India going green, from cities to temples

Watch Tower: Green temples

from www.centralchronicle.com

Devotees can press the priests and authorities that run the big temples to use solar energy by installing photovoltaic panels in the large temple premises- Tukoji R Pandit

Temples and other religious places are an inalienable part of the Indian life. The more famous ones are also rich; Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati Balaji temple is believed to be the world's richest, receiving offerings worth millions of rupees from devotees. Most of the money is undoubtedly well spent on charities. But perhaps time has come when the rich and the famous temples actively contributed to green causes. The Tirupati temple can take up that cause more ardently since it has made a 'green' beginning by modernising its giant kitchen that perhaps churns out more 'laddus' in a day than a large shop in a metropolis.

An area where the temples in India can really make a significant contribution to green causes is in their kitchen, most of which seem to be still using wood and charcoal for preparing 'prasad' for the devotees when they can easily switch over to LPG-or solar power.

The temple kitchen at Rameshwaram, another famous temple, where devotees throng in large numbers, is still burning wood to run its kitchen. It is surely not difficult for the temple to go for solar energy in a big way. May be, the Sun Temple in Orissa could lead the way in honour of its name.

In the UK, a number of churches in places as far apart as Northern Ireland and Wales have switched over to solar panels for their electricity needs. And Britain is not known to be a particularly 'sunny' place on earth while most parts of India are blessed by plenty of sunshine: at times just too much of it, as in the deserts of Rajasthan.

Just recently in the tiny island of Cypress, the Greek Orthodox Church has announced that it will invest $234 million in the promotion of solar energy, building a factory to manufacture photovoltaic panels that capture the sun energy.

In the case of Cypress the initiative by the church had a sense of urgency about it because this year's heat wave in that Mediterranean island had soared electricity demand beyond the limits of all the power stations in the tiny country. The Cypriots face prospects of power cuts in 2008 if more electricity cannot be produced.

The power cut threats will hardly stir anyone in India since it is already the norm here. But the devotees can press the priests and authorities that run the big temples to use solar energy by installing photovoltaic panels in the (usually) large temple premises. If the electricity produced is more than the requirement of the temple concerned it could be sold to the grid-or, better, transmitted to the poorer sections in the town.

South Korea is doing that, though the solar electricity does not come from any Buddhist temple. The country is making 'solar apartments' for low-income group people. The country is also using garbage to produce methane gas that, perhaps appropriately, powers the garbage trucks.

The potential of solar energy in India is tremendous. In 15 minutes India can have a year's energy supply from the sun equal to the annual production of its nuclear power stations and power houses using conventional fossil fuels. It is believed photovoltaic panels spread over a slightly large area, 60x60 sq km, can generate 100,000 mw of solar energy.

It has been estimated that the unutilised solar energy that India receives is equal to 500 trillion kwh per annum. Scientists say that if even one percent of the national land is utilised for solar energy India could produce nearly 1000 giga watts of electricity. What this means can be judged from the fact that the current consumption in the country is about 120 giga watts, which is likely to more than triple within the next 25 years.

A factor that has prevented India from realising the full potential of its solar energy is the large initial cost even after the subsidies that the government offers in certain cases. Experts however say that the costs have come down substantially since the 1970s when a sudden spurt in oil prices had jolted much of the world to look for alternative, non-conventional sources of energy. The problem is the 'mindset' and government policies, which are loaded in favour of the conventional sources.

The large savings in electricity bills offset the heavy initial costs. Since the solar energy means no greenhouse gas emission the tremendous environmental advantage can hardly be emphasised, particular now when not a day passes when scientists are not making dark forebodings about an impending disaster because of global warming.

The government does have a plan to encourage non-conventional sources of energy, which has become all the more necessary in view of the astronomical rise in the price of petroleum and the supply uncertainties because of continued tension in West Asia. The government has plans to add 14,000 mw of solar power in the 11th Plan.

Indian scientists are talking about launching an indigenous 'hyperplane' in 2008 that will set up an Indian space power station for 24-hour supply, and not making strides in utilising solar energy. Take for instance the programme to install photovoltaic panels at traffic lights in Delhi and for lighting the billboards. It was announced with all seriousness about five years ago but all that one sees is chaos at traffic junctions the moment the supply from the grid fails. The plan to install solar panels at traffic junctions seems to have been abandoned because it is said it had become difficult to ensure their safety from vandals.

The developed world, after emitting greenhouse gases for 150 years without any concern for the environment, has now turned its attention to countries like India and China to paint then as environmental villains because of their huge gas emissions. Nearly half of India's energy comes from coal-based powerhouses. The country also imports nearly 70 percent of the petroleum that it needs to run its factories and the transport system.

While China has nearly displaces the US as the world's largest gas emitter, India is hurtling towards the second position, a dubious distinction. There is little choice before India than to go green and the temples with all their influence over the majority of population can serve a useful purpose by leading the way.


Solar Power Investing Blog

Richard Branson's Virgin Fuels and Gemini Israel Fund invest in Metrolight

Virgin Fuels invests $9M in Metrolight

from Tech Confidential Blog

Biofuels developers are getting the lion's share of Virgin Group Ltd.'s $400 million alternative energy fund, but a small serving is going to a company that makes energy-efficient lighting technology. Metrolight Inc. announced Thursday that it has secured an investment of $9 million, led by Virgin Fuels and Gemini Israel Funds, with participation from Israel Cleantech Ventures and Altshuler Shaham. "Inefficient lighting is one of the largest sources of energy waste," says Virgin Group's Richard Branson. "Through Virgin Fuels, we invest in companies such as Metrolight that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and substantially improve energy efficiency around the world."

Tech Confidential is following Virgin Fuels' investments closely, reporting last month that biofuel developer Gevo Inc. obtained Series B funding from Khosla Ventures and Virgin Fuels. Exact figures were not made public, but Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber characterized the deal as under $10 million.

Previously, Branson's cleantech VC arm had invested roughly $160 million in ethanol maker Cilion Inc., in which Khosla also invests. And Virgin Fuels has formed a joint venture called VBC LLC, or Virgin Bioverda, with Irish firm Bioverda, a division of NTR plc, to invest $336 million in ethanol plants in the Midwest. The collaboration includes Bioverda's investments in Ethanol Grain Processors LLC and Indiana Bio-Energy LLC.

Windpower Investing Blog

EcoWorld.com promotes power os solar energy in India

India's Solar Power

GREENING INDIA'S FUTURE ENERGY DEMAND

by Avilash Roul, www.ecoworld.com

Editor's Note: Using sunlight to create electrical and thermal energy remains the most promising source of clean renewable energy, and projections as to how quickly solar power takes off could be grossly understated. As the author points out, the costs for photovoltaic electricity, for example, have dropped by an order of magnitude in the last 30 years.

The challenge however lies in just how much energy solar power would have to displace if it were to become the dominant source of energy in the world. In 2006, according to the International Energy Agency, 80.3% of the world's energy came from fossil fuel: Oil (34.3%), coal (25.1%) and gas (20.9%). Fully 90.9% of the world's energy came from combustion, because alongside these fossil fuels in 4th place are "combustible renewables," mostly wood (10.6%). Include nuclear power (6.5%) and hydro-electric power (2.2%), and you have accounted for 99.5% of the world's energy!

So where does solar fit into this equation? Most of this last half-percent of one percent of the world's energy, .41%, is provided from geothermal sources. The energy we love so much, wind and solar, currently only provide .064% and .039% of the world's power requirements. Put another way, for solar energy achieve its potential and replace all other sources of energy in the world, this .039% would have to increase 2,500 times.

