Free Recommendation To Congo Essay Sample

Introduction

The development and economic growth of any country is measured through its energy consumption and generation capacity. There is an increased demand of energy and unstable situation of the price of crude oil having depleting nature. Consequently, standards have been developed to seize the emission of the dangerous greenhouse gasses that creating threat to our environment. Thus, man is struggling hard to search for the alternate sources of energy. They are mainly through the renewable sources that generate less pollution in the environment like the bio-diesel, wind, solar, biomass from the different solid wastes and many more.
The industrial sector of the world consumes a huge amount of energy. About 70% of the energy has been consumed by the industries that are energy intensive like aluminum, fertilizer, textile, iron, cement, steel, as well as paper. In India, in particular, the industries consume about half of total energy that is available commercially. Studies also show that about 15-25% of this huge consumption is almost unavoidable. This unnecessary drain of the national resources that should be avoided as well as the most precious energy should also be conserved. Most of the nations on the globe are trying to reduce the effects of greenhouse gasses on the environment. Hence, many developed nations do meet periodically to decide the future plan in this domain such as the Copenhagen Conference. There are few rules and regulation for the use of the energy as well as the consumption in such a way, which can reduce the GHG (Besant-Jones 2006)1

Integral Approach and Principles of Encyclica Caritas

India, being the developing country having the second largest population in the world, India is highly facing the nationwide shortage of the power supply. So it is important to opt the efficient use of the available resources as well as finding alternative ways such as renewable energy sources that can significantly add to the generation of power in upcoming years. Biomass is the major source of energy that is being worked out in India. It has its pros and cons. Biomass energy is generally obtained through animals and plants sources. This also includes the organic matter like waste generated from the organic matter, animals and plants. Such energy sources are also called biofuel and include the rotted trees, sewage, tree components, mulch, manure and the wood chips (Grubler and Nakicenovic 1988)2. Developing countries face the energy crisis more severe than any of the developed countries as the supply of electricity to household is inconsistent (Besant-Jones 2006)1.
The national biomass policy of India has a complete history. In mid-seventies, the energy crisis in rural areas resulted as a result of high prices of oil, increase in population, as well as the depletion of the resource from the wood fuel. Importing oil was a short-term solution to the problem, but this was not able to be continued for long. The imports of oil in India was increased in 1970s that was raised to 8% of total imports of the country. This reached 24% in year 1975 and about 46% in year 1980. This high levels of the oil imports also led to the trade deficit as well as a enhance issue in the crisis payment. At the level of households, a vast majority of the rural population didn't have the income to afford high prices of the commercial fuels. Consequently, the policy makers considered the biomass as an alternative source of energy to reduce the energy crisis (Shukla 20013; Shukla 19974).
After being analyzed the importance of renewable energy, a great interest was shown by Indian Government in the launch of the project named as Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) in the late 1970s. Though this project brought many benefits and the policy behind having strengths like the introduction of the safe and clean energy for the household use. In addition, the manufacturing of the improved cooking stoves, biogas plants suitable for the family was manufactured as well as community size biogas plants were also added to the project. Though these strengths in the policy brought considerable success but the overall effect on the rural energy was marginal only (Shukla 2001)3. There were some deficiencies observed in the policy which resulted in the very slow progress to get into this new biomass technology. Firstly, biomass energy was considered as traditional fuel for fulfilling the needs of the rural population and secondly the policy was mainly focused on the push of supply side. Since, in the early stages of the policy, there was no involvement from the business sector thus there were no considerable economic success was observed. In early 1990s, the policy shift was taken towards the market in order to bring in the economic reforms and benefits. The strengths of this shift were a large emphasis on the market-oriented instruments, technology push was reoriented to market, and large role to the private sector was defined. This new shift took the biomass energy as the most competitive source of energy that was driven by the energy markets. Most of the use of Biomass in India is still for the traditional use. While there are modern technologies, that may convert this energy to liquid fuels or synthetic gaseous, as well as electricity (Johansson et al. 1996)5.
The principles of encyclica Caritas in Veritate resolve around the Caritas (love) to humanity and the struggle to keep humanity happy in the shape of charities. These principles apply to the India policy of generating renewable energy sources in order to keep its people happy. It provide them with a constant supply of energy that is required to make food and earn living by working in industries run by these energy sources. Another important principle is to take care of the common goods, and this applies globally. Indian policies towards reform in the acquisition of better energy sources has been approved since 1970s. Hence, India is highly interested to bring good to not only its economy but also to its people in the shape of generating energy sources that are cheap. This may not also harm their earning as well the environment in which they live along with bringing growth to the Indian economy. The serious actions towards this concern from the Indian policy makers is evidence, how they applied this principle in their policies. All governments struggle to remove poverty and increase its economic development. This is for the common good that can be brought in the shape of proper reforms in the policies that drive businesses (The World Bank Group 2009)6.

