What Renewable Energy is Really About: Saving Money

Trust a hard-nosed business newspaper like The Wall Street Journal to make the case that Renewable Energy is about saving money and not about some loony left-wing desire to save the world: Link Somehow, the morons who go around with a messianic zeal touting Renewable Energy never make the case that the use of RE is good economics. You save money over the long term because you use natural energy that you do not have to spend money to access - sunlight is free compared to buying electricity generated from coal or whatever other source, reduced pollution means less sick people and less spend on keeping your environment clean, less spending on medical treatment etc and much more. The list goes on and on.

In a country like India or Sri Lanka where most of the year brings abundant sunlight, this could mean immense savings in electricity costs, as hot water is something that everyone needs. The import of coal from other countries would slow considerably because electricity would not need to be used for heating as much as it is. Power shortages and outages would also be reduced as the load on the generation and transmission system would be minimized. Yes, without beginning with the intention of becoming another Mahatm Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, it would be possible to become self-reliant, conscientious and to save the world as well as one's own finances in a world that is increasingly getting more expensive to live in. Now, if only the loudest voices for renewable energy could see things this way . . .

Chennai Corporation Makes Positive Promises - Hope They Keep Them

This link was sent by my old friend Kulasekaran, who often comments here: http://beta.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1913.ece Like Kulasekaran, I am cautiously optmistic about this proposal. When the Chennai Corporation does decide to do something, it does it well. I remember growing up on Broadway (then known as Popham's Broadway) as a boy and of the squalor that became a part of the road in the 1980s and thence through the 1990s. Loansquare Park which I would walk past as a boy became a public toliet and trucks ("lorries" in the quaint Raj Era English that Indians speak) would be illegally aprked over there all the time. But, shortly before I moved to the USA, seven years ago, I chanced to ride through the road right from the Old Jail Road / Stanley Hospital end through NSC Bose road and I was surprised at how well it had been cleaned up. It was still more crowded than when I was a boy, four decades ago, but that is inevitable - India has a lot more people now than it had back then. What was surprising was how clean the place had become after the filthy mess that it had become in the 80s and 90s.

If the Chennai Corporation does a good job of using the energy of the sun in one of the hottest and sunniest places in India to power government buildings, I think it could do a superb job. Chennai does have some of the best educated people in India and its educational institutions are second to none in India. I would urge the Corporation to look not just at Corpration buildings but also to look at the Police Quarters in Egmore and at Broadway, the new wholesale market at Koyambedu etc. The State Transport Corporation could also use this form of lighting at the various bus terminii and at the Moffusil Bus Stand at Koyambedu. There are many places in Chennai which could use clean energy.

With my fingers crossed, I would like to invite visitors here to please watch this space!

Positive Change of Heart at "The Hindu"

While I have often been critical of "The Hindu" in the past on the issue of Renewable Energy, especially on this blog, today's editorial in that grand old newspaper is a very positive one: http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/08/stories/2009080853241000.htm While this piece speaks about the need to focus on Solar Energy in India due to India's contribution to climate change out of an increasing dependence on fossil fuels, I can only hope that the tremendous clout that this newspaper enjoys among the powers that be in India, and particularly in the South, listen to this opinion. There is one point that I would like to stress, though, because "The Hindu" does not - Renewable Energy can be a viable method of power generation considering how fast the technology is advancing these days. And, in a country like India which spends something like half the money that it earns on imprting coal and crude oil, any savings from using the abundant energy of the sun would make the country that much richer.

Thank you, Hindu. I hope this change of heart is a positive one and that you continue to fight the good fight now that you have joined it as enthusiastically as you have!

India Hits Back Over Western Demands That it Cut its Emissions

It was bound to happen - constant harangues on several talk radio shows and on Fox television against India and China on emissions were expected to bring a tit for tat statement and here it is: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/5977599/India-attacks-British-and-Western-hypocrites-over-cutting-emissions.html As someone who lived just overlooking the Vadapalani Bus Terminus at Gowri Chitra Gardens, I have a somewhat different take on this, however. Let us not kid ourselves - India's air is filthy. And if a "better lifestyle" is what India is aspiring to, then that should include cleaner air and water. It does not make sense if Indians can buy Rolls Royces or Bentleys and if they have to breathe in filth the moment they step out of them and no longer have air filtered through carbon filters available to them. There is also the matter of health, and when I last checked, that was also a lifestyle issue - recent reports suggest that as many as 70% of Kolkata residents may have lung infections of some kind. The percentages in other cities should be similar.

While this is not going to be easy under any circumstances, I do think that India would be able to do both - work towards implementing more Renewable Energy projects (especially solar power) and advance towards a better lifestyle for Indians at the same time. Fossil fuel resources are currently held by a few nations that have been fortunate to have them located on their territory. And these are running out. Countries like India have access to abundant sunlight and they need to focus on this as a resource and develop a model that works in this context. It is not an impossible task. Some positive steps are being taken in this direction, no doubt. I wish that there would be more, and that they would be taken faster.

Let us not forget that a full 50% of all the money that India earns goes towards paying for fuel. All of this could, technically, be available for other "lifestyle" projects if it were not sent out of the country to pay for coal and crude oil.

