Conservation - how do you make limited resources last for a longer period - we know small things make a difference, the type of light bulb you use, turning off your lights and appliances when you are not using them, if you have an a/c using it sparingly. But what if there just was NO electricity when you flipped that switch on. Remember the “brown outs” we had back a few years ago in California? Electricity was shut off for a short period during high use periods. Of course hospitals and certain other establishments were exempt, thus it was a “brown out” rather than “black out’. What if that limited time was more than half of the day - how would your life change? When we arrived in Kathmandu in early December the country was dealing with severe problems at the power plants resulting in power being shut off for about 2 -3 hours a day. Two weeks later when we arrived back in Kathmandu after our trek the “black outs” were up to 7 - 10 hours a day and there had been an announcement that next month it would be 18 hours per day. Can you imagine? Of course they try to give you notice as to what time, but nothing follows the schedule in Nepal so the timeframes mean very little. The bigger hotels and businesses have small generators they turn on. But most cannot afford to run these all the time. Many of the tourist shops share a generator - plugging in only when someone is in the shop, but many are essentially unable to sell their goods, since their shops are very small, crammed with all types of goods and very dark - so without light, the potential customer cannot really exam that pashima scarf, Kashmir rug, wood carving, or local gem. The electricity shortage is putting everyone out of business. One shopowner dropped his price by almost 2/3rds pleading with us to just buy something as he needed the money. Unfortunately, as we were traveling for an extended period with just our backpacks, we didn’t have any space to spare for souveniers. An article in the Kathmandu Post explained that the electricity plants were unable to keep up with demand due. to low water levels (needed to run hydroelectric plants) and old systems that are in desperate need of repair. No new plants had been built for years due to civil unrest and more than half of the power was provided by India. There didn’t seem to be a good solution, but something needed to be done. Some assert politics were playing a role here The basic fact remained demand exceeded supply. On our trek we saw several small villages taking advantage of their vast water supply with small hydroelectric generators supplying local power. These mountain villages were also utilizing solar dishes that looked like satellite dishes to heat and boil water. The smaller remote villages seemed to understand that they were on their own and needed to be resourceful.
For those in the cities the fate is uncertain. The last we read as we left Nepal was that the Nepalise Electric Company office had been taken over by student protesters who hurned off all the electricity in hopes it would get the government to find a resolution. How would your life change without electricity? I know that I would not be able to write to all of you via this blog, nor would I be able to pay my bills online, withdraw money from the ATM or take that luxurious hot shower. Just a little food for thought...
{Update: Jan 11, 2009 black outs have increased to 16 hours per day and the government is projecting these will stay in effect for the next 5 years.}
