Ramadhani Kupaza
8 November 2009
column
Arusha — People who watch sporting activities speak of a team to have shown character when it comes from behind or rather when it gets out of a losing situation to win a match. Likewise, the government of Tanzania has shown character recently when it announced that there would be no rationing of electricity despite acute shortages of water in the country's hydroelectric power dams. The government can do more to win with bigger margins in that regard.
The first step is for the government to provide incentives to encourage individuals to participate in generating electricity for the nation. Individuals can focus to produce electricity from renewable energy sources for their domestic use. They can sell surplus to say, TANESCO for distribution at the national level. It can be done. Some countries in Europe operate similar schemes.
Meanwhile, the government of Tanzania has established an energy agency to promote and facilitate generation and supply of energy for rural areas. The agency is known as Rural Energy Agency (REA). REA operates an energy fund known as Rural Energy Fund (REF) to finance innovative energy promotion and facilitation programmes in the country. Institutions can apply to obtain financial support from the Fund.
The second step is for the economic planners working for the government to review the traditional use of energy as a unit of measure of economic development. They can ignore the suggestion if they have already reviewed the concept.
After they review energy as a unit of measure of development, economic planners consider a country to be relatively more developed than others if that country uses the least amount of energy per unit of production. Gone are the days when planners refer to absolute quantities of energy used for production as a measure of development.
It suggests that, development that is based on efficient use of energy calls for governments to encourage financiers to invest as a priority in energy-efficient technologies. Generation and supply of energy becomes only part of the production equation in that case.
The government has attempted to encourage the transport sector to use energy efficiently. As a result, the sector only allows importation of new vehicles or those that have been used for a maximum of three years. The thinking is that new or recent vehicle models are often equipped with more energy-efficient engines. On the other hand, engines that are worn out use a lot of energy unnecessarily even if the engines belong to the category of new series of efficient engines.
Similarly, the government can encourage other sectors of the economy to use energy-efficient technologies. It can start with its rural technology centers which are also known as vocational training or research and development centers. Inefficient use of energy that is experienced at the centers is a representation of what happens in many factories in the country.
It suggests that, it is appropriate for government to initiate efforts to document the state of the existing technologies used by major enterprises in the country. The aim is to collect information that can form the basis for developing a strategy to encourage entrepreneurs to use more energy-efficient technologies. Otherwise, the government will continue to supply adequate electricity to factories without receiving worthwhile returns.
It is emphasized that the interest is about use of energy-efficient technologies rather than the choice between ancient and modern technologies because some modern technologies are more energy-efficient than others.
The government can win with even bigger margins as regards energy if it goes extra miles to encourage professionalism in the energy sector. For instance, the government can encourage energy agencies to install energy supply infrastructure at appropriate locations. In particular, the government can discourage installation of potentially dangerous infrastructure such as high tension electric cables in residential areas. It is common to find high tension cables hanging over roofs of houses in residential areas in Arusha.
Transformers are other facilities that are often installed at inappropriate locations in Arusha. Some are installed in residential areas. The facilities often explode and cause fires that can be life threatening.
The government can also consider safety of wildlife particularly rare trees, birds and bats before installation of energy infrastructures in an area. In particular, planners can avoid power lines that become death traps for birds or bats. Electric cables kill flying animals when the wires are laid across major animal migratory routes. It is recalled that Arusha municipality is a stop over for migratory birds and provides prime breeding sites for a migratory species of bats.
In addition, the government can ensure that potentially hazardous energy related technologies are disposed appropriately. For instance, the government can encourage consumers to dispose used batteries appropriately because they contain acids. It is also recalled that a lot of batteries are used to store energy when generating electricity from renewable energy sources like solar and wind. Therefore, the importance of safe disposal of batteries can not be overemphasized in such cases.
It implies that economic planners can make better sense in planning for development if they view energy use as a system rather than simply a physical product that exists in isolation. In that case, planners can design systems that track product 'life cycles' to ensure that products as well as their by-products are used and disposed safely. Otherwise, it is irrational to supply energy which produces products or by-products that eventually destroy lives. The economic planners working for the government might be far behind in that context. It is another opportunity for the government of Tanzania to show character.
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