Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
6.1
Solar Energy
liking giving fi nancial subsidy for installing
SWHS. Such incentives help consumers to adopt
new and renewable technologies at an affordable
price point. Another area which could take solar
revolution to the next level is rural lighting and
cooking. Renewables like solar could be used to
improve lighting conditions in rural India. One
such initiative has been taken by the Energy
Resource Institute (TERI). In 2008, TERI initiated
'Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL)' campaign.
Under the initiative, about 100,000 solar lanterns
have been provided to rural households, benefi ting
nearly 1.3 million lives across the country.
Similarly, the initiative on cooking stoves has
reached out to close to 2,131 households in Uttar
Pradesh (Times News Network
2013
). On aver-
age, India has 300 sunny days per year and receives
an average hourly radiation of 200 MW/km
2
. The
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
(JNNSM) has set a target of achieving at least
20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by
2022, and this could put India among the leading
solar countries in the world, not only in total
installed solar capacity but also in manufactur-
ing components and technology research and
development.
Green economy is bound to be driven by green
fuel in the future, especially solar energy likely to
play a pivotal role for many green economies. In
the recent past, employment growth rate suffered
signifi cantly even in the most advanced countries
like the USA and developing countries like India.
Solar energy is not only going to improve domes-
tic energy supply scenario in many countries like
India, China and the USA, but also create huge
job opportunities in power generation, equipment
manufacturing and allied sectors. Such develop-
ments are going to improve employment, social
welfare and living standards in countries like
India. China has been making a steady impact on
export of solar panels and cells. In 2012, in the
solar sector, China has exported over US$ 10 bil-
lion worth of solar panels and cells, almost 80
times the value it exported only 10 years earlier.
Similarly in India there is a thrust on developing
manufacturing capabilities within the country
and easing of import restrictions for effi cient
deployment of advanced technologies like solar
PV. Developing homegrown technologies and
manufacturing facilities would be helpful for the
growth of local economy, promote entrepreneur-
ial venture and create employment and moreover
build global reputation.
The Worldwide Solar Water Heating System
(SWHS) has been attracting the attention of the
policymakers especially due to its high potential to
reduce electricity consumption in domestic, com-
mercial and industrial segments and consequent
emissions reduction. In countries like India having
abundant solar energy, available almost around the
year could be used for SWHS. Several cities across
India even suffer from acute power shortage, and
residents don't get electricity for heating purposes.
Many households use subsidised liquefi ed petro-
leum gas (LPG) for water heating, and it does
impact the economic environment. A better solu-
tion of water heating could be SWHS. However,
the high initial cost of the SWHS has been found
to be the major hurdle for large-scale deployment
of SWHS. To reduce customer inertia and increase
adoption of SWHS, the government devises and
implements desirable customer-friendly schemes
6.2
Wind Energy
In 2012, the cumulative installed wind turbine
capacity in the world reached 284,237 MW from
47,935 MW in 2004. China (26.5 %) has been
leading the way in terms of capacity addition fol-
lowed by the USA (21.2 %), Germany (11 %),
Spain (7.9 %) and India (6.5 %). About 73 % of
capacity addition in 2012 has been contributed by
the top fi ve countries (Table
7
). Strong growth of
wind energy albeit from a lower base is a very
clear indicator that leading energy-consuming
countries are moving very fast towards green
energy. For example, the USA added 13 GW of
wind energy in 2012-2013 representing capacity
to power more than 15 million homes each year,
wind becoming the fastest-growing source of
power in the USA and estimated to employ over
80,000 American workers. The tremendous growth
of the wind industry in the USA over the past few
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