Meeting energy challenge

This relates to Prof. Ijaz Ahmed's write-up on the above subject published in TDS on January 7, 2016. To face this challenge, naturally, large scale investment is needed. Old, inefficient, outdated oil-fired and coal-fired power plants will be expensive to import and handle, and there are extra costs related to the disposal of the ash. 

Regarding alternative energy options, we should speed up the setting up of solar power plants. We should also go for city refuse based power plant -- at least one in Dhaka and one in Chittagong. If it is done, not only will we not need the usual oil fuel of conventional oil-fired power plant of identical capacity but it will also create employment for unskilled persons in the sorting of refuse. In the long run, this may possibly be the best option for power generation in Bangladesh. The generation of methane gas from solid human refuse was successfully done in Thailand more than a decade ago and we can follow their method.  

Engr. S. A. Mansoor
Dhaka