Energy efficiency and conservation in Bangladesh

The very low annual per capita GNP and the predominantly rural pattern of life place Bangladesh in a category apart not only from the leading developed countries but also from the majority of developing nations. Approximately two-thirds of the energy used is derived from traditional plant and animal sources and the per-capita energy consumption is very low (at approx. l/250th of the U.S. level). In these circumstances, efforts of increasing the overall energy consumption as a leverage for economic and social progress overshadow the importance of enrgy conservation measures. The latter, however, are by no means ignored. They consist in improvements in efficiency of rural-used energy (e.g. improved domestic cooking stoves), making available indigenous natural gas from East Bangladesh to the Western part of the country which totally lacks industrially-usable energy resources, and measures aimed at a more thrifty and efficient use of imported fuels such as oil, its derivatives and coal.