Showing posts with label alternative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alternative. Show all posts

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Green Energy & Conservation: A New Paradigm For Inclusive Growth

In case of India the five year plans have to be comprehensive in true sense as we have a vast assemblage of the down trodden living below the poverty line.  Informal economy limits the playing fields to the rich and the fortunate. Our Nation comprises of diverse human profiles subsisting on all steps of the economic ladder, unfortunately it is busting at its seams lower down. Hence all should benefit from economic endeavours of the State.  

In current scenario dominated by impending climate change or global warming economic planning has to be circumspect - discouraging unfriendly practices. This makes tackling inequity a challenging task as lot of old norms the unfriendly practices which are causing environmental disturbances have to be done away with. The old practices have to be conducted in a greener way or completely abundant hence innovation & technology has to step in. Greater stress has to be placed on cottage industry especially those pertaining to production of endemic specialities, and arts and crafts. Global appeal has to be created for indigenous production especially from the rural sector. This means induction of innovative practices and contemporary technologies at grass root level for production of globally acceptable products. 

Sound policies also means greater stress has to be placed on education and instilling technological proficiency amongst our masses. Education can be the biggest poverty alleviation instrument besides being helpful in eliminating social evils and conservatism - both are the need of the hour. Without tackling these it is difficult to come out of economic quagmire that the developing country like ours faces.           

Alternative energy is one of the positive sources which could solve our energy crisis in a friendly manner. It can also be instrumental in alleviating poverty by providing fuel at lower cost. Alternative energy would be an indirect and direct growth boosting factor. It has to be seen what policies are shaped by Governments in India to encourage generation. The majority of sufferers from polluting environment are living below the poverty line in India. Hence improvement in quality of life in the country should not be a top down approach it should be the reverse.            

The scourge of developing economies is rabid industrialisation, a haste that creates lot more problems and solves  less. In order to achieve a rapid growth detrimental aims and objectives are unthinkably pursued which cause lot of environmental distress besides social injustice to local residents (sometimes).

Highly impressive economic growth does not mean production of unmanageable numbers of luxury cars or extensive stressful housing complexes. This is what years of faulty planning and myopia has led us into. Ill planned industrial complexes near urban areas are major cause of  pollution leading to unmanageable health problems that large cities in India are facing.   

In order to feed the ever growing millions we have ravaged our forests and other fragile ecosystems due to fast expanding agricultural fields, commercial wood logging,  and livestock without a second thought. Though with the creation of protected areas the rot seemed to have stemmed but this is not the case everywhere. Primal land is still being targeted for economic gains and this spells bad conservation policies.       

Improper utilisation of land at the cost of last remaining natural places, valuable resources and our inherited wealth are the damage rabid industrialisation does besides releasing large amounts of pollutants in the air.

We have become a human centrist society, and completely disregard nature and other life forms. Habitat destruction has been the norm since times immemorial and continues till this day. Most of the conservation efforts remain on paper, are poorly implemented and some die unheard due to legal entanglement. In a fast developing India this seems to a sector of least concern. Hence to many of our policy makers environmental concerns especially that relating to our remaining natural lands and wildlife conservation has no importance or perceived as conservationist nuisance. Even for the ruling Governments this has no place as populist policies are of prime importance for remaining in power. The gain is that of mega corps with paltry benefit to those employed. Corporate influence on Governing bodies is well known, and this is what does the utmost damage. Industrialist gauge their profits from mega projects and totally ignore environmental factors.       

Unchecked population growth is another factor that is proving detrimental to environment besides increasing poverty in India. Although active efforts have been in this direction since decades but we are still heading to the most populous status on Earth. Hence we are eventually going to leave more carbon footprint on Earth that others.     

In order to undo what missteps we have taken in the past with grave consequences we will have to restart from step one with an out of the box thinking. 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Non Traditional Energy Our Last Recourse

While the Paris Accord tamasha goes on with Trump's withdrawal from the crucial agreement. US with promise of major cut of co2 emissions was seen as a key player in the success of the agreement.

The Trump policies portray a regressive move back to increased production and use of traditional fossil fuels.

What will be the outcome of this betrayal it is too early to predict. Leaving US all other countries that have ratified are bound by the accord - a salient promise to bring down by their own contribution the disastrous phenomena of global warming. The aim is to bring down the rising global temperatures to below the pre industrial era levels.      

We all know the consequences of global warming but what would be fate of the World if it is not controlled.  

It all started with wood as fuel and large tracts of forests where eventually denuded. Extensive deforestation took place in some quarters during the medieval period resulting in shortage of wood for fuel. Coal emerged as a saviour for nations starved of energy. Animal products used as fuel were a limited stop gap arrangements and environmentally disastrous.

Discovery of petroleum was a major turnaround as a source of energy. Coal, petroleum and natural gas brought around transformation that appeared to be everlasting with seemingly an inexhaustible  supply. Well though we are still dependant upon these fossil fuels for our energy needs, the stocks are not inexhaustible. Worst is the after effect of these products as source of energy. The production of fuel guzzling cars should be limited and more environment friendly version the electric car should dominate the scene as early as possible.

Extensive mining for coal like other commodities results in large scale destruction of environment. So does the drilling of crude which is mostly found in the sea & desert lands with little forest cover. Carbon dioxide emissions are the major threat to our climate and we have already started noting their negative impacts globally.

Mitigate our carbon footprint or perish this could be end of the World we are waiting for. Well time is at our hand to rectify and restrain global warming to its minimum.           

Albeit there has been a search  for alternative energy sources like ethanol, hydroelectric, geothermal and renewable energy from wind and Sun, the reliability on fossil fuels does nowhere seem to have diminished yet

Countries sincere in reducing Co2 emissions are developing alternative means of generating energy. The most popular form of energy generation is the renewable form. Here impact on environment is practically negligible and there is no depletion of resource taking place.  Solar and Wind power generation are the most desired forms and are being harnessed.

Another form of generation considered to be clean and having no impact on the environment is nuclear energy but then this is mired in controversy. Anyhow countries are resorting to nuclear energy generation within their capacities.

Bringing down the cost of  installation of  wind turbines and solar panels is of utmost importance if we have to generate renewable energy in a big way. Technological strides are already taking place, but the cost is still prohibitive for widespread implementation. Large solar farms and windmills are being installed in order to generate forty percent of energy via such means in India

Ever country will have to do their bit if they wish the Earth to remain inhabitable for future generation accord or no accord.