A bird's-eye view from any passenger flight arriving at Pudong International Airport during the night definitely brings to mind the phrase "Ever Bright City."

　　Landmarks glitter, roads glow like a string of orange lollipops and ordinary office buildings shimmer. The Shanghai blockbuster light show culminates in an array of neon-decorated 19th Century buildings on the Bund.

　　But lurking behind the illuminated spectacle is concern over whether that brightness will last. Shanghai is battling a power shortage this summer. The maximum electricity supply deficit is expected to top 4 million kilowatts.

　　From a broader perspective, the nationwide grid is running a shortfall of between 20 to 30 million kilowatts with Shanghai being among the hardest-hit areas alongside neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

　　It's fair to say the local government has done a good job thus far in preventing major blackout problems. Interim measures like re-arranging production hours of energy-consuming industries, reducing outdoor landscape lights and setting compulsory temperature standards for air conditioning in public places have proven to be effective.

　　But as suggested by power analysts around the country and the world, the stress will probably continue as a chronic headache in the years to come due to a nationwide energy shortfall. Obviously a long-term energy strategy is required.

　　Many blame a lack of coal-fired power plants around Shanghai for the city's electricity woes.

　　Yes, Shanghai does lack such power plants. But the failure to set up more of them a decade ago could be a blessing in disguise. It allows the city to invest in renewable energy sources - solar and wind power - to generate electricity.

　　Any solution to the power shortage threat will have to include rationing electricity use. The government-imposed measures this summer in public places is a step in the right direction but numerous computers, lights and air conditioners are left on when office workers go home.

　　No official calculation has been made about this careless practice although few would doubt the astronomical scale of the result.

　　To encourage and enforce rationing at corporate levels in a business hub like Shanghai will definitely help avert any power crisis.

　　It also takes less time and money than building another generator or inventing a renewable energy substitute.