'Let children handle energy crisis'

by Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

"Today global warming poses the greatest threat to mankind. If global temperatures increase another two degrees, man will be faced with extinction.

To avert this crisis viable alternate energy sources must be found, said Prasad Galhena, Chairman Sustainable Energy Authority to the Sunday Observer.

"The largest portion of the country's foreign currency is spent on one major import and that is fuel.

Fossil fuels have a strong possibility of running out in another 40 years and it is time to stretch this to its maximum.

"Further, fossil fuels have side effects like pollution and heat. The collection of effluent gases has already affected the Ozone layer and there is an increase in the global temperature.

However, the alternate energy sources such as solar energy has a few technical drawbacks. For this reason we have to maximize the use of these fossil fuels until alternates are in place.

"The way to achieve this is make society at large accept that energy conservation is the way forward. To this end we have taken a grassroots level path. That is to start with school children and make them aware of its importance.

We have formed 60 school clubs and they are functioning well. The Boy Scouts movement has introduced an 'Energy Badge', and the Grade 5 scholarship examination has included questions on energy conservation.

There is a plan to recognise the 'Energy Star' at district and national level in the future. We are working on educating people on power saving systems such as ironing clothes in one go rather than everyday. We also held a demonstration on how to cook a complete meal in a minute.

This could be done regularly which will save a large amount of energy, and a huge saving on our energy bill. The introduction of CFL bulbs has brought about a power saving of 300MW, which is roughly the output of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant.

"If we can bring in other alternatives such as this it will be a large saving to our country. Once awareness is inculcated in children when they enter society, I believe we will see the fruits of our labour", Galhena said.