. India has for quite some time pursued GHG friendly policies in her own interest. India’s obligation to minimize energy consumption - particularly oil consumption - and to deal with its environmental problems prompts it to follow many such policies. Directly or indirectly these efforts are made by Government aswell as by people to reduce energy consumption.
These include: -
a) Emphasis on energy conservation.
b) Promotion of renewable energy sources.
c) Abatement of air pollution.
d) Afforestation and wasteland development.
e) Economic reforms, subsidy removal and joint ventures in capital goods.
f) Fuel substitution policies.
Some of these efforts are on-going for several decades and are institutionalized in a number of waysthrough policies, programs and the creation of specific institutions. These are government efforts; inaddition there are a number of measures taken by people themselves. Some because of resource minimizingcultural traditions as well as good practices that exist in India and some due to sheer povertyand deprivation. We discuss each of the above separately.
While some of the energy savings are due to conscious resource utilization practices in a positive sense,the dark side has to do with human drudgery and deprivation. These include “compulsory Forced energy savings” by the poor due to deprivation. These ranges from-
a) Lack of electricity connections and if connected, then a lack of electric appliances and even ofadequate light bulbs in rural households.
b) Lack of piped water or pumps that require long trips by women and children on foot to obtain surfacewater.
c) Lack of even cooking fuels due to which the poor depend on biomass rather than clean and convenientfossil fuels.
d) Lack of fans and heating devices for a large percentage of households that are necessary for comfortand productivity.
e) Lack of basic infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and roads that are essential elements for human development.
All of the above save energy at the cost of human welfare. Clearly, it is not recommended to continue theexisting state of affairsIf India is committed to human development, poverty eradication should take place. This may result in anincreased energy use. This may be considered a due right of the poor, even if it increases India’s GHGemissions.
Promotion of Renewable Energy
Apart from energy conservation and efficiency improvements, the need to find, develop and exploit nonconventional energy sources, many of them clean and renewable, has long been recognized by theGovernment of India. An aggregate installed capacity of 2302 MW through various renewable energy sources, namely, wind farms, micro-hydroelectric plants, biomass & cogeneration power plants, biomass based gasifies systems etc.
Q50. Why India is more concerned about the Climate Change?
Answer.Indians should be concerned about climate change since this phenomenon might have substantial adverseimpacts on them. Not all possible consequences of climate change are yet fully understood, but the three main ‘categories’ of impacts are those on agriculture, sea level rise leading to submergence of coastalareas, as well as increased frequency of extreme events. Each of themposes serious threats to India.However, these are long term issues. The overriding immediate concern for India should be the fast pace at which negotiations are taking place on the climate front. India’s main energy resource is coal. With thethreat of climate change, India is called upon to change its energy strategy based on coal, its mostabundant resource, and to use other energy sources (e.g. oil, gas, renewable and nuclear energy) instead,which may turn out to be expensive. Thus, an immediate issue is to come up with a better negotiationstrategy such that we have more freedom to decide which type of energy we use, how we generate power,how to reduce methane emissions by agricultural practices or forestry and so on. Negotiations areimportant for us as a means to reduce or postpone future vulnerability by getting the developed countries to reduce their emissions.
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