Moreover, since nations such as India and China have only begun to industrialize, and since the industrialized nations only comprise approximately 20% of the world's population yet consume over 50% of the world's energy production, it is unlikely that global energy production will not have to increase. It is these sobering realities that should inform any reading of the potential of solar power. - Ed "Redwood" Ring

India's Solar Power - Greening India's Future Energy Demand
by Avilash Roul, May 15, 2007

Human civilization has been witnessing a gradual shift towards cleaner fuels-from wood to coal, from coal to oil, from oil to natural gas; renewables are the present demand...

With the fluctuating high cost of petroleum, minimizing dependence on importing conventional energy resources, stewardship to protect the Planet and providing affordable energy to all, countries including India have stepped up their energy path for harnessing indigenous renewable resources. To tap the infinite energy and transform as well as transmit it to each household, the Indian government has accelerated promotion of the use of universally available Solar Energy.

India due to its geo-physical location receives solar energy equivalent to nearly 5,000 trillion kWh/year, which is far more than the total energy consumption of the country today. But India produces a very negligible amount of solar energy - a mere 0.2 percent compared to other energy resources. Power generation from solar thermal energy is still in the experimental stages in India. Up till now, India's energy base has been more on conventional energy like coal and oil. However, India has now attained 7th place worldwide in Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Cell production and 9th place in Solar Thermal Systems. Grid-interactive renewable power installed capacity as on 31.10.2006 aggregated 9,013 MW corresponding to around 7 percent of the total power installed capacity which equates to over 2 percent of total electricity.

Worldwide photovoltaic installations increased by 1,460 MW in 2005, up from 1,086 MW installed during the previous year. That was a 67 percent increase over the 750 MW produced in 2003. In 2002 the world solar market increased 40 percent. Solar Energy demand has grown at about 25 percent per annum over the past 15 years. In 1985, worldwide annual solar installation demand was only 21 MW. According to the IEA's factsheet, "Renewables in Global Energy Supply," the solar energy sector has grown by 32 per annum since 1971. Worldwide, grid-connected solar PV continued to be the fastest growing power generation technology, with a 55 percent increase in cumulative installed capacity to 3.1 GW, up from 2.0 GW in 2004, as per "Renewable Global Status Update Report 2006" (www.ren21.net). Similarly, India witnessed an acceleration of solar hot water installations in 2005. Global production of solar PV increased from 1,150 MW in 2004 to over 1,700 MW in 2005. Japan was the leader in cell production (830 MW), followed by Europe (470 MW), China (200 MW), and the US (150 MW).

India: Status of Solar Energy:

The solar PV program was begun in the mid 70's in India. While the world has progressed substantially in production of basic silicon mono-crystalline photovoltaic cells, India has fallen short to achieve the worldwide momentum. In early 2000, nine Indian companies were manufacturing solar cells. During 1997-98 it was estimated that about 8.2 MW capacity solar cells were produced in the country. The total installed manufacturing capacity was estimated to be 19 MW per year. The major players in Solar PV are Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) (http://www.bhel.com/bhel/home.php); Central Electrtonics Ltd., and Rajasthan Electricals & Instruments Ltd., as well as by several companies in the private sector. The latest, 100 million dollars investment from Tata BP Solar in India is the pointer towards the booming solar market in India. Of late, the market is growing for SPV applications based products with the active encouragement of the government.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (www.mnes.nic.in), earlier known as the Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources - have initiated innovative schemes to accelerate utilisation and exploitation of the solar energy. Number of incentives like subsidy, soft loan, 80 percent accelerated depreciation, confessional duty on import of raw materials and certain products, excise duty exemption on certain devices/systems etc. are being provided for the production and use of solar energy systems. The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) - http://mnes.nic.in/annualreport/2004_2005_English/ch12_pg1.htm - a Public Limited Company established in 1987- provides revolving fund to financing and leasing companies offering affordable credit for the purchase of PV systems. As a result, the Renewable Energy Sector is increasingly assuming a greater role in providing grid power to the Nation as its total capacities reached about 9,013 MW. This apart, the Electricity Act 2003, National Electricity Policy 2005 and National Tariff Policy 2006 provide a common framework for the regulation of renewable power in all States/UTs through quotas, preferential tariffs, and guidelines for pricing 'non-firm' power.

However, in the Draft New and Renewable Energy Policy Statement 2005, which is yet be approved, the federal government is very cautious about the status of renewable energy in the future. It says, "despite the fact that the biomass-solar- hydrogen economy is some decades away, it should not make industry and the scientific & technical community of the country unduly complacent into believing that necessary steps for expected changes can wait."

Present Scenario of Solar Power:

The MNES has been implementing installation of solar PV water pumping systems for irrigation and drinking water applications through subsidy since 1993-94. Typically, a 1,800 Wp PV array capacity solar PV water pumping system, which cost about Rs. 3.65 lakh, is being used for irrigation purposes. The Ministry is providing a subsidy of Rs.30 per watt of PV array capacity used, subject to a maximum of Rs. 50,000 per system. The majority of the pumps fitted with a 200 watt to 3,000 watt motor are powered with 1,800 Wp PV array which can deliver about 140,000 liters of water/day from a total head of 10 meters. By 30th September, 2006, a total of 7,068 solar PV water pumping systems have been installed.

A total of 32 grid interactive solar PV power plants have been installed in the country with financial assistance from the Federal Government. These plants, with aggregate capacity of 2.1 MW, are estimated to generate about 2.52 million units of electricity in a year. In 1995, an aggregate area of 4 lakh square meters of solar collectors were installed in the country for thermal applications such as water heating, drying cooking etc. The thermal energy generated from these devices was assessed at over 250 million kwh per year. In addition, solar PV systems with an aggregate capacity of 12 MW were installed for applications such as lighting, water pumping, communications, etc. These systems are capable of generating 18 million kwh of electricity per year. In 2003 alone, India added 2.5 MW of solar PVs. For rural electrification as well as employment and income generation, about 16,530 solar photovoltaic lighting systems were installed during 2004-05. Over 150,000 square meters of collector area has been installed in the country for solar water heating in domestic, industrial and commercial sectors making the cumulative installed collector area over one million square meters. State-wise details of cumulative achievements under various non-conventional energy programmes, as on 31.03.2006 are shown in the table below:

MINISTRY OF NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY FUNDED PHOTOVOLTAIC OUTPUT BY STATE

Government-funded solar energy in India only accounted for approximately 6.4 megawatt-years of power as of 2005

Similarly, India's Integrated Rural Energy Program using renewable energy had served 300 districts and 2,200 villages by early 2006. More than 250 remote villages in seven states were electrified under the program during 2005, with additional projects under implementation in over 800 villages and 700 hamlets in 13 states and federal territories (see table below). Rural applications of solar PV had increased to 340,000 home lighting systems, 540,000 solar lanterns, and 600,000 solar cookers in use.

