Viable alternatives

As the first Secretary to the Government of India in the newly established department of Science and technology, Dr Arcot Ramachandran, who has been honoured with the Padma Bhushan award this year, had a major role in the setting up of agencies like the National Remote Sensing Agency, the Ocean Science and Technology Agency, Environment Planning, Co-ordination and Research Programme, the National Information System for Science and Technology, and the New Energy Sources Research and Development Programme, all of which have become ministries now, besides formulating the country?s first Science and Technology Plan. Along with scientists like Dr M S Swaminathan, Dr Ramachandran is one of the few scientists in the country who have a strategic vision for India?s development that links progress with technology development and transfer. He started off with research on the dynamics of heat transfer, a field of study which has wide ranging applications from rocket re-entry to domestic geysers, and it was under Dr Ramachandran?s initiative that the School of Heat Transfer and Energy Research in the IIT, Madras was established, besides the Indian Society for Heat and Mass Transfer. Dr Ramachandran, for a long and extended tenure of 13 years has also lead the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, formulating programmes like the ?Sustainable Cities? programme and the Sustainable Human Settlements Development Programme, which have been transforming the lives of millions of people across the globe. Dr Arcot Ramachandran now focuses his attention on alternate and renewable energy sources serving as chairman of Tata Energy Research Institute, and holds that access to energy (sources) and power are the two things that can pull our villages from poverty and propel them into the forefront of development. He speaks to Hema Vijay on the possibilities that lie ahead in alternative energy sources. What is the status of the country?s energy reserves? India has tremendous reserves of coal, which are estimated to last for another 200 years. Of course, using coal as fuel brings pollution in and the strategy now should be on developing ?clean coal techniques?. I visualize that by the middle of this century, 20 per cent of our energy needs would be met by hydro power, another 20 by nuclear reactors, another 20 by alternative and renewable energy sources like wind and sun, and the remaining 40 per cent through fossil fuels like coal, and petroleum. I believe that we will continue to discover oil reserves, though not on the same magnitude as it was in the last century. With regard to alternative energy sources, what should be the strategy? The modus operandi now should be on developing localised, site specific, mini power stations, be it a hydel power station or wind mill powered or a biomass powered station, which would distribute power to a small local population. Alternative and renewable sources of energy like biomass that includes cowdung, non-edible oils like cottonseed oil, castor oil, groundnut oil and even ethanol have the additional advantage that they do not cause as much pollution. Of course, they do release Carbon dioxide on combustion, but on a much smaller magnitude. Such alternative fuel powered stations tend to be smaller, in terms of production, and give the environment a chance of reabsorbing them in full. What are the advantages of micro power stations? Are they cost efficient? They offer two big advantages. One, that losses during transmission are avoided which is a major drain on electricity production today. Secondly, it would provide employment to the local population, which would further boost the economy. Of course, giant hydel-power stations will still be in the picture, but micro units like micro-hydel power stations across local rivers will be extremely advantageous as they can generate between10 kilowatt to 25 megawatt of power, even within a small head of less than a metre, or even powered by just the flow of the river. These stations could perhaps be leased out to entrepreneurs. This has transformed the energy scenario in countries like Nepal. In India it is already in operation in small measure. In Kolar for example, a biomass powered station is in operation and in the Himalayas, a few micro hydel stations are functioning. However, there are very few units in India, the exceptions, rather than the rule, as of today. Can solar power prove to be a viable alternative, given the cost of solar cells? The issue here is production numbers. As of now, the production numbers of the solar cells, be it the solar heater or the photo voltaic cell are so few that the cost of production is inversely very high. If the scale of production is increased, the costs will automatically come down. This can be achieved by making the use of solar cells compulsory in public utility buildings, private offices, apartments, government offices, etc. This, in one stroke will improve the economy with regard to the solar cell industry simultaneously making it cheaper, and on par with the fluorescent lamps, besides reducing the pressure on other power sources. In fact, even today, the cost of the solar heater can be recovered in 12 months of use, saving on electricity, aided by the bank loans available for solar cells.