Severe shortages of fuel and cooking gas over the past five months have forced Nepalese to install solar panels and take up cycling. Protests by communities in the southern plains against Nepal’s new constitution since September have disrupted the supply of goods into the country, including petrol, which landlocked Nepal is completely dependent on India for. Many in Nepal blame India for imposing the blockade in tacit support for the protestors, but India refutes such claims.
Nepal is still reeling under the impact of the earthquake in April, which may have pushed up to 800,000 below the poverty line. The blockade may have pushed another 700, 000 or so under the poverty lines as shortages of food, fuel and medicine push prices up.
Those who can afford it are seizing the opportunity to invest in green energy. “For whatever reasons the blockade was imposed, this is the right time to shift from dirty fossil fuels and invest in cleaner sources of energy. This crisis has made people realize that dependency on fossil fuel that is imported from [our] neighbour is not sustainable,” said Prashanta Khanal, a longtime advocate for creating a cycle friendly city.
People who have invested in alternative energy have suffered less over the past few months. While thousands of vehicles queued for days to buy petrol, electric vehicles ran without a problem.
“This is an opportunity for the government to set policies that encourage people to invest in renewables and promote electric vehicles, otherwise it will just be a temporary arrangement during the crisis,” said Raju Chhetri, Director of Prakriti Resources Centre, an environmental NGO based in Kathmandu.
See more at: https://dialogue.earth/en/energy/fuel-shortages-push-nepal-towards-renewables/