The situation of Congo is very critical. Only 6% of its 70 million population has access to electricity. There is yet no policy of energy in the country. Some of the international organizations have supported Congo to overcome its energy crisis in order to generate energy through some affordable sources. Congo mainly relies on the fossil fuels for its energy requirement. Congo is highly blessed with the hydropower potential in all of Africa. It only has to rely on its sources and develop policies that could generate this energy in order to meet the fundamental needs of the people of Congo. The Government of Congo should also look for the positives of the energy policies that India has applied. It is now generating biomass energy that is fulfilling the demands of its industries and the people equally along with increasing the growth of the country economy. Many needs are to be considered by the Congo Government that may enhance new energy sources of the country:
Being a country enriched with forests and water reservoirs, the government should make contracts with the private sector for the generation of the renewable sources of energy,
The government should make policies that not only highlight the energy importance for the people of Congo but also for the economy of the country,

The policies should motivate the private sector of Congo, to actively participate in this idea,

There should be some incentives given to the private sector of Congo so that it gets encourage and participate in generating new energy sources for the country,
Since Congo is having the greatest reservoirs of water, this can be utilized to produce electricity for industrial and domestic purposes,
Dependence on self-reliance is the key to success, rather than relying on the international community to come and help the Congo government in order to generate energy sources. Since the country is already blessed with resources, so it has to develop small dams on different water reservoirs that will not cost it much. So rather than developing big dams, small dams would not only reduce the cost and effort but this will also enhance the productivity of the energy which will collectively add masses to the Congo National Grid.
Being rich in wood, Congo can even go for biomass energy utilizing the same procedure and the energy should be acquired with the support of private sector

Conclusion

Searching for renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly supported idea in the world. Many countries in the world are now relying on other sources of energy after the energy crisis and the escalation in the prices of the oil. This has resulted in the production of biomass energy source that can be easily generated from organic matter. This is no doubt a huge step.

Notes

John E. Besant-Jones, Reforming Power Markets In Developing Countries: What Have We Learned?(Washington D.C.: The World Bank Group, 2006).

A Grubler and N Nakicenovic N, The Dynamic Evolution Of Methane Technologies (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988).

P.R. Shukla, 'Biomass Energy in India: Transition from Traditional To Modern', The Social Engineer 6, no. 2 (2001): 1-20.
P.R. Shukla, 'Biomass Energy in India: Policies and Prospects', in Biomass Energy: Key Issues and Priority Needs (Paris: International Energy Agency (IEA), 1997), accessed April 6, 2015, http://www.decisioncraft.com/energy/papers/ecc/re/biomass/bpi.pdf.
TB Johansson et al., 'Options For Reducing CO2 Emissions From The Energy Supply Sector', Energy Policy 24, no. 10-11 (1996): 985-1003.

The World Bank Group, Lessons for Reformers: How to Launch, Implement And Sustain Regulatory Reforms (Washington, DC, 2009).

Bibliograpghy
Besant-Jones, John E. 2006. Reforming Power Markets in Developing Countries: What Have We Learned?. Washington D.C.: The World Bank Group.
Grubler, A, and N Nakicenovic N. 1988. The Dynamic Evolution of Methane Technologies. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Johansson, TB, RH Williams, H Ishitani, and James A Edmonds. 1996. 'Options for Reducing CO2 Emissions from the Energy Supply Sector'. Energy Policy 24 (10-11): 985-1003.
Shukla, P.R. 2001. 'Biomass Energy in India: Transition from Traditional To Modern'. The Social Engineer 6 (2): 1-20.
Shukla, P.R. 1997. 'Biomass Energy in India: Policies and Prospects'. In Biomass Energy: Key Issues And Priority Needs. Paris: International Energy Agency (IEA). http://www.decisioncraft.com/energy/papers/ecc/re/biomass/bpi.pdf.
The World Bank Group, 2009. Lessons for Reformers: How to Launch, Implement And Sustain Regulatory Reforms. Washington, DC.