Some Cautious Forward Movement on Solar Energy in the USA

I am grateful to Dr Mayraj Fahim for this article on Alternet http://www.alternet.org/environment/136152?page=entire which describes the potential gains as well as risks that face entrepreneurs in the field of solar energy in the USA. There is one factor that the author of the article is possibly not sure off which I must mention here - rapid competition in advancing the field of solar photovoltaic power is bringing down the costs of manufacturing solar photovoltaic panels and efficiency is being pushed up every few months by new developments as companies and universities around the world take up the challenge of making solar cells more efficient and cheap. This is a fact that is known to the entrepreneurs who are involved in this industry and that is why people in Germany are happy to put their money into ventures in this field.

There is considerable movement in the field of renewable energy and if there is any disappointment, as far as I am concerned, it is in the fact that South Asia is not looking at this with the same degree of seriousness that the West is. With India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc bathed in sunlight around the year, just imagine the potential . . . But then, I would be repeating myself like a scratched record if I go on now.

Texas Sets an Example for All of South Asia to Follow

The one thing that so-called "liberals" in the USA hate is the mention of Texas. The state reminds them of the former US President, never mind that it has invested much mroe in renewable energy - especially wind energy - than any other and that it continues to lead the way ahead. Now, we have a powerful new move by the Lone Star State to focus upon Solar Energy as this entry from Green Daily shows: http://www.greendaily.com/2009/03/29/texas-legislators-hope-to-initiate-solar-bonanza/

In this, lies a powerful example for the sun-drenched nations of South Asia. If the Texans know something well, it is the energy sector. The state has been a pioneer in the production of oil and it also leads in natural gas production both in the USA and outside this country. If the Texans start looking actively at solar power, then there is ample reason for other places with the same kind of exposure to sunlight to start doing this. In the end, this is the kind of development that could make the skies over South Asia cleaner and living there cheaper and more comfortable. Imagine not having to endure eight hours of power cuts a day.

Also check out the original New York Times piece on which the Green Daily entry is based: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/texas-aims-for-solar-dominance/ I do wish one or another South Asian nation would have the same spirit.

Excellent Forbes Opinion Piece on Solar Energy

I have posted from several business magazines here before to make a case for renewable energy - if these hard-nosed journals think that this is a good idea, I cannot understand why ill-informed skeptics get so much attention. In any case, here is an excellent piece from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sciencesandmedicine/2008/12/15/solar-energy-costs-tech-science-cx_es_1215solar.html?feed=rss_search

I wish they had an article-specific Permalink but they don't seem to have that. That said, they have a Clean Tech RSS Feed and that goes right into my list of Blogs that I shall be following if any visitors here want to check them out.

My hat's off to Forbes for this very intelligently written piece.

The US Army Slashes its Energy Bills With Solar Power

Green Daily has this entry about how the US Army plans to use a solar thermal energy powerplant to slash its snergy costs: http://www.greendaily.com/2008/10/08/us-army-slashes-its-energy-bill-with-a-500mw-solar-thermal-plant/

I wonder when India would follow suit? I can;t afford to be too optimistic as there are self-styled "experts" there who rant about the cost of solar photovoltaics while they are totally ignorant of the existence of solar thermal energy and of the fast developing field of thin film solar cells.

Enhancing the Efficiency of Photovoltaics

In correspondence with friends over the past few days, I have found some criticism of the cost of Solar Photovoltaics especially pertaining to their use in Third World countries like the nations of South Asia. I was, therefore, happy to get some interesting links on the Pickens Plan website: http://www.pickensplan.com/ which have technological solutions to enhancing the efficiency of photovoltaics through cool buildings which maximize the efficiency of solar photovoltaic equipment: http://www.pvcoolbuild.com/index.html For someone who is technically enabled, there is enough information here to help them design a home with integrated photovoltaic systems in the roofs. I do hope this is helpful to you engineers out there.

California's Million Solar Roof Initiative and Lessons for South Asia

The greed displayed by the Saudi Arabian sheikhs is promoting new interest in renewable energy and one of the most significant steps taken in recent times has been the California Million Solar Roofs Initiative which you can read about at: http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/energy/million-solar-roofs Basically, this is a plan to cover the roofs of all government buildings in California and also the roofs of private buildings whose owners are interested in this program with solar photovoltaic systems and to feed the electricity into the state's power grid. I keep wondering when the Indian government would come up with something like this. India has sunlight available across the country and such a system would help immensely in alleviating the severe power shortages that we have in the country. I am sure that the situation in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc is no different. There is a tremendous amount of money to be saved especially with oil prices rising by the day and pushing coal prices up as well as they rise.

And this movement is catching up elsewhere in the world as well. General Motors has installed the world's largest solar roof in its plant in Zaragoza in Spain and Volkswagen are planning something similar in their plants in Europe as well. The Reuters news release about this is at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/motoringSummary/idUKCAS84477520080708 Indian companies have huge tax incentives already to use renewable energy - they can depreciate these systems at 100% in the first year of operation under current laws. And some states have very progressive approaches to this - Haryana, for example, buys electricity generated from renewable sources at Rs 15.96 per kWh. Hopefully, some entrepreneurs would go ahead and do something about the opportunities available in South Asia and make some money out of this business. They deserve to!

In other matters, this is the second post that I have made this week and I am happy to be less tardy than I have been before. Hopefully, I can keep the momentum up and get more information out. Do mail back if you ladies and gentlemen have any information for me. As always, bouquets and brickbats are equally welcome.

Cheers!