Energy Sustainability in Bangladesh: Evaluation of Global Models and Future Directions

Globally, sustainable energy management has got utmost priority irrespective of economies of scale. It is the melting pot where optimum balance between economy, energy and environment can be ensured. On the contrary, Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country, confronting with multiple challenges of economic emancipation and its impact on escalated energy growth, and subsequent environmental concerns, that ultimately creating another big challenge for energy sustainability. Like many other countries, Bangladesh is not an energy independent country, but sets vision to serve the nation with reliable and affordable electricity. At this crossroads, sustainable energy management is not an option, but hard reality for Bangladesh. To unfold the sustainability issues, the study adopted pragmatic worldview as research approach, where both exploratory and explanatory methods were applied. The study compared Bangladesh’s energy model with the energy models of USA, EU, Nordic, China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan. The study identified supply-demand imbalance, absence of least cost generation mixes with renewable and clean energy integration, lack of optimum utilization of available resources through appropriate technologies and skilled manpower, and insufficient cash flow to run the sector efficiently, in Bangladesh’s energy model, thereby exposed the energy model to vulnerabilities. Based on the outcomes, the study recommends a comprehensive and sustainable energy model, where national energy policy will be inclusive, data-driven and stakeholders-oriented.