INDIA'S INTEGRATED RURAL ENERGY PROGRAM

REMOTE VILLAGES SELECTED FOR SOLAR ELECTRIFICATION

By 2006 over 2,400 off-grid villages in India had
received solar thermal and photovoltaic systems

Future Plans:

An Expert Committee constituted by the Planning Commission has prepared an Integrated Energy Policy that aims at achieving integrated development and deployment of different energy supply sources, including new & renewable energy. The grid-interactive renewable power installed capacity is expected to reach 10,000 MW as on corresponding to a share of over 2 per cent in the electricity-mix, by 31.3.2007. Further capacity addition of 14,000 MW is envisaged during the 11th Plan (2007-12) leading to a then share of around 5 per cent in the electricity-mix but mostly through hydro-power. A 10 million square meter solar collector area capable of conserving electricity equivalent to that generated from a 500 MW power plant is expected to be set up by 2022. India has recently proposed to augment cooking, lighting, and motive power with renewable in 600,000 villages by 2032, starting with 10,000 remote off-grid villages by 2012.

External Support:

A four-year $7.6 million effort was launched in April 2003 to help accelerate the market for financing solar home systems in southern India. The project is a partnership between UNEP Energy Branch, UNEP Risoe Centre (URC), (http://uneprisoe.org/) two of India's major banking groups - Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank, and their sponsored Grameen Banks. As per the existing policy, Foreign Direct Investment up to 100 percent is permitted in non-conventional energy sector through the automatic route. The FDI received in non-conventional energy sector from January 2003 to September 2006 is estimated at around Rs.35 crore. The Multilateral Development Banks like World Bank and Asian Development Bank are also helping India to achieve its potential on renewable resources. But, the funding from MDBs on solar energy enhancement is negligible compare to other clean energy support in India.

Challenges and Constraints:

Solar energy is facing three fundamental challenges of cost, its manufacturing procedure as well as its waste products that have any impact on the environment and the land acquisition for erecting solar PVs.

The hunt for better, cheaper solar cells is due in India. Solar PV now cost one tenth of what they did in early 1980s. Despite the fact that the price of solar photovoltaic technology has been coming down over the years it still remains economically unviable for power generation purposes. During 1999, the cost of solar cells being manufactured in the country was estimated to be in the range of Rs. 1.35 to 1.50 lakhs per kW. The average cost of solar PV modules was around Rs. 2 lakhs per kW. At present the initial cost of both types of solar energy systems is higher compared to the cost of conventional energy systems and also the other non-conventional energy systems. However, the estimated unit cost of generation of electricity from solar photovoltaic and solar thermal route is in the range of Rs. 12 -20 per kWh and Rs. 10 - 15 per kWh respectively in India. With present level of technology, solar electricity produced through the photovoltaic conversion route is 4-5 times costlier than the electricity obtained from conventional fossil fuels.

There are number of R & D projects are going on solar PV Program in India. The Solar Energy Centre (http://mnes.nic.in/solarenergy1.htm) has been established by Government of India as a part of MNES to undertake activities related to design, development, testing, standardization, consultancy, training and information dissemination in the field of Solar Energy. Recently, development of polycrystalline silicon thin film solar cells and small area solar cells concluded at the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science at Jadavpur University. The National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi is working on development of materials and process to make dye sensitized nano-crystalline TiO2 thin films. The Centre for Materials for Electronics, Pune has been working on development of phosphorous paste for diffusion of impurities in solar cells. Under a joint R&D project of MNES and Department of Science & Technology (DST), the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata continued to work on optimization of process for fabrication of large area double junction amorphous silicon modules.

However, considering the fact that solar energy systems do not require any fuel, the running costs are lower. Therefore, the cost of some of the solar energy systems such as solar water heaters, solar cookers and solar lanterns can be lower than that of conventional energy products when calculated over the life of the systems. The other advantages of solar energy systems are modular nature, long-life, reliability, no recurring requirement of fuel, low maintenance and so on.

In the very near future, breakthroughs in nanotechnologies promise significant increase in solar cell efficiencies from current 15% values to over 50% levels. These would in turn reduce the cost of solar energy production. However, capital costs have substantially declined over the past two decades, with solar PV costs declining by a factor of two. PV is projected to continue its current rapid cost reductions for the next decades to compete with fossil fuel. However, the realisation of cost reductions is naturally closely linked to market development, government policies, and support for research and development.

Environmental Costs:

In India, of late there has been a debate regarding whether hydro-power and solar power are green or renewable? Since solar power systems generate no air pollution during operation, the primary environmental, health, and safety issues involve how they are manufactured, installed, and ultimately disposed of. Also, an important question is how much fossil energy input is required for solar systems compared to the fossil energy consumed by comparable conventional energy systems. Another concern area is installing solar cells on the land area. The large amount of land required for utility-scale solar power plants - approximately one square kilometer for every 20-60 megawatts (MW) generated - poses an additional problem in India. Instead, solar energy in particular requires unique, massive applications in the agricultural sector, where farmers need electricity exclusively in the daytime. This could be the primary demand driver for solar energy in India.

Conclusion:

Even though energy from renewable energy sources is growing rapidly, with markets such as solar cells, wind and biodiesel experiencing annual double digit growth, the overall share is only expected to increase marginally over the coming decades as the demand for energy also grows rapidly, particularly in many developing countries. In India, the scientific focus is deliberately moving towards transforming coal into clean energy as well as harnessing hydropower. The recent surge in nuclear energy is also diverting focus from the solar energy enhancement. In all probability, the Indian government will support off-grid solar energy production through a decentralized manner. In spite of this, India needs to focus research on solar energy and cheaper photovoltaics to provide affordable energy to all.

Additional State Info on Solar Energy:

Andhra Pradesh

The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) (http://www.self.org/) founded the Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO) Photovoltaic Electrification Pvt. Ltd. The SELCO was established in 1995 to market, install, and service Solar Home Systems (SHS) in south India. The SELCO has achieved international recognition as the first company to concentrate on marketing and servicing SHS in the rural Indian market. The Company uses TATA-BP solar modules and deep-cycle batteries purchased on the Indian market, while manufacturing its own lights and charge controllers. Currently, its primary products are 22 and 35 watt SHS, and it will be introducing a 50 Wp system to customers shortly.

The Ministry had sanctioned a project to Non-conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd., Hyderabad for installation of 50 solar dryers to individual users in rural areas with a view to promote the technology and show its potential in income generation and leading to development of entrepreneurship. The dryers were developed by Society for Energy, Environment and Development (SEED), Hyderabad.

West Bengal

Since 1995, with the help of the US Department of Energy (www.eren.doe.gov/international.html) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (http://www.nrel.gov/), the Ramakrishna Mission, a non-governmental organization in West Bengal (http://www.sriramakrishna.org/) has installed more than 500 PV domestic lighting system and has established 'Aditya' - a solar shop in the mission campus in Narendrapur, which sells PV systems up to nearly 10 in each day. The systems are manufactured in India and the US. The technical staff of the Mission has expected to establish six more Aditya solar shops and more than 2000 additional domestic lighting system and seven-community systems in the West Bengal. Through 2005, 73 Aditya Solar Shops were established in India.

About the Author: Avilash Roul has been writing, advocating, researching, and creating knowledge on Environment and Development in various English Daily media since 2000. He has worked with Down To Earth (fortnightly magazine published in New Delhi, India) for the last three years. He has also contributed a Sunday column in New India Express on the environment and development. Right now Mr. Roul is working as an Assistant Coordinator for the Bank Information Center (www.bicusa.org), an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection of rights, participation, transparency, and public accountability in the governance and operations of the World Bank, regional development banks, and the International Monetary Fund.

See also:

Alternative Energy Investments

Incremental Infrastructure ... or time for total rebuild?

