Who profits? Who pays?

by Sreekumar N and Shantanu Dixit

While government and other sector actors are on the alert to address the power crisis, some find a business opportunity in it. Meanwhile, attention to rural supply continues to be low...

Still Waiting - a report on Energy Justice

Report produced by Greenpeace India Society, October 2009, by Mr. Shankar Sharma with contributions from Vinuta Gopal, www.greenpeaceindia.org
Greenpeace India has release a report which reveals that despite growth in electricity generation – and increasing carbon emissions – the rural poor continue to be deprived of electricity. The report challenges the government’s energy model and recommends a decentralised energy mix as a solution to overcome social injustice and mitigate climate change.

 

When profits begin to overtake people, as they seem to have with increased policy support for more profi table fuel crops compared to not-so-profi table food crops, it is unfortunate. This policy change marks a clear shift in food economics giving rise to increasing concerns over growing biofuels to reduce the escalation of crude oil prices. On one hand, the proponents say that biofuel is ushering a new era of green revolution with a new development paradigm to solve the twin problems of poverty and climate change, and on the other, opponents contend that the new era of large scale use of biofuel can be environmentally, socially and economically unsustainable. Recent scientifi c evidence does seem to now question the `greenness\' of biofuels. However, quite apart from the science, in view of recent policy shifts, it becomes pertinent to understand the impact of biofuels on sustainable development and livelihoods. Inside issue.......1. Lifting the Veil The Biofuel Blues 2.Talking Trade Environmental Credentials of Biofuels are Weak 3.Trade Perspective The Biofuel Debate 4.Trade View Biofuel Issue in India is Complex and Challenging 5.Trade Nuance India\'s Biofuel Policy: Problems and Prospects
The Biofuel Bait
by L. M. Philip, Ranja Sengupta, Anurag Srivastava, Santhosh M. R., Tirthankar Mandal, Yogesh Pai and Roopam Singh, Consortium for Trade and Development (Centad), 01 July, 2008
The environmental clearance offered to the Koodankulam reactors in Tamil Nadu is not based upon a careful examination of all the potential impacts on the environment and livelihoods nor does it incorporate public concerns.
Violating Letter and Spirit: Environmental Clearances for Koodankulam Reactors
by Divya Badami Rao, M V Ramana, Economic & Political Weekly Magazine, 20 December, 2008
The evolution from an electro chemist was motivated by a growing con-viction that Indian science and technology should be reoriented. A cell was created in the Indian Institute of Science in 1974 to initiate and promote work of rural rele-vance as a weapon against poverty.Surveys led to a detailed empirical study of energy consumption patterns in villages and to the design and construction of rural energy centers. The lessons from this village work are described.
The Evolution Of An Energy Analyst: Some Personal Reflections
by Amulya K.N. Reddy, Univresity of Maryland, 01 January, 2002
Involvement of all Stake-holders • Government of Karnataka • KPTCL • KPCL • KREDL • SWH Manufacturers • Consumers Importance of Solar Water Heaters • To reduce morning peak load • To avoid load shedding • To enable peak-power tariffs • To reduce government subsidies To Manage Karnataka’s Peak Shortage Effectively • Importance of Large-scale Manufacture and Dissemination • SWHs must acquire the status of “white goods” and undergo significant cost reductions Regulation-assisted Markets • Dissemination must be customerdriven • Cost-reflective electricity prices are crucial to encourage efficient use of electricity • Regulatory commission will have to play a key role in setting prices Administrative Measures (DOE) • to promote large-scale dissemination of SWHs in Karnataka and reduce the waterheating peak load on the electrical system • to bring together all the relevant stakeholders for this promotion • to catalyse the implementation of all the associated measures by the relevant agencies
Large-Scale Dissemination Of Solar Water Heaters In Karnataka
by , IEI Workshop, 26 August, 1999
IT was 1942. I was twelve years old and determined to join the merchant marine training ship Dufferin at Bombay and become a sailor like my hero, my uncle C.G.K. Reddy. And then out of the blue I received this long letter written on rough handmade paper from Madras Jail. It was from CGK in prison for anti-British activities, cautioning me against choosing a career based on whom I hero worshipped and urging me to do what I would love to do and what I believed in. This advice stayed with me throughout my life. But it was not easy to adhere to it because there were many things I loved to do.
Reflections of a maverick
by AMULYA K. N. REDDY, Seminar, 01 September, 1993
The huge increase in oil and other fuel prices over the last few years and a concern that we have reached (or will soon reach) peak oil — after which oil extraction begins to decrease — have created renewed interest in alternative sources of energy. These include solar, wind, ocean wave and tidal flow, geothermal, and biofuels. Sometimes lip service is given to the need for greater energy efficiency, changes in lifestyles (including the ecologically irrational over-reliance on automobiles and living far from one’s job), the need to redesign economic activity from the factory floor to office buildings and homes, and the need for affluent societies to move away from ever higher levels of consumption. However, a radical analysis of actually putting these into effect would lead to questioning the very basics of how capitalism works.
