Keeping the candles lit in Nepal

I’ve traveled from Pakistan to Nepal, the final leg of a month-long journey before returning to China. And before you congratulate me on finagling a work-related trip to Kathmandu, let me describe the situation here.

For at least eight hours a day, there is no electricity. Luckily my hotel has a generator, but it is only enough to power an overhead light and my computer. There is no heat when the power is off.

I’ve eaten dinner by candlelight ever since arriving four days ago.

The roads are congested beyond belief. People complain about traffic in Beijing. It is nothing compared to Kathmandu. Walking is good exercise. But not for the reason you might think. I’ve repeatedly had to leap for safety while on the sidewalk to avoid getting hit by careening motorcycles and scooters.

At least in Beijing, while stuck in traffic, one can work the cell phone. Even that luxury is unavailable here. The cellular phone circuits are so congested – like the roads – that I’ve repeatedly given up trying to make calls after dialing 10 or 20 times.

In short, Nepal is the least developed country I’ve visited in Asia, although I confess I haven’t been to Papua New Guinea. Frankly, I’d compare Nepal to Haiti, where I worked quite a bit in the early 1990s.

Speaking of power outages, anybody who travels outside of Europe or North America these days will likely learn a new phrase – “load shedding.”

I heard it a lot in Pakistan and wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Pakistan, or at least the area around Islamabad, is enduring 3-5 hours of blackouts each day. Which seemed like a lot, until I came to Nepal. Load shedding is the word du jour to describe rolling blackouts designed to keep overburdened power grids from collapsing.

Type in “load shedding” and “blackouts” in Google News and one quickly learns that power outages are a growing phenomenon in many parts of the world, partly due to rising energy prices and partly due to stagnant power grids not keeping up to surging economies. Blackouts are hitting southern Africa, parts of India and Argentina hard. Here’s what Stratfor, a firm marketing global private intelligence, says in a Feb. 2 report:

“South Africa and Argentina both experienced massive power outages in January that shut down industry and left houses without power. The South African outages disrupted mining operations throughout southern Africa; some mines were shut down for three days. Electronics and heavy construction firms that depend on South African, Zimbabwean and Botswanan minerals very nearly needed to find alternative sources. In a global economy dependent on prompt delivery, where little inventory is built up in many supply chains, such disruptions can be disastrous.

“This tightness in the global energy generation system is a gaping vulnerability for the global economy, and while power shortages are not unknown in the United States, Europe and Japan, the fast-growing developing economies are where problems are most acute and where a remedy will prove extremely difficult to implement.

So there are probably more than a billion people joining me tonight around the globe for a candlelit dinner. If only it were romantic…

Comments

[Ashley]

All the more reason to implement renewable energy sources. Even though the establishment of sustainable energy costs more upfront, countries (especially places, such as in Beijing and other overpopulated areas) would get far more benefits from implementing such technology than from their continuing use of dirty energy.

[rebeccaji]

Having lived for some time in Nepal, I'd hardly compare it to Haiti (not that I've been there, but politically speaking, Nepal is a whole lot nicer). Blackouts have always been commonplace though the current situation is unsustainable and rolling powercuts are a result as much of the political situation and the lack of power imports/excessive cost as they are to do with the grid.

[sjs]

Comparing Nepal to Haiti, current economic and political situation notwithstanding, shows a lack of the understanding of the history of that region and culture.

[nanheyangrouchuan]

Ashley;

Nice thought but in a place like Nepal (and rural China) you have to have sufficient and modern house wiring to handle the loads. People will get a solar panel for lightbulbs and a radio then want to hook up a tv, fridge, ac, dvd, cell rechargers, space heaters, etc to it.
That means lots of wires in buildings that aren't built for wires. And outside of the West/Japan few probably know about or care about electrical wiring placement, insulation and safety.

Solar panels also don't clean themselves. Dust really brings down their effectiveness.

And this power stuff is nothing, water infrastructure is even worse, that is why megacities in developing countries have modern treatment plants and yet the water at the tap will still land you in the hurt locker.

[Vic]

Nepal has NOTHING to do with Haiti!

[Julia Roberts]

The Nepalis are one of the nicest groups of peoples I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with in Qatar and I would give anything to be able to visit them in their country and experince their culture at home. They have had to endure war and hardship which has not helped their economy or infrastructure. I think whether you can use your modern cell phone is the least of their worries. If you don't like being among all the people, I say ...STAY HOME!!!! Julia Roberts