Incremental Infrastructure

Alex Steffen, www.worldchanging.com

Ethan has a terrific piece in the Boston Globe on his concept of incremental infrastructure:

[T]he idea is to build essential facilities -- telephone networks, power grids, roads -- in small pieces using private investment, instead of relying on large, centrally planned, government-run projects.The rise of mobile phone networks linking more than 100 million Africans across the continent and the blossoming of cybercafes from Cape Town to Dakar are evidence that incremental infrastructure is already transforming the continent. But Africa needs go beyond telephones and computers. Many nations lack roads, electric power, schools, hospitals, clean water. If the lessons learned from building telephone and Internet systems can be applied to other types of African infrastructure, African entrepreneurs could find themselves wiring villages, paving roads, and perhaps even building airports -- building the new Africa while turning a profit in the process.

Conceptually, this idea is sort of the crossing of two themes we frequently discuss here, mixing the power of leapfrogging technologies with the transformational abilities of the better sort of microcredit programs. As such, it is immediately interesting, and offers obvious potential not only for development, but, with the proper tweaks, sustainable development. After all, there's no reason why infrastructure acquired in an incremental manner ought not to be green, efficient, sustainable (indeed, in some cases, like energy, the green alternatives already strongly out-compete the old polluting infrastructures, especially when they're being assembled in a distributed fashion -- think of solar energy in Africa, for instance).

But there are more tie-ins to worldchanging concepts here. Take remittances. These small amounts of money wired home by people working abroad are already the lifeblood of many developing world communities. There's no reason why they couldn't also become seed capital for needed bits of local incremental infrastructure, as Ethan argues elsewhere:

Governments and aid agencies might also be able to assist with incrementalist strategies by focusing on remittance. Remittances sometimes create infrastructure on a highly local level - a water pump or generator for a single family, generally. Mexican communities have been experimenting with matching programs that will contribute public dollars or aid dollars to community projects funded via remittance - a worker might choose to send $150 to his family and $50 to a community school fund, especially if he knew the $50 would be matched 3 to 1 to build a school for his children. Matching of remittance for incremental projects has a very different “feel” from taxing remittance - instead of supporting the entire government infrastructure, the monies collected (voluntarily, I’d suggest) are guaranteed to focus in the area a worker wants to see benefit. They’re broader than the familial benefits of traditional remittance, but smaller than the national benefits generated by taxing remittances.

Of course, there are other mechanisms for transferring money from North to South that might also serve to finance incremental infrastructure. The clean development mechanism could fund clean energy infrastructure (indeed, we wrote about an example of this just recently, the Bagepalli CDM Biogas Project), but we might also look to tie other global conservation goals that have local benefit more explicitly to opportunities for local sustainable development, whether we're talking building agricultural greenbelts to hold back advancing deserts, or creating a sustainable forestry industry in country like Bolivia.

We in the global North need the developing world to be an enthusiastic partner in planetary efforts to fight climate change, preserve biodiversity, maintain ecosystem services and reduce pollution. It is entirely unreasonable, though, for us to expect them to pick up the check for the costs involved, when the historic burden for at least a part of their poverty rests on our shoulders, and we are almost wholly responsible for the creation of the planetary environmental crises we now face. We've grown wealthy creating, or at least helping to create, these messes: now it's our job to finance their clean-up.

What we finance, though, is still entirely open to debate. Personally, I think the record of inter-governmental aid is not a very good one. I question the wisdom of having powerful people loan or give other powerful people huge sums of money to use on behalf of other less powerful people. I think it is almost always a better idea to try to get the money into the hands of the community that needs it.

So incremental infrastructure makes sense to me. I think there are still a ton of questions about how we do it, how we see that it actually benefits those we hope to see served, how the wealth it creates is shared and so on, but it also seems to me that we're beginning to see the emergence of powerful, distributed, leapfrogging ideas applied to the physical world, and (in a civilization in need of rapid redesign and rebuilding) that seems like a promising development indeed.

South Africa to invest in solar energy for water heating

By: Terence Creamer

State-owned power utility Eskom is advancing what it calls its ‘Accelerated Demand Side Management’ (DSM) programme on which it plans to spend R10-billion over the next five years in a bid to save 3 000 MW by 2012 – nearly the equivalent of a new base-load power station.

The DSM scheme, which, if successful, could help delay the introduction of new, and increasingly expensive, generation capacity, is also viewed as crucial to ensuring that South African residents and industry continue to have power during a period when Eskom will be running well below its ideal reserve margin of 15%.

The utility is currently operating with a reserve margin of between 8% and 10% and CEO Jacob Maroga has indicated that this margin could fall further in the coming five to eight years, before its first new base-load capacity begins coming on stream. He has also indicated the degree of urgency, stating that the winter of 2008 is going to be “materially tighter” than the winter of 2007, which experienced a demand peak of 36 513 MW on July 5 and had several days of operating above the 36 000-MW level.

“Next winter is going to be a far [greater] challenge,” Maroga tells Engineering News, pointing out that, despite its having approved generation-related investments of more than R204-billion for 13 000 MW, there will be a significant lag before that capacity becomes available. Indeed, the first power from the R78,6-billion Medupi station is only expected to come on in phases as from late 2011.

“We are, therefore, accelerating and intensifying our energy-efficiency initiatives, and are targeting savings of 3 000 MW at a cost of R10-billion by 2012 and 8 000 MW by 2025, which would be the equivalent of two power stations,” Maroga avers.

He tells Engineering News that some of the big DSM targets include solar-water heating, the roll-out of energy-efficiency lighting, and an enlargement of its radio and television power alert system. It will also be working with the Department of Minerals and Energy to encourage new regulations in a bid to ensure that new standards for lighting and household appliances embrace the energy-efficiency imperative.

“We are particularly keen to facilitate the scaling-up of the South African solar-water heating industry and we are doing studies to assess current capacity as well as whether we could incentivise its further development,” Maroga explains.

There will also be a drive to integrate with energy-efficiency measures being taken by municipalities, including the introduction of geyser ripple control, which could see household geysers switched off remotely in times of supply tightness.

The alert and efficient-lighting programmes, meanwhile, will be modelled, in part, on Eskom’s successful DSM roll-out in the Western Cape. This evolved during the rolling blackouts and daily load shedding that took place in the pro- vince during early 2006.

During the crisis, Eskom implemented a fast-track energy-efficiency programme, which included rolling out five-million efficient light bulbs and the innovative power alert, which is now broadcast daily on national television.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND CLEAN COAL

An added benefit of DSM success will be in helping South Africa achieve some of its climate-change mitigation ambitions. “This will not only assist with the capacity situation, but will also reduce environmental impacts and take costs out of the economy,” Eskom executive Dr Steve Lennon avers.

He stresses, too, that beyond diversification of Eskom’s primary-energy mix away from coal (the utility is currently 88% depend- ent on coal), it is also interrogat- ing a range of possible clean-coal solutions.

“We are looking at a range of coal-based technologies that either reduce or eliminate CO2 emis- sions.” he says, adding that underground coal gasification is a key technology in this regard.

“We are piloting the technology at Majuba. If it is successful, it will contribute to our ability to use a resource that we have in abundance without emitting CO2.” Lennon asserts, adding that underground coal gasification lends itself to precombustion extraction of CO2.

Lennon argues that it is, thus, “inappropriate” to assume that, because coal is currently a large source of CO2 emissions, it will always be regarded as a ‘dirty’ energy source.

He reveals that Eskom has a watching brief on carbon capture and sequestration programmes around the world, including programmes of the International Energy Agency and the Electric Power Research Institute.