The Political Economy and Ecology of Biofuels
by Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review, 01 July, 2008
Today the colony of 5,000 people produces more energy than it consues— 140 per cent of its requirement. \"To save energy it is important to use solar power,\" said the district\'s architect, Rolf Disch, whose works combine functional, ecological and aesthetic aspects. Almost 65 per cent electricity needed in Vauban is produced through photovoltaic cells on the roofs. The solar panels are connected to the grid. In most houses electricity supplied to the grid is more than the electricity consumed. Gerlinde Schuwald, a landscape designer who moved to Vauban in 2001, has been earning a profit of €300 a month.
House that
by Amarjyoti Borah, Down to Earth, 01 November, 2008
I deem it a privilege and honour to be invited to pay this tribute to Shri Jaya Prakash Narayan, one of the makers of the post independence India. The organizers may not have realized that this is a personal tribute to JP because his essay \"Why Socialism\" deeply influenced me when Iwas 18 years old. What they would never have thought of this that I had privilege of knowing JP atclose quarters in a unique capacity - I was the driver of the conveyance in Bangalore, a little Vauxhall belonging to me uncle C G K Reddy.
Nuclearisation, Human Rights, and Ethics
by Amulya KN. Reddy, University Today, 15 August, 2000
Energy analysis was traditionally restricted to the supply side of the energy fuel cycle1.Fortunately, there has been a shift of attention to the demand side over the past two to three decades. However, even this shift has by and large focused on sectoral demands and end-uses with little attention being paid to the gender distribution of energy consumption.Perhaps an exception to this gender blindness has been the work on ruralenergy consumption patterns, particularly that carried out in the 1980s by the ASTRA2programme of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.
Energy For Women & Women For Energy
by Amulya K.N. Reddy,Srilatha Batliwala, , 29 May, 1996
Reform programs all over the world often falter for reasons that mystify those devising and supporting the reform, because governing politicians stall in implementing the measures fully, though they may have publicly agreed with their formulation--and despite thereform being technically and economically sound, with many intended beneficiaries. Inrecent years, the power sector in several developing countries has suffered from this frus- trating gap between strong, pro-reform rhetoric at the political level and weak, hesitant implementation of the reform measures on theground.
Can Good Economics Ever Be Good Politics?: Case Study of India\'s Power Sector
by Sumir Lal, World Bank, 03 June, 2006
As India\'s economy accelerates, so does the quest for energy to keep its growth humming. The country\'s consumption of coal, oil, natural gas,and electricity is projected to rise by nearly 40 percent over the next five years and almost to double by zozo. Already, surging energy demand is outstripping supply (Exhibit 1, on the next spread), raising hard questions about how India will cope in the future.
Securing India\'s energy needs
by Rajat Gupta, Vipul Tuli,and Samir Verma, The McKinsey Quarterly, 01 January, 2005
Move to the Northeast. Uday Kumar Das, a shopkeeper of an electrical goods store at Dispur in Guwahati, said his customers prefer cfls for their efficiency even if they have to pay more. “I have been selling cfls since 2003. Then, only a few bulbs would leave the shelf, but for a year now I have been selling about 300 bulbs a month,” he said.Surender Sharaf, who owns a petrol pump at Sirsa in Haryana, knows what difference cfl’s energy efficiency can make. “I had four 200-watt and 70-odd 60-watt incandescent bulbs (the common round ones) at my petrol-filling station. In 2006, I replaced them with cfls. The change in my electricity bill was amazing. From about Rs 15,000 a month it came down to Rs 10,000,” he said.The most advanced lighting device, cfl has become an alternative to incandescent bulbs, also known as general lighting system or gls. Estimates by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, a statutory body under the power ministry, show that 600-800 million cfls have entered homes, business establishments and government offices in India. Government schemes plan to populate another 400 million light points in houses with cfls.
Let there be CFL
by Arnab Pratim Dutta, Down to Earth, 16 January, 2009
  1. When villages plug
  2. Villages plug into the grid, manage their own supply
  3. Successful utilisation of indigenous bioenergy resources for economic advancement in rural Maharashtra, India
  4. It takes a solar lantern to change destinies

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Energy-documents Article Count:  14

Energy-news & events Article Count:  16

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