Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
A Comprehensive Overview
of Renewable Energy Status
in India
Atul Sharma , Jaya Srivastava , and Anil Kumar
1
Introduction
Commission
2013
). This rapid growth in demand
can be attributed to the rise in population and
increasing economic development. Energy is a
catalyst for economic growth. Hence, there is a
need to generate and effi ciently transmit more
and more energy to all parts of the country.
Increasing demand and use of energy brings
with it challenges of pollution and environmental
degradation. At the same time rising crude oil
prices are posing a problem of affordability for
the common man. Conventional sources of
energy are no longer suffi cient to feed this power-
hungry nation. The need of the hour is to make
the energy basket of the country more broad
based and to decrease the nation's dependence on
coal and fossil fuels. Renewable energy is there-
fore being explored as an emerging viable solu-
tion to the energy problems of the nation.
Energy is considered a prime agent in the genera-
tion of wealth and a signifi cant factor in eco-
nomic development. Energy is also essential for
improving the quality of life. Development of
conventional forms of energy for meeting the
growing energy needs of society at a reasonable
cost is the responsibility of the Government.
India is a burgeoning economy with an ever
expanding need for energy. During the recent
decades the rate at which energy demand has
grown in India is one of the fastest in the world.
India currently ranks as the world's seventh larg-
est energy producer, accounting for about 2.49 %
of the world's total annual energy production. It
is also the world's fi fth largest energy consumer,
accounting for about 3.45 % of the world's total
annual energy consumption in 2004 (Planning
1.1
What Is Renewable Energy?
Renewable energy is called “renewable” because
the sources harnessed to create the energy renew
and replenish themselves constantly and within a
reasonably short period of time (i.e., months or
years, not centuries). These sources of energy
include water, wind, sun, biomass, and heat from
the Earth's interior. The term renewable energy
excludes energy created by nuclear fuels, such as
uranium, and fossil fuels (oil, gas, and coal) because
fossil fuels take millions of years to form and, once
removed, require as many years to form again.
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