but there is also known technology that uses
other types of renewable energies – such as steam, solar and wind. The major concern isn’t so
much that we will run out of gas or oil, but that the use of coal is going to continue to pollute the
atmosphere and destroy other natural resources in the process of mining the coal that it has to be
replaced as an energy source. This isn’t easy as many of the leading industries use coal, not gas
or oil, as their primary source of power for manufacturing.
2. Buy Energy Efficient products: Replace traditional bulbs with CFL’s and LED’s. They use
less watts of electricity and last longer. If millions of people across the globe use LED’s and
CFL’s for residential and commercial purposes, the demand for energy can go down and an
energy crisis can be averted.
3. Lighting Controls: There are a number of new technologies out there that make lighting
controls that much more interesting and they help to save a lot of energy and cash in the long
run. Preset lighting controls, slide lighting, touch dimmers, integrated lighting controls are few of
the lighting controls that can help to conserve energy and reduce overall lighting costs.
4. Easier Grid Access: People who use different options to generate power must be given
permission to plug into the grid and getting credit for power you feed into it. The hassles of
getting credit of supplying surplus power back into the grid should be removed. Apart from that,
subsidy on solar panels should be given to encourage more people to explore renewable options.
5. Energy Simulation: Energy simulation software can be used by big corporates and
corporations to redesign building unit and reduce running business energy cost. Engineers,
architects and designers could use this design to come with most energy efficient building and
reduce carbon footprint.
6. Perform Energy Audit: Energy audit is a process that helps you to identify the areas where
your home or office is losing energy and what steps you can take to improve energy efficiency.
Energy audit when done by a professional can help you to reduce your carbon footprint, save
energy and money and avoid energy crisis.
7. Common Stand on Climate Change: Both developed and developing countries should adopt
a common stand on climate change. They should focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions
through an effective cross border mechanism. With current population growth and over
consumption of resources, the consequences of global warming and climate change cannot be
ruled out. Both developed and developing countries must focus on emissions cuts to cut their
emission levels to half from current levels by 2050.
There are many initiatives that are working towards resolving the energy crisis. This has taken
the form of increased regulation and restriction on carbon emissions, the promotion of greener
manufacturing and construction projects, the funding of research into hybrid technologies and
more sustainable technologies and more. Locally, more communities are seeing beyond the
recycle bin and recognizing that how the community uses their local resources is important too.
More community gardens, parks and farmer’s markets are springing up not only as a means of
introducing more sustainable elements into people’s, but as an important part of educating the
public about the importance of resources.
