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11 Mar 2013

A number you likely know: 400 million. That’s how many people live without electricity in India. And not coincidentally, most of these people are poorest of the poor and live in rural villages or hamlets. The presence of such an enormous population eager for something better has given rise to new commercial products and services such as solar lanterns, solar home systems, and, the subject of this blog, micro-grids.

01 Feb 2013

For growing economies the stress has to be on patterns of natural resource use and not on the status of natural resources; that is, dealing with the causes rather than the symptoms of the problem of climate change. The time has come for rapidly growing Asia to distinguish between the global, regional and national aspects of climate policy, recognize the linkages and shape the deliberations for the new climate regime by taking substantive measures at home.

31 Jan 2013

How will solar energy be made to work in India? As I discussed in my previous article there are three key challenges. One, how will the country pay for solar energy in a situation where there is no money to pay for even the crashed costs of installation. Two, what is the best model for the distribution and use of this relatively expensive energy in a country where millions still live in the dark? Three, how should India combine the twin objectives of supply of clean energy and creation of domestic manufacturing capacities?

25 Jan 2013

India’s solar power policy is now entering round two. And there is much that needs to be reviewed and reworked as the business of solar energy has seen massive turbulence in India as well as globally. In the first phase (2010 to 2013) of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) the target was to set up 1,000-2,000 MW of grid-based solar power in the country. By 2013, the country has indeed commissioned some 1,000 MW of solar power, but 700 MW of this target comes from the non-JNNSM state of Gujarat.

 
 
Renewable Energy
07 Dec 2012

Indian top negotiator, R R Rashmi said yesterday at a side event we had organized on equity in climate negotiations that they could not use the word ‘equity’ in the final Durban Platform document because of the aversion to that word of a particular country. He said that they had to instead use the phrase, ‘under the convention’ meaning that future actions would be determined by the principles of the climate convention, which were based on equitably sharing of the world’s atmospheric space.

03 Dec 2012

Very different global rules are needed for human wellbeing

Averting climate change does not need emission reduction pledges, timetables and a common legal framework.

21 Nov 2012

What you measure determines policy

Another round of the annual climate meetings is going to take place and the most ambitious outcome will be limited negotiations on some elements, because there is as yet no shared vision of the problem and what to do about it.

09 Oct 2012

Extreme caution needs to be taken while mulling of linking different carbon markets

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