“We are participants in the Carbon-Seque-stration Leadership Forum so that once the technology is commercially available, we can take a look at the use of that technology in South Africa,” Lennon adds.

The utility is also interrogating wind, large-scale solar power, and advanced nuclear, biomass and ocean-current alternatives. High-voltage direct current, or HVDC, transmission, and advanced energy-efficiency technologies are also under review.

“But these technologies are not going to be available overnight. Carbon capture and storage is only likely to be commercially viable in 20 years’ time. We are working with the South African government and other research entities to look at the sequestration potential in South Africa, so as to determine whether CO2 can be effectively stored,” Lennon concludes.

Acorn Factor invests in California's Local Power

Acorn Factor, Inc. ACFN today announced that it has acquired ten percent of Local Power (LPI), a California-based corporation formed recently by a pioneer in the restructuring of the $325 Billion US retail electricity market. Building upon its successful investment in Comverge, Inc. COMV, a pioneer in the demand response field, Acorn Factor will have the right, for 12 months from today, to purchase an additional 41 percent stake in LPI, bringing its potential total ownership position to 51 percent.

LPI provides consultation services and energy intelligence tools to enable cities to develop renewable electricity resources on a massive scale while utilizing the local utility's distribution infrastructure. LPI's founder, Paul Fenn, created Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), a revolutionary method by which cities can dramatically accelerate deployment of local green power infrastructure in order to diversify their electric power away from fossil fuel to renewable energy and achieve more stable, competitive rates for their communities. There are approximately 1 million consumers currently benefiting from low cost electricity delivered under CCA laws in two states. The two major markets, the Cape Light Compact and the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council in Greater Cleveland, are widely considered to be the only exceptions to the failure of electricity deregulation in the US. In 2002, Fenn authored a CCA law in California, where San Francisco now leads a major movement among municipalities and counties to implement Community Choice.

LPI is building a recurring revenue business with its highly scalable energy service bureau model, assisting cities to adopt, implement and manage CCA networks. CCA offers numerous benefits - city governments become strategic investors in renewable power, local jobs are promoted, rates are stabilized, and the service is popular with environmentally conscious politicians and voters.

In June 2007, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to approve the adoption of a CCA plan authored by Local Power and to proceed with an RFP for implementation bids supported by approximately $1.2 Billion in revenue bonds under the City's "H Bond Authority," which Fenn wrote in 2001. The adoption of CCA by San Francisco is a first by a major city and will implement the largest urban rollout of renewable power in the world - an initial 360 MW of local green power facilities and a 51% Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2017. LPI initially is expected to generate revenues from consulting fees for assisting cities in drafting and implementing CCA implementation plans. There are currently more than forty cities in California considering adopting CCA implementation plans.

Paul Fenn, CEO of Local Power, said, "My dream is that in the next ten years every major city in the USA has the opportunity to painlessly replace at least 50% of its fossil fuel consumption with green power technologies using the tools we have developed at Local Power. Acorn Factor is the logical partner for Local Power because of its success in pioneering demand aggregation at Comverge for peak shaving. Local Power is seeking to apply CCA laws and related mechanisms we have developed to aggregate demand and fund massive deployment of renewable generation and conservation technology." John A. Moore, CEO of Acorn Factor, said that, "Local Power is a terrific opportunity for Acorn Factor to build on its success in aggregating electricity demand and shaping markets at Comverge. Local Power intends to use the CCA laws to expand the use of demand response and go beyond into generation of renewable power through private/public partnerships with the cities. Cities consume 75% of all electricity so with the right tools they are perfectly positioned to lead the green energy revolution. Please visit my blog www.betthejockey.com to learn more about our thinking on Local Power."

About Local Power: Local Power (www.localpower.com) is a pioneer in the restructuring of electricity markets through its innovation of Community Choice Aggregation laws and related mechanisms that enable cities to leverage group buying power and develop renewable power resources on a massive scale while using the local utility's distribution infrastructure. LPI was founded and is directed by Paul Fenn, co-author of the nation's original Community Choice Aggregation law, and author of California's 2002 law, who has successfully worked with local and state governments since 1996 to introduce bills and laws which pioneer alternative power provider options. LPI views Community Choice Aggregation as the purchasing and financing methodology to capitalize on the opportunity of large-scale renewable energy and conservation technologies.

About Acorn Factor: Acorn Factor, Inc. is a holding company for emerging energy ventures which currently owns 2,786,021 shares of Comverge, Inc. COMV common stock - a leading provider of clean energy solutions that enhance grid reliability and enable electric utilities to increase available electric capacity. Acorn specializes in funding and accelerating the growth of emerging ventures that promise meaningful improvements in the economic and environmental efficiency of the energy sector. Acorn Factor also owns an interest in Paketeria GmbH and a controlling position in dsIT. Additional information about Acorn Factor, its dsIT subsidiary and its affiliates is available at www.acornfactor.com, www.dsit.co.il, www.comverge.com, www.localpower.com and www.Paketeria.de.

This press release includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. The Company can provide no assurance that Community Choice Aggregation will be widely accepted, that Local Power will successfully develop its energy service bureau business to assist municipalities with the implementation of Community Choice Aggregation or that such business will generate revenues or profits. Actual results may vary from those projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. A complete discussion of risks and uncertainties which may affect the accuracy of these statements and the Company's business generally is included in "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Contact Information: Bibicoff & Associates, Inc. Terri MacInnis, Dir. of Investor Relations 818-379-8500 terrimac@bibicoff.com

Build It Yourself Solar Energy Site

from www.builditsolar.com

Why Solar




Save Money

Solar thermal projects (space heating, water heating, passive solar homes...) emphasized on this site tend to have good economic payoffs. Many of the projects listed here have simple payback periods under of 3 years.



Building a solar project protects you from future increases in energy prices.



The "dividends" earned from solar DIY projects are inflation protected and tax exempt.



State and federal governments offer economic incentives to encourage development of renewable energy projects. The new federal energy bill offers tax rebates for most solar energy projects. I have completed projects in which the full cost of materials was paid for by these incentives.


Reduce Pollution

Households consume a large part of the energy pie. Solar projects to reduce energy consumption have a significant beneficial effect on fossil fuel emissions.

Good DIY Projects

Solar thermal projects emphasized on this site make good Do It Yourself projects. They are within the skill level of typical DIYers, and offer large savings over using commercial products.


Its Fun:

Good projects to get the kids involved in, illustrating how the sun works, and how best to take advantage of it.

This is something that our great-grandparents understood, but we have lost over the last century of extreme dependence on fossil fuels.

Reduce Dependence on Fossil Fuels:

Being at the mercy of (or in the center of) middle east turmoil, and paying out $15+ billion a month for foreign oil is no fun! So, put on your tool-belt and do something about it!

For a brief and excellent rundown on the energy challenges we face in the US, look here. Its and eye opener.

Also, "The Energy Guy" provides very readable information on energy issues and climate change Energy Issues Summary.


Solar Power Investing Website

Bill Clinton Foundation funds solar energy for 40 medical dispensaries in Tanzania

Clinton`s solar power for 40 dispensaries

By Guardian Reporter

Former US president Bill Clinton will fund solar energy projects in 40 dispensaries and health centres in Lindi and Mtwara regions.

Talking to President Jakaya Kikwete in Arusha yesterday, the former president said he had been satisfied by progress registered in projects undertaken by the Bill Clinton Foundation.

`I have decided to extend a similar project in 40 dispensaries and health centres in Lindi and Mtwara regions,` he said.

