October 29, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 29, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 28: Claiming that Sindh has the potential to provide enough energy to power the entire nation, a speaker suggested at a seminar on Tuesday that efforts should be made to fast-track the establishment of wind farms along the coastal belt of the province to overcome the country-wide energy crisis.

This was stated by Dr Suhail Zaki Farooqui, a professor at the National University of Science and Technology, Karachi, at a seminar titled ‘Exploring the universe’ held at the University of Karachi as part of Space Week celebrations.

Several scholars presented papers on various topics at the seminar, which was organized by KU’s Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics (ISPA), in collaboration with the university’s department of physics and applied physics and the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology’s (FUAAST) department of physics.

“The whole universe is energy. The sun, the stars etc, they are nothing but energy. The whole world is experiencing an energy crisis. People are looking at renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, biofuels, waves, the ocean, geothermal and nuclear energy as alternatives,” said Dr Farooqui in his informative presentation on ‘Exploring the world of energy.’

He claimed that out of all these energy sources, wind energy, which is actually a derivative of solar energy, has been the most successful and its use was increasing at an exponential rate. “Denmark produces 25 per cent of its total energy from wind. Europe, as well as the United States, is aiming for that figure,” he said, adding that currently, the total installed wind power capacity of the globe was over 100,000 megawatts.

Dr Farooqui said that in 2001, former president Pervez Musharraf had initiated a programme to explore the country’s wind power potential and accordingly, 45 sites in Sindh and Balochistan had been short-listed as prospective locations for wind farms.

“Seven to eight foreign firms have already set up wind farms in Pakistan. Data is also being collected in the NWFP. According to the earlier data, a 200km coastal belt along Sindh-Balochistan has the capability to produce 40,000 megawatts of electricity. Sindh has the potential to provide enough energy for the whole of Pakistan,” he observed.

Earlier, Dr Shahid Qureshi, in-charge ISPA, gave a background of Space Week and highlighted the other events scheduled to take place under the institute’s patronage, such as a ‘planet watch’ programme on Oct 30 at KU’s observatory for faculty and students and a poster competition for college and university students on November 1.

He claimed that the study of and advances in nuclear, computer and space sciences had been key factors responsible for the economic and technological successes of the ‘developed’ nations.

He regretted the fact that the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) – Pakistan’s national space agency – lacked resources to train scientists in space sciences and thus, the country lagged behind in the field of space technology.

Man and the stars

Professor Dr Mohammad Qaiser, Vice-Chancellor of FUAAST, who was the special guest, said that man had been gazing at the cosmos since the times of antiquity and briefly related the advances made by the Babylonians, ancient Indians, Greeks Chinese, Incas and other civilizations in the study of the stars.

He said the Arabs added to the astronomical knowledge of the ancients while medieval Muslims had set up observatories in Samarkand and Istanbul before the decline of Muslim world power, after which the Europeans took up the gauntlet to expand man’s knowledge base of the cosmos. He concluded with the hope that advances in modern astronomy could help solve age-old cosmic riddles that had puzzled man for centuries.

Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, KU’s Vice-Chancellor, who presided over the event, said that the interconnectedness of the universe and all the energy sources it contained, especially their effects on earth, necessitated studying the universe. He said it was very important for scientists and students to study space, share their knowledge with common people, collaborate and pool resources.

He also observed that ISPA was very active in sighting the moon; however, the acceptance of its findings by the quarters concerned was another issue altogether.

Space education

Sindh Senior Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, who was chief guest, emphasized the need to extend space education to schools and colleges and offered to help induct space education into the curriculum if he was given proposals. He also asked all the stakeholders to help maintain a peaceful atmosphere in educational institutions. During the presentation of technical papers, Mr Ghulam Murtaza of Suparco, while speaking on ‘Near-Earth objects (NEOs): risks, policies and actions,’ claimed that Suparco had in fact established the Institute of Space Technology in Islamabad.

Describing asteroids as leftovers from the birth of the solar system, he said scientists were predicting that one such object was headed for Earth and could possibly collide with the planet in 2036. He said efforts were on to either destroy the object or deflect it in case it posed a danger to Earth. He also said there was a need to create an inventory of NEOs.

Dr Shahid Qureshi, Dr M. Ayub Khan Yousufzai and other scholars also presented technical papers.

Space Week is observed internationally from Oct 4 till Oct 10 to mark the dates of the launch of Earth’s first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, (Oct 4, 1957) and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty (Oct 10, 1967). The week was first observed in 1999 following a declaration by the United Nations General Assembly to celebrate science and technology’s contribution towards the betterment of humanity.

However, due to Ramazan falling in October over the past few years, Muslim nations have been observing the week in November. But from 2009, Muslim states should be able to celebrate Space Week with the rest of the world as Ramazan will conclude in September next year.