Recent progress in renewable energy - Remedy of energy crisis in Pakistan

Energy plays a pivotal role for the economic development of a country. A reliable source of energy is needed to improve the living standard of people. Today, industrial progress plays a vital role in the development of any country but the industrial progress depends on reliable supply of electricity. However, Pakistan is passing through an energy crisis that is seriously affecting the lives of people. The main reason for the energy crisis is rapidly increasing the prices of hydro-carbon resources and lack of planning to foresee the increasing energy demand in the country. Renewable energy (RE) can play an important role to minimize this crisis. Besides the depletion of fossil fuel, the accumulation of their emissions has catastrophic effects on our environment. Modern civilizations are more curious about environmental cleanliness. Environmental pollution is supposed to be a serious threat to the life on our planet. Our earth could heat up by several degrees in future if we do not stop using non-renewable energy resources. In this article, the exiting production of renewable energy through different RE technologies is discussed and the potential capacity of production of energy through these technologies in Pakistan is studied. Some suggestions are also proposed to increase the RE share in the energy mix of the country. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.