The Bill Clinton Foundation has already funded a solar energy project in three dispensaries and one health centre in Masasi District.

Implementation of the solar energy scheme follows a promise Clinton made to President Kikwete when the two met in New York in September last year.

The former US president also expressed his willingness to support the provision of social services in the country.

He mentioned other areas of interest as the fight against HIV/Aids and Malaria.

He promised to appeal to other development partners to support Tanzania.

For his part, President Kikwete commended Clinton for his commitment to Tanzanians, especially the needy.

`I personally, together with Tanzanians, value your contribution in the fight against malaria and HIV/Aids in this country. We also thank you for supporting community services,` said Kikwete.

The President said solar energy would improve provision of health services in rural areas.

The former US president arrived in the country on Sunday and launched an anti-malaria programme.

Clinton said the programme, which entails introducing cheaper malaria drugs, would start as a pilot project in Maswa and Kongwa districts.

The program is to be implemented jointly by Tanzania and the Clinton Foundation so as to ensure that the medicine is 95 percent cheaper.

Global Renewable Energy Fund to partner with many firms and countries

Between Energy, Telephony And Sustainable Devt

By Abimbola Akosile And Nseobong Okon-Ekong, Lagos

from www.allafrica.com

Despite encouraging prospects and robust records, energy efficiency technologies and renewable energy projects and businesses face significant difficulties in raising sufficient finance for investment. Indeed the problems are complex: mainly concerning lack of risk capital, which provides important collateral for lenders.

In emergent economies the need for risk capital is estimated at over -9 billion, far above existing levels. This shortfall largely accounts for why lenders are averse to financing even potentially viable commercial ventures.

Fortunately, aimed at the expansion of renewable energy, energy efficiency and other clean energy technologies, markets and services, the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF) will enhance private sector access to risk capital through the patient capital mechanism because it offers various ways of risk sharing and co-funding in investment funds.

The GEEREF is a public-private investment fund focusing on developing countries and economies in transition. Set on making initial investments before the end of 2007, it will provide risk capital to investment funds specialised in advancing small and medium sized projects and companies in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sector.

GEEREF is expected to reach a first closing of around -140 million including -80 million of the European Commission (the Fund's promoting investor) and -24 million of the German Government. Italian (-8 million) and Norwegian Governments (-10 million) have shown strong interest and are expected to be among the group of initial investors.

Incidentally, fund management companies, financial institutions, project developers and individuals in the energy sector are invited to present their business plans.

The GEEREF can provide equity, or other applicable financing instruments with a typical investment horizon of between 10-15 years. Moreover, investments can be subordinated to other investors in the investment fund, as well as financially support the creation, operations and pipeline development of investment funds.

In as much as GEEREF will be active in Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Non-EU Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, investments will be demand-driven with priority given to countries or regions with supportive energy efficiency and renewable energy policies that are conducive to private sector engagement.

Emphasis needs to be placed on deploying technologies with a proven technical record of accomplishment; such as small hydro projects, on-shore wind, geothermal, solar, biomass, biogas, modern cooking fuels and bio-fuels.

Energy efficiency projects will qualify in particular where similar financing barriers need to be resolved. Co-firing solutions, energy service companies and other small and medium scale energy efficient solutions will qualify.

Risk capital will be provided at affordable 'patient' terms whereby the degree of patience will reflect local and global benefits offered by the investment funds and their underlying projects. GEEREF's participation in an investment fund can range from between 25% to just below 50% for small and medium investment funds in underdeveloped markets with first-time management teams.

Participations in investment funds in more developed markets are more likely in a 5% - 15% range. In addition to investment capital, the fund can offer grants and seed capital to potential clients to support the creation, the operations and pipeline development in concert with improving or increasing the value of underlying assets of the investment funds.

This support is crucial to realise the full development potential of the GEEREF's investment objectives and for mitigating risks associated with investing in less advanced regions. Additional capital could be mobilised through the fund-in-fund structure including the project and SME level.

The fund also intends to recycle and reinvest the participations from public sector investors. The leverage of public funds could

be up to a factor of 10: considerably higher than for conventional grant-based schemes, which ask for 50-70% co-funding.

This innovative instrument could serve as a positive example to be replicated by other public and private investors. Once fully invested and leveraged, GEEREF could bring almost 1 Gigawatt of environmentally sound energy capacity to developing country markets. Annually, this could serve 1.25-1.75 million people with sustainable energy services, substituting 1-2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents per annum.

The GEEREF will also broaden the range of instruments to effectively support the development and transfer of environmentally sound technologies between developed and emergent countries.

The benefits of an innovative investment tool such as the GEEREF exceeds the mere availability of risk capital at appropriate terms. Therefore, cooperation is sought amongst local fund managers and project developers, to create optimal conditions for each investment fund to serve the development of a vibrant and market-based local market for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Development efforts (e.g. search for markets for their perishable goods) by indigenes could be aided by mobile phones, which need electricity to charge up.

Issues like this (including many others) limit the people's ability to achieve self-determination. Moreover, from March through December 2005, MTN Nigeria's subscriber base increased significantly from 5.6 to 8.4 million.

In the first quarter of 2006, Glo Mobile announced its subscription base had reached 5 million, two years after it began operations. Celtel (formerly Econet, and Vmobile) said at the end of 2005 it had approximately three million subscribers; current figures estimated at over four million.

Figures above are from 2005 and 2006. Presently, the assessment is that between MTN, Glo Mobile and Celtel, alone, GSM subscribers in Nigeria exceed 25 million and is growing.

Solar technology is tested and proven. Still, it is sad to note that though the African continent receives significant radiant energy, solar is not commanding enough support through research, development and implementation.

In Europe, solar electricity is nearly five times as expensive as conventional electricity but grid-connected PV is gaining cost/benefit advantages through integration into buildings and other designs.

If solar is to make significant contributions towards socio-economic and environmental sustainability in Nigeria, green tariffs and green electricity accessible to everyone including a fair price to groups generating solar electricity should be explored.

Adopting a centrally funded energy-efficiency programme with subsidies for renewable energy sources can encourage the citizenry to do more with less. The time to act is now.

- Additional vital information provided by Mr. Melford Ita, a Lagos based energy consultan.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2007 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

View also:

Clean Energy Investing Website

UK renewable energy investment funds back ethanol, wind power

Buyout groups struggle to invest to save the planet

by Catherine Craig, www.financialnews-us.com

In spite of Sir David Walker’s admonition in his review of the private equity industry published last week that legislation requires company directors to pay regard to “the impact of the company’s operations on the environment”, large buyout firms trying to invest in assets that are environmentally sustainable face big challenges.

Opportunities to put money into mature companies with a green agenda remain sparse, say industry specialists.

As a result, few mainstream private equity firms have a co-ordinated green investment strategy, where they may be susceptible to interest-rate fluctuations and legislative uncertainty, according to research by Financial News. Most firms say their priority lies with generating returns to investors, not saving the planet.

In the UK the Kyoto protocol, discussions on which began in 1997, has resulted in commercial opportunities in the renewable energy sector to reduce carbon emissions. The Carlyle Group recently backed Ensus Ethanol, a wheat-based bioethanol plant in northern England. But 3i, the listed private equity group, which leads by value in renewable energy according to research firm New Energy Finance, invests only on an ad hoc basis in venture and buyout opportunities in the sector.

