Energy Remedial Measures – Need of the Hour – Expert Dr. H. S. Bhalla

Amritsar, Oct. 25 (Punjab Post Bureau) – A seminar on the “Management of Energy Security in India” was recently held at the CKD Institute of Management & Technology (CKDIMT), in which Senior Professor

            Dr. H. S. Bhalla, Vice Principal of Govt. College cum Liaison Officer, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Amritsar was the resource speaker. Prof. Bhalla presented his views on energy security challenges being faced by India in the present scarce energy security concern around the globe.  He said that awareness about this sector is extremely important as it forms the backbone of Indian economy.

                 The energy consumption in India is fourth highest in the word after China, USA and Russia. While talking about concerns over increasing gap between energy production and consumption Dr. Bhalla stated that the serious gap will double during the next decade. He expressed his concerns over fast depleting natural coal and oil resource which are not expected to last long for 70 to 75 years respectively. On sharing the EXIM policy, he said presently oil dependency of India is around 70% even though India’s per capita energy consumption is still the lowest in the world i.e. around 455 kg oil equivalent (about 28% of the world’s average). He remarked that India is the least explored region so far as the oil exploration is concerned because only 15% of the hydropower potential is being tapped so far.

 Expert Dr. Bhalla also opined that even though India has vast substantial nuclear fuels in the form of uranium and thorium, these are not tapped substantially. He further stated that to meet the growing energy requirements particularly in the field of industry, transport, agriculture, services and domestic sectors, the need of the hour is to make use of solar, wind and nuclear energy on commercial basis. Besides, alternative fuels such as gasoline, CNG, bio fuels, hydrogen, bio diesel from vegetable oils, ethanol from sugarcane should be produced on large scale.

                     To curtail pressure on fuel consumption on transport sector, he suggested that we urgently need to switch over to battery operated as well as other fuel efficient vehicle technologies like co generation which are also eco-friendly.  Also domestic gas pipeline network should be laid down. He further said that electricity transmission and distribution losses need to be curtailed because these are as high as around 26% (highest in the world). At the end, students actively interacted by raising intelligent questions.

                 Earlier, Member Incharge Dr. Baljindar Singh and Principal Dr. H. S. Sandhu of CKDIMT accorded warm welcome to the guest speaker.  They also appreciated the seminar and said that the current topic has thrown useful insight into the various issues relating to tapping the alternative sources of energy in view of its ever increasing consumption requirements in India. Dean Academics Dr. H. P. Gupta, Dean Placements S. Paramjit Singh Makkar and other faculty members were also present on the occasion.