The demand for energy is growing rapidly, as an increasingly large number of people are moving towards modern means of transportation and industrialization. Urbanization of Pakistan has also had an effect on consumption of energy. Over the past decades, the global demand for energy has multiplied in every region.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) it is expected to increase by 30% between 2015 and 2040.
The global population growth has also led to higher consumption of energy, as cities are expanding, where common people are now using more electrical appliances and machinery on a daily basis, besides commuting over long-distances every day on various kinds of vehicles. However, over a billion people across the world, are still living without electricity, while another billion struggle with insufficient and unreliable power-supply.
With these changes occurring around the world, Pakistan needs to now focus on mitigating the effects of climate change by reforestation, reducing pollution and looking towards more renewables for energy We realize that indigenous coal based plants are important to address the ever widening current account deficit as oil imports constitutes of nearly 24% of our total import bill (2017 numbers), however we need to ensure that these plants are set up away from population centers. Shell Pakistan is also extending support to the government, by taking tangible measures to nurture alternative sources of energy that are less harmful than fossil-fuels like coal.
In this regard, Shell organized a convention on Energy Transition that was led by Mr. Roger Bounds, Vice President Strategy & Portfolio and Ajay Shah, Vice President Shell Energy Asia.
Cities consume about three-quarters of the global primary energy, while they emit more than half of the world’s total green-house gases. In 2015, during a UN Climate Conference held in Paris, the world-leaders have agreed to work towards curtailing the harmful rise in global-temperature, to keep it well below 2°C.
By keeping it closer to pre-industrialization levels, we can avoid the more serious effects of climate-change. These include natural calamities like; floods, storms, droughts and the constant rising of sea-level. The global-temperatures have already risen around halfway to that 2°C limit.
The world is consuming an ever-increasing amount of oil and gas to operate the industrial sectors and socio-economic activities. The global population emits 32 billion tonnes of energy-related CO2 each year.
In order to restrict the rise in global temperature to 2°C, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has calculated that energy related CO2 emissions need to be reduced to around 18 billion tonnes per year, by 2040.
The CEO and Managing Director of Shell Pakistan – Haroon Rashid stated that unabated consumption of coal and its carbon footprint leads to serious public-health issues. An example would be Lahore and Amritsar, located at a distance of less than 40km from each other, but air-pollution in these two cities have a significant difference, because the air in Pakistan is severely polluted due to smaller and more inefficient coal fired plants, product specifications and lack of emissions control.
Talking about energy-consumption patterns, he said that; Pakistan’s energy-mix is based 34% on Oil, 11% on Hybrid, 46% on Natural Gas, 7% on coal and only 2% on Nuclear power. 33% of energy in Pakistan is consumed by transport, 38% by industries, 25% by residential or commercial consumers and 2% by the agricultural sector, besides 2% energy being used for other purposes.
Many progressive countries are replacing coal with gas to generate electricity and to run the other industrial operations. These efforts promise significant reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), while reducing the cost of operations to ensure higher quality of air and public-health, along with other ecological benefits.
Supply of safer and affordable LNG to Pakistan will provide a sustainable solution to reduce the consumption of fossil-fuels that have been the conventional but unsafe sources of energy. Reducing the level of pollution and emissions from power in the country, promise estimated net savings of 2 Metric Tonnes of CO2 equivalents per annum, against 1 MT of LNG sold. It is a healthy sign that; with its commitment to adopt safer fuels, Pakistan has now become the ninth largest importer of LNG in the world.
Rashid also shared that Importing LNG and building LNG-based plants is among the most effective solutions, to meet the challenges of climate-change. However, we must ensure strict regulatory compliance, for the safety of these plants. Even the smallest amount of gas-leakage can cause serious disasters, therefore, the gas-based power-plants must be built at a safe distance from urban areas or residential colonies.