There are few UK buyout funds that invest in mature renewable energy companies. Research group Private Equity Intelligence lists only one such fund – HgCapital – that specializes in clean technology investment. Its €300m ($414m) renewable energy fund, Renewable Power Partners, was raised last year by Tom Murley, a lawyer with investment experience in renewables.

The fund invests mainly in mature European wind energy projects. Ian Armitage, chairman of HgCapital, said: “We set the fund up for our existing investors looking to hedge against inflation as well as new investors looking for exposure to low carbon economies. Hg substantially invests in proven technology; it has no interest in investing heavily in technology that is not tried and tested.”

Thomas Rottner, a director with Platina Finance, which owns the UK’s largest onshore wind farm at Burton Wold near Kettering, said: “On assets only, we expect targeted returns of about 12%.

Developed infrastructure assets tend to be safe but you can inject a bit of excitement into returns by putting a small portion of the fund into development.” For this reason, Platina invests in early-stage wind technology and wind farm development projects and has achieved an internal rate of return of 30% on its early stage fund. Hg also invests in wind power development projects in Europe on which it has first refusal once the plants are set up.

The disparity between investment in mature clean-technology opportunities and venture investment is borne out by the fact that private equity investment, including buyout and growth capital, fell in the first half of this year to $3.2bn, while venture capital investment rose to $5.4bn, according to New Energy Finance.

European venture capitalists have seen the merits of investing in clean technology and made an average return of 87% a year on venture investment in low carbon technologies since 1999, according to New Energy Finance. Apax Partners made one of the best venture returns in Europe when it floated solar energy specialist Q-Cells on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange last year, achieving 27 times its money on a investment of €11m over two years.

But investing directly in sustainable companies, whether in the renewable energy sector or elsewhere, may prove a red herring.

Forum for the Future, a non-government organization which lobbies businesses to use sustainability to their commercial advantage, published a paper at the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s annual conference last year, suggesting that buyout houses could raise their profile with government and the public by acting and investing sustainably and find cost efficiencies through their own portfolios of companies.

The report said: “Where the private equity investor is seeking to grow a company over the medium term, then an integrated sustainable development analysis may add value.”

It suggested improving energy efficiency in portfolio companies by saving on water and other resources; undertaking an environmental audit to ensure that environmental compliance standards can be met or improved upon, and better supply chain management as a way to save on environmental and economic costs.


Clean Energy Investing Website

Forbes article on solar power in India and China

India's Powerful Dilemma

by Paul Maidment, Forbes.com


Over the past quarter of a century, India's energy consumption has tripled. The rate of growth is faster than China's, albeit from a lower base, though the causes are the same: rapid economic development, a large and growing population and increasing urbanization. So is the potential threat to air quality and water supplies.

Even under conservative estimates of growth, India's energy requirements are likely to increase by a further third in the second half of this decade, driven by industry, transportation and domestic electricity consumption as living standards rise. Yet India's ambition to grow its economy at a long-term annual rate of 8% is running up against an energy constraint.

Solving it will require continued reliance on fossil fuels--notably coal--greater energy imports and root-and-branch reform of electricity generation, which in India is an inadequate, insufficient and insolvent provision of power that is already causing environmental damage to water supplies.

India currently uses coal for about half of its energy needs. Few see that share changing much over the next two decades, even as overall energy use grows. The country risks creating the same environmental problems for itself that now confront China? (See "Pollution and Prosperity.")

India already has energy-related water shortages. The country's legions of small farmers are heavily subsidized to pump water for irrigation. This not only drains an unreliable and insufficient supply of rural power but also depletes water tables across the subcontinent. This creates a vicious cycle. Lower water tables require farmers to consume more energy to pump ever-deeper water supplies with ever larger pumps. This, in turn, puts more strain on power supplies and contributes to higher levels of greenhouse gases.

Electricity reform is central to both India's economic development and its environmental protection. India produces a lot of electricity, but 30% to 50% is lost along the delivery chain. Utilities that collectively lose $7 billion a year not only fail to deliver the power needed but are soaking up billions of rupees in bail-outs--money that could otherwise be spent on education and health services.

The government has been liberalizing the sector for the past 15 years, but progress is slow, despite the priority given to distribution reform. Thousands of villages are still off-grid, and power shortages in cities are common.

Power generation accounts for most of the coal consumed in India, with heavy industry a distant second. Most electricity is generated from pollution-generating, high-ash coal. The government is promoting a switch from coal-fired to natural-gas plants for power generation and cutting subsidies for low-quality coal--part of a general move to market pricing for energy and anti-pollution measures.

That is happening slowly, too. Replacing existing coal-fired plants is a capital-intensive and time-consuming process. Many of India's highly polluting, low-efficiency coal-fired power plants will stay in operation for years to come. The most feasible alternative, natural gas, has seen its share of India's energy consumption rise from 1.4% in 1980 to only 7% today.

While natural gas is at the heart of the government's policy for cleaner power generation and fertilizer production for the country's huge farm sector, India faces potential problems. Its natural gas imports come from Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Miramar--all places that raise questions about the reliability of supply. India's own untapped natural gas fields lie under deep seas.

Renewables are not seen to be feasible on a commercial scale in the foreseeable future. India has one of the largest national programs to promote the use of solar energy, but unlike many developed countries that have turned to solar energy mainly out of concern about the environment and energy security, solar power in India is seen as a cost-effective way to provide energy to small villages and remote areas off the national grid where there is a shortage of electricity.

Nuclear power may by the long-term alternative to coal, but for now, there is little that will check the rapid growth of India's carbon emissions--rising faster than even China's. India has not made the same progress in energy efficiency as China. Its ability to wring economic growth out of each unit of energy it consumes has remained flat for two decades, whereas China has improved markedly.

A big reason is the lack of energy efficiency and conservation measures in most industries at the local level. Ever since the Bhopal disaster in 1984, India has had strong environment protections enshrined in law. However, their effectiveness diminishes due to a lack of enforcement that grows laxer the closer administration gets to the local level.

Thus, air pollution has become India's most severe environmental problem, and one that is likely to continue to worsen. India's per capita carbon emissions are relatively low, at 1.2 metric tons of carbon per person in 2003. (China's emissions were 3.2 metric tons per person, and the U.S.'s 19.8). But India's emissions are forecast to triple by 2020 due to the rapid pace of urbanization, increased use of cars and trucks and the continued use of older and more inefficient coal-fired plants for power generation.

As in China, continued urbanization has exacerbated the problem of rapid industrialization. Cities are frequently unable to implement adequate pollution control, and some India cities--including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata--are among the world's most polluted. Urban air quality ranks among the world's worst.

Also as in China, sheer population growth and urbanization make it all the more difficult to pull off the balancing trick of continuing to generate economic growth without destroying the quality of life in both the cities and villages. But unlike China, India has a strained power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure that is already hampering growth.

For more info:

Alternative Energy Website

India ideal for solar power development

Solar Electricity in Asia - Photovoltaic Panels - Aleternative Energy

Solar Energy India

from clean-energy-ideas.com

The geographical location of India allows for long days of sunny weather for the majority of the year. This advantage allows solar energy in India to be a viable option for a means of generating electricity for a large proportion of the population.

Indias high population which is around 4x that of the United States' population means generating enough power can be quite a task.

The energy consumption in India is currently allot less than that of the United States, and this shows how a large proportion of Indias population does not have access to electricity. The use of solar energy in India could change this problem, and provide a clean, cheap source of electricity for many areas of India.

It is said that the geographical location of India means the country receives well over 4500 trillion kWh of pure solar energy each year, which is far beyond the annual power consumption for India, and even that of the United States who in 2004 used less than 4 trillion kWh of energy.

