LAHORE - The Government College University Lahore has established a state-of-art “Alternative Energy Laboratory” at its Sustainable Development Study Centre (SDSC) in collaboration with Higher Education Commission for conducting advance research on renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and their deployment on commercial level. GCU Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Khaleeq-ur-Rahman Thursday inaugurated the high-tech laboratory which has indigenous weather station and solar laboratory equipped with lasers, 400 Watt Mono-crystalline solar panels, automatic solar frames, solar charge controllers, batteries bank, inverters, DC and AC Voltage and Amp meters, millimeters, portable irradiance meters and solar cell samples for comparative monitoring.
Addressing the opening ceremony, GCU SDSC Director Prof. Dr. Aminul Haq said that from concept to commercial application, the laboratory is solely dedicated to advancing renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in Pakistan.

He said that GCU Foreign Faculty member Dr. Naghman Khan, who is a PhD in Sustainable Energy and Policy of University of Nottingham, UK would lead a team of postgraduate students and researches to develop renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and would transfer knowledge and innovations to address the nation’s energy and environmental goals. Dr. Naghman Khan is world renowned scientist and did his maters’ thesis on the development and deployment of Marine Energy in the UK, in particular looking at learning curves and market policies needed to further innovate and drive down costs.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Naghman said in the future only those countries would sustain their development, which have alternative energy plans. He said that alterative energy is cheap but its technology is expense and if countries like Pakistan want to solve their energy crisis, they should invest in the renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. He said that several research projects are planned to be undertaken by the Laboratory and SDSC which include effect of changing climate on energy, environment physics, energy production through bio-fuels like Algal, wood and crops, energy Conversion and management of Industrial biogas plant and installation of Micro-hydro turbines in canals of Punjab.
Addressing the ceremony, the VC said that this was a knowledge-driven world and the divide between the rich and the poor countries today is simply a “knowledge divide.”   Only the countries that have invested in education have progressed rapidly. He said that Pakistani researchers and scientists were capable enough to resolve the country’s energy crisis and what they all need were proper facilities and opportunities. He said that GCU would establish more of such high tech labourites.