Can India really afford renewable energy?

Renewable Energy resources such as sun, wind, biomass are in plenty. Conversion of these resources to provide energy is in most of the cases affordable, provided the technology or equipment or the project is indigeneously procured.

The fact that the initial investment is comparatively high cannot

be denied but it cannot be discussed in singularity.We must

also consider the operational cost,environmental cost and

feasibility with continuing with status quo.Just for sake of

an example take hydel power ,yes, the initial investment is

more but what about relative operational cost involved in an

equivalent coal based thermal power plant . What about pollution ? Just because

west has already polluted the environment cannot be the basis for tpolluting it further.

About  half of 1.1biillions without electricity(I doubt this ! ),for most of them Solar

powered lamps and led torches are the  only means of lightening....Need is the

mother of invention I suppose ! May be there are cheaper alternatives..

better alternatives...

There was a time  when computers were  a luxury..today?

Dear!!

As per my understanding this is only Govt.Mythic,

Concern Deptt.from Govt. can be augmented at later stage as well.

Mr. Phani Mohan Krishna,  Valid points  1 India is full of talent and skill.  we are using this talent for yes boss materisl. Why can't we use it for creation of low cost energy and save earth.

When other countries can do why can't we?/

First let us list out renewable energy sources  so that our discussion turn out useful

Solar enrgy, wind energy are the energies where we do not require huge material like coal, water, gas etc.,  so mwhy can"t we use. 

I also support more R&D on these lines by govt as well as industry. Which makes us save lot of natural resouces and gets cheaper when we put more and R&D. 

yes bcoz our nonrenewable things are goinig to finshed so we have to use renewwable things ang is free of cost also so one can afford it

in present situation renewable energy is the only one way to complete our need because ,coal ,petrol,gas are limeted quantity in 2020 we import 92% of our energy demand in other countries they are very expansive so it time to take decision to use renewable sources just like a solar,geothermal,hydro,fuel cell and MHD and any other more at present renewable energy cost in high because of less use ,so we are the engineer we try to reduce there cost reduce the prob.. of global warming ....................  

yes i am totally agree but we have to proceed for this. and i am going to plan for photovoltaic cell

I agree with this argument because the infrastructure and distribution cost for non-renewable energy is huge. That is why renewable energy can be used more easily in places with poor infrastructure.

We have come to a stage wherein we have to act now if we have to give liveable conditions for future generations. Global Climate change is causing immense damage to the environmental cycle. With the current emission levels sea levels are expected to rise by atleast 2-4 cms in the next 15 years which puts the costal regions of india at a higher risk.

The cost of going for renewable energy is huge - but the cost of not doing it will cost the economy in billions. So India has to build a scalable model for harnessing renewable energy like solar, wind and hydel projects to help the world create a cleaner world

Padmaja, it is a good debate. I don't completely deny your argument, but in a vast country like India with lots of potential for renewable energy generation, we can always find means to generate renewable energy in cost effective way. It may not be an alternative to thermal power, but it can take its own contribution.

For this, R&D efforts by institutes like IITs in this area should be improved and corporates should come forward wherever possible. We are still in shortage of energy supply, and renewable sources can contribute irrespective of cost factor.

Use of Renewal energy is not an option, but it is the only way Forward. Not only for safeguarding environment, but also to ensure less dependency on non-renewal source of energy. I do not think we need to put in years of re-search in re-inventing the wheel. In stead we can focus on some of the technology which can be easily adopted. Tropical countries like India has abundant source of Sun Light and hence use of Solar energy as an alternative should be explored. Imagine after 60+ years of independence we still have villages without basic supply of electicity. One of the reason is of-course generating and distributing energy based on non-renewal sources are too expensive. In stead of investing huge amount in such a project which is soon getting out-dated, it makes sense to invest in generating energy from renewal sources like Solar power. A good example is Jammu & Kashmir were many villages have got Solar power. The same can be done in other parts of the country.

Energy can be derived from various sources and if we do not look at its footprint we deliver a land full of natural calamities and disasters which are man made.

lot of research and funding is needed for these clean technologies and our institutions which produce lakhs of engineers annually should be breeding ground for skill and Talent. no political rhetoric can produce the talent it should be inculcated in our system of education. Green Technologies are the future and achievable. Israel ,Spain,Cuba small nations are able to achieve a direction , we too can...