Solar energy has a huge potential for the population of India, yet the installation of solar energy systems still remains a high cost solution for many countries where fossil fuel energy provides most of the electricity needed.

As solar energy technologies become cheaper, we should start to see a huge shift towards the use of solar energy sources in many countries like India, and we are already seeing small scale installations of this nature.

The main con of solar energy which lies at the heart of the debate of proposed solar installations for many countries such as India is the cost, but as time goes by, manufacturing methods can become simpler therefore making the end product cheaper.'

India will take a huge advantage of the available solar energy supplied to the country in the future, and we can hope this will lead to an improved standard of living for much of the population.

Homo Habilus and Homo Erectus co-existed for a long time

Human family tree redrawn

TheStar.com - News - Human family tree redrawn

The path of evolution isn't the straight line once imagined, fossil study suggests

Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

WASHINGTON–Surprising fossils dug up in Africa are creating messy kinks in the iconic straight line of human evolution with its knuckle-dragging ape and briefcase-carrying man.

The new research by famed paleontologist Meave Leakey in Kenya shows our family tree is more like a wayward bush with stubby branches, calling into question the evolution of our ancestors.

The old theory was that the first and oldest species in our family tree, Homo habilis, evolved into Homo erectus, which then became us, Homo sapiens. But those two earlier species lived side by side about 1.5 million years ago in parts of Kenya for at least half a million years, Leakey and colleagues report in a paper published in today's journal Nature.

In 2000, Leakey found an old Homo erectus complete skull within walking distance of an upper jaw of the Homo habilis, and both dated from the same general time period. That makes it unlikely that one evolved from the other, researchers said.

It's the equivalent of finding that your grandmother and great-grandmother were sisters rather than mother-daughter, said study co-author Fred Spoor, a professor of evolutionary anatomy at the University College in London.

The two species lived near each other, but probably didn't interact with each other, each having their own "ecological niche," Spoor said. Homo habilis was likely more vegetarian and Homo erectus ate some meat, he said.

Like chimps and apes, "they'd just avoid each other, they don't feel comfortable in each other's company," he said.

They have some still-undiscovered common ancestor that probably lived two million to three million years ago, a time that has not left much fossil record, Spoor said.

Overall, what it paints for human evolution is a "chaotic kind of looking evolutionary tree rather than this heroic march that you see with the cartoons of an early ancestor evolving into some intermediate and eventually unto us," Spoor said in a phone interview from a field office of the Koobi Fora Research Project in northern Kenya.

That old evolutionary cartoon, while popular with the general public, keeps getting proven wrong and too simple, said Bill Kimbel, who praised the latest findings. He is science director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University and wasn't involved in the research team.

"The more we know, the more complex the story gets," he said. Scientists used to think Homo sapiens evolved from Neanderthals, he said, but now know that both species lived during the same time period and that we did not come from Neanderthals.

Now a similar discovery applies further back in time.

Leakey's team – which included scientist Frederick Manthi, who posed for pictures with the fossils yesterday in Kenya – spent seven years analyzing the fossils before announcing their findings that it was time to redraw the family tree and rethink other ideas about human evolutionary history, especially about our most immediate ancestor, Homo erectus.

Because the Homo erectus skull Leakey recovered was much smaller than others, scientists had to first prove that it was erectus and not another species nor a genetic freak. The jaw, probably from an 18- or 19-year-old female, was adult and showed no signs of any type of malformations or genetic mutations, Spoor said. The scientists also know it isn't Homo habilis from several distinct features on the jaw.

That caused researchers to re-examine the 30 other erectus skulls they have and the dozens of partial fossils. They realized that the females of that species are much smaller than the males – something different from modern man, but similar to other animals, said study co-author Susan Anton, a New York University anthropologist.

Scientists hadn't looked carefully enough before to see that there was a distinct difference in males and females.

UN climate change report predicted this strange 2007 weather

UN report predicted extreme weather

TheStar.com - News - UN report predicted extreme weather

Tornado in New York, floods in South Asia fit climate change warning

GENEVA–Flooding in Asia, a cyclone in the Middle East, and extreme temperatures around the globe this year have borne out warnings in a key climate change report, a UN expert says.

"The start of the year 2007 was a very active year in terms of extreme climatic and meteorological events," Omar Baddour, a climatologist with the UN's World Meteorological Organization, said in an interview earlier this week.

In May, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report warning that global warming would increase the number of extreme weather events and cause more natural disasters that will hit the poor hardest.

"When we observe such extremes in individual years, it means that this fits well with current knowledge from the IPCC report on global trends," Baddour said.

Few in New York City would have disagreed yesterday when a series of storms packed high winds, torrential rains and a tornado that touched down several times in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

The tornado, with winds raging up to 217 km/h, ripped off roofs and damaged dozens of buildings as it hopscotched through neighbourhoods at around 6:30 a.m.

The storm, which flooded subway tunnels and underpasses, caused commuter chaos and was blamed for the death of a woman whose car got stuck in an underpass and was hit by another car.

Across the world this year, more serious weather catastrophes have killed many people.

Record storms, floods and heat waves have occurred in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

Hundreds have died and thousands have lost their livelihoods in floods since the start of the year in South Asia, China, Mozambique, Sudan and Uruguay. May to July was the wettest such period in England and Wales since records began in 1766, the UN meteorological organization said. It said two heat waves in southeast Europe in June and July broke records, with temperatures in Bulgaria hitting 45C.

Global surface temperatures in January were the highest since records began. According to UN data, temperatures were 1.89C above the 127-year average.

from thestar.com

Find Alternative Energy Investing Information

The sellout of corporate Canada

Caldwell Securities report Sellout of Corporate Canada

Sprott Securities and Caldwell Securities have been two firms that represent investors in a fair and unbiased way. Most people are unconcerned about the selloff of Canadian companies, but the folks at Caldwell are speaking loudly about the risks associated with the loss of head offices and business leadership.

Read the Sellout of Corporate Canada report by clicking here to get the pdf.

Canadian windpower firm Boralex sees sales rise 56%, profit triples

Boralex profit, sales catch fire

from TheStar.com / Canada Press - Business - Boralex profit, sales catch fire

Second-quarter results unseasonably strong

August 09, 2007

MONTREAL–Alternative-energy producer Boralex Inc. is feeling pretty flush as it develops its first Canadian wind farm, in Ontario, and bids for a massive Quebec project.

"These projects, our first on Canadian soil, will further diversify our income source coming from wind, while providing us better geographical diversification," Boralex chief executive officer Patrick Lemaire said yesterday during a conference call on second-quarter results.

The Montreal-based company recorded an unseasonably stronger second quarter as higher wood-generation power in the United States helped to quadruple earnings and energy sales increased 56 per cent. Last month, Boralex signed a deal to acquire nine wind farms, with an installed capacity of 10 megawatts each, in the Windsor region.

The company is also setting its sights on Quebec's massive wind farm proposal. Lemaire said Boralex and partners Gaz Metro and the Seminaire de Quebec are in a good position to secure 400 megawatts of the total slated to come on stream in 2010.

The 300-employee company has 22 power stations totalling 347 megawatts in Quebec, the northeastern United States and France.

Company revenue grew to $32.4 million from $20.8 million, while earnings more than tripled to $4.8 million, or 15 cents a share, from $1.4 million, or five cents.

Lemaire said Boralex should benefit from strong long-term fundamentals in renewable energy.