Status and Need of Energy Education: The Case of Pakistan

Abstract

Energy is the basis of a modern standard of living. Conventional energy education has generally failed to provide basic understanding about issues relevant to energy supply, its use, and energy–environment interaction. Renewable energy offers the opportunity to displace fossil fuels and it is likely to have a major role in our future energy supply. The sudden surge of growth which has occurred in renewable energy industry in recent years has caught the educators unprepared. A serious shortage of skilled professionals is already apparent. There are signs that energy studies is rapidly emerging as a new discipline. Many universities around the globe have started offering courses in renewable/sustainable energy. Pakistan suffers from a lack of appropriately qualified energy professionals as visible from its very low productive use of energy per capita and rapidly degrading environment. In 2005, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology became the first institution in the country to offer a full-fledged bachelors degree course in energy studies. Other universities are following suit now. The article gives an overview of the current status of energy education around the globe and in Pakistan. Further, it gives recommendations on how to promote energy education in Pakistan.