'Outstanding women' felicitated

KATHMANDU: With the high demand for energy due to explosion of population and industrialisation around the globe, conventional sources are depleting at an alarming rate.A four-day awareness programme on renewal energy technologies for non-governmental officials started on Thursday. “Our sources of fossil fuel will dry out, if we keep consuming it at the rate that we are going out,” said Dr. Dayananda Bajracharya, Vice Chancellor at Royal Nepal Academy for Science and Technology. “Hence, it is extremely necessary to shift our focus to renewable energy such as solar power”. It is now becoming increasingly necessary to tap alternative energy sources that are abundant, renewable and environmental friendly. Be it agriculture or industry, every activity on earth depends on energy. “Due to sluggish development of hydropower facilities, the national grid has yet to cover more than 95 percent of rural areas,” said Jagan Nath Shrestha, director of Centre for Energy Study. “In this respect, it is extremely important to develop the prospects of renewable energy and make it accessible to rural people”. “Studies have shown that renewable energy is economical and could aid towards the overall development of the country,’ said Dr. Jiba Raj Pokharel, dean at Institute of Engineering.