ONE OF the biggest battles the world is fighting today is “global warming”. India has a big hidden opportunity, to cash onto the situation. With the reduction in the greenhouse emission, the nation can make good money.
India is fourth largest carbon dioxide emitter of the world, with emission of 1.34 billion tonnes. China leads the charts here as well (6.2 billion tonne) followed by America (6 billion tonne) and Russia (1.5 billion tonne) at the third position. Beijing and New Delhi are arguing on the point that per their per capita incomes are one of the lowest. If we wait to raise our per capita income to that of the developed countries like America, we will convert our planet into planet of carbon.
An opportunity has been sensed by the businessmen of the nation. The leaders among them are Suzlon Energy and Tata BP Solar. Area of focus of Suzlon Energy is to convert wind energy into electrical energy. This is one of the eco-friendly methods to produce electricity, which is gathering momentum today. Initial investment to install the equipment, the basic equipment cost is high compared to thermal energy, but the cost is recovered in three-four year. It takes Rs 3 crore to produce one MW energy from coal and around Rs 20 crore to produce the same amount of energy using wind. Tata BP solar converts solar energy to the usable energy at home. The problem here is same, high initial cost. Water resources to produce hydro-electricity are not optimally utilised. When the focus will shift to these eco-friendly methods to produce electricity, it will be a complete win-win situation. First and foremost it will create employment opportunities. Followed by reduction in CO2 emission and thus, branding India as a eco-friendly emerging economy.
The path to create a pollution-free nation is not as easy as it seems to be. This is because of the vested interest of few decision makers. Thermal power plants, which work at 21 per cent efficiency (15 per cent less then the global standard) and which emits 53 per cent of the total CO2 emission of the nation are being run without any improvement.
Coal being used for power generation is of low quality, only for personal gains of few. The new technology improves the efficiency by 5-7 per cent and increases initial cost of 10 per cent, which is still a profitable deal. The nation is again beaten upon the policy front. The government is not implementing policies, which boost energy sector, especially the companies producing power in the eco-friendly manner. It is not providing subsidies to enhance the research and development (R & D) work in this area. Money is diversified to agriculture sector, again for political gain. Government should reduce taxes on the hybrid and electric cars. Civic hybrid is the latest example in the list, where the govt. charges cent percent import duty, thus discouraging people from purchasing it. Sooner the government wakes up and rises above the self interest, earlier it will brighten up the bottom-line of the companies.
To reduce the CO2 emission is the global priority. The government has to chalk out policies on this line itself. The earlier the government does this, the larger the market share, the companies will be able to capture.
