Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Energy Facts: India Vs China

Forbes has this interesting slideshow showing comparative energy consumption in India and China: http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/27/china-india-energy-biz-energy-cx_pm_1127energy_slide.html

While both the energy consumption and the impact that India makes on the world's environment is smaller than China's, the fact is that India's rapidly growing population and relative prosperity is causing problems. I do think, though, that the fact that India is relatively underdeveloped compared to China could actually be an advantage. This means that by focusing on conserving energy and investing in more efficient designs than the Chinese did during the crazy 1990s and the first eight years of the 21st century, India could lay the groundwork for a much more efficient energy utilization infrastructure for the future. The technologies are available and there are more being developed by the day as the many blogs on this subject show. It is a question of will now. China is changing its ways after beginning with a disastrously old-world approach. Will India start with a modern, high-tech approach to energy planning? Watch this space - this blog will keep an eye on what happens.

2 comments:

kulasekaran said...

You hit the nail on the head Mehul.If only the government could get its act together and have a strategic energy management plan in place.

As you have noted in your earlier blog posts the money spent on importing fuel could very well be invested in developing renewable energy. Keeping my fingers crossed!

mehulkamdar said...

Thank you, my friend. I value your comment considerably as you are an engineer involved in the power distribution sector and en entrepreneur!

Let us hope for the best.