STAFF REPORT IBD: Public and private universities in Pakistan are working on promoting solar energy and biogas. However, it is not part of their duty to promote these being educational institutions and academia, but to research and find ways to spread its user in easier methods.
According to experts, conducting workshops, conferences and seminars on the alternative energy use is essential to explore and discuss means viable to make the necessary shift that will also be protective of the environment.
From January 2000 to December 2007, the solar energy and biogas use had been on the upward trend due to the Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) taking steps in the right direction. They had installed Solar Photovoltaic Power Units of 62 kilowatts (kw) capacity for electrification of mosques and other residential areas in both Balochistan and Sindh. But these installations had been merely for demonstrative purposes to encourage the use of alternative energy sources.
The PCRET can serve well in promoting research and development of reverse engineering that will produce different innovative solar-energy based products. Inspiration from other countries which are already concentrating on the alternative use can be very helpful. The Solar Test Lab was also established that serves to test services of solar-thermal products, batteries and invertors, besides other things.