Discuss energy crisis in Kenya

ENERGY CRISIS IN KENYA

A crisis is the point where there danger that something is becoming difficult and some important decision need to be done in order to reverse the course. In relation to our topic, energy crises involve the scarcity in the main energy sources that the people of Kenya. These sources include sun, electricity, geothermal heat, fuel and wind.

Majority of Kenyans use wood as their source of energy which comprise the rural communities, urban poor and the informal sector whereas the rest use oil and electricity. According to analysis of the national energy, 68% depend on wood fuel and biomass as a source of energy while the 32% depend on petroleum, electricity and other sources of energy. Electricity access is still low however the last two years has seen an increase in the transmission of electricity after the government lowered the cost of electricity connection to less than Kes 15,000.

With majority of Kenyans using wood as their source of income, note that only six percent of the country is covered with land forest. The other thing to note also is that demand for fuel is in this country is thirty five million tons per year while supply is fifteen million per year making a deficit of fifteen million tons. This has led to deforestation and degradation of the environment as a result of overreliance on wood for energy. Deforestation has long term effects which include encroachment of desert like conditions, land degradation, famine and unpredictable droughts.

Energy crisis in Kenya has not been entirely started by the over-reliance on wood as a source of energy but other factors. These include: Breakdown in Kenya power generating plants at times as a result of drought. This is as a result of low levels of water in the hydro dams hence making Kenya Power and Lighting Company to ration electricity. Part of the reason why there is been long periods of drought in the country is because of the long term effects of human activities on the environment. These include the encroachment on the forests and other vegetation, deforestation, quarrying and mining and poor agricultural practices that has greatly affected the general environment.

The world market conditions of the Oil producing Nations also has contributed to the Energy Crises in the country. With fighting in the Middle East and with the economic Sanctions some of the oil producing countries are having, crude oil prices went up and hence the cost of transporting and refining the oil also went up. This means the people depending on Oil as energy had to pay more for oil products. The manufacturing companies that depend on oil for their production processes have been increasing the prices of their products sighting that the cost of production had gone up because of the increase in prices of the energy they use.

To mitigate on the energy crisis, there several efforts that has been put in place. These include efforts like reforestation and planting of new trees so that the people who depend on wood have enough to cater for their energy needs. The government also came up with the energy Regulatory Commission that controls and regulate all matters that relate to energy in Kenya. There is also a campaign to sensitize the Kenyan people on the importance of using renewable energy that include wind, solar and geo thermal. This will help to reduce over reliance on non-renewable energy that is costly.

Energy is a key ingredient in the progress of the economy since it promotes the development of the Kenyan economy. To prevent the energy crisis the government and the people of Kenya needs to come up with several mechanisms. The government should upgrade the current energy infrastructure whereby they should increase the accessibility to electricity, enhance the current legal and institutional framework, rural electrification and energization and training on its people on the available alternative sources of energy that is clean and renewable.

The future of energy sources and the requirements should be put in mind when legislations are being made and the necessary approvals is needed especially when the human activities that affects the general environment is being conducted.More funds need to be provided for research in new energies and development of new technologies in clean energy especially in Geo thermal since Kenya is endowed with enough geo thermal sources in the Rift Valley. With proper management of the available energy I believe the crises can be resolved and also managed well.

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VOREZA answered the question on January 9, 2018 at 13:52