For a green sky and blue energy
A gold medalist in thermal engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Amit Kumar has been working on development and diffusion of cleaner and renewable energy-based technological solutions for over 30 years. At present Senior Fellow and Director of The Energy and Resources Institute, he was instrumental in setting up of Asia's first solar powered cold storage plant in India in the early eighties. Here he talks about the imperatives of promoting energy and preserving environment at the same time.
The link between energy and its impact on environment is fairly well established now, both, at the global as well as local levels. While at the global level energy is direcdy related to climate change, at the local levels it impacts human health itself. As per IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources, 'Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the provision of energy services contribute significantly to the increase in atmospheric GHG concentrations.' In India itself, around 66 per cent of gross carbon dioxide emissions came from the energy sector in 2007, almost 48 per cent of which were contributed by electricity generation. However, the fact remains that energy is an essential ingredient of economic growth and development. The production and consumption of energy is often linked to other major issues in the society, including poverty alleviation, environmental degradation, and security concerns. Experience shows that there is a definite correlation between access to energy on one hand and education attainment and literacy on the other, among the rural and urban poor. Consequently, the goals of poverty eradication, improved living standards, and increased economic output imply increasing energy requirements. Thus, there is an inherent dichotomy between the energy needed to fuel economic growth on one hand and the resulting impact of the same on environment on the other; the reason being energy supplies that are predominantly based on fossil fuel.
Therefore, if we have to move along the path of faster economic growth - essential for poverty alleviation as well - widiout compromising our environmental integrity, it is necessary that we reduce our reliance on fossil fuel to the extent possible. And this is where renewable energy resources come in to the picture. Renewable energy sources are indigenous and can contribute towards reduction in dependency on fossil fuel besides ensuring universal energy access. Fortunately, India is blessed with abundance of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, and water. Moreover, by nature renewable energy is dispersed, making it ideal for decentralized applications with zero impact on local as well as global environment.
Renewable energy can also be utilized in many ways: from grid-connected multi-megawatt power plants to off-grid kilowatt scale power plants, from solar lanterns to renewable- powered telecom infrastructure, and from heat applications to cooling ones across sectors. Indeed, renewables have enormous potential to meet the growing energy requirements of the increasing population of the developing world, while offering sustainable solutions to the global threat of climate change.
This calls for a paradigm shift from supply domination to an integrated approach - a judicious mix of improvement in operational efficiency, end use efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Technologies such as solar water heating could be a very good tool for demand side management. Similarly, by including passive solar and other efficient features in building design, overall energy requirement could be brought down considerably. Measures such as these along with renewables would therefore, will be the key elements of sustainable and environmentally benign energy future.