Why Renewable Energy?

Avanish Kumar

The concept note discusses some of the important issues related to socio-environmental poverty by promoting sustainable use of renewable energy in the rural areas of the South Asian region. These include a strategy on renewable energy technologies for diffusion to reduce poverty in the rural areas that will primarily focus on the two basic needs of the community i.e. fuel and electricity. Several countries in the region are adopting two important strategies. The first strategy calls for energy-demand management and large scale renewable energy technology diffusion. One of the important factors inhibiting the above two strategies is the imbalance between the technology in use and the existing natural resources in the area.

The country reports on State of the Environment brought out the nexus between proper energy utilisation and population, especially in the rural areas. The main sources of energy for cooking, heating and homelighting in rural areas happen to be firewood, agricultural wastes and Kerosene1. The cottage industries in the villages depend mainly on electricity or diesel for their energy requirements. However, the villages are electrified2 , accessibility and its affordability remains a question due to its high cost as well as meagre supply.

At present, centralised electricity supply system has resulted in impairing the community rather than empowering the poor. This calls for identifying environmental-friendly renewable energy sources and developing appropriate methods of energy saving for sustainable development at the local level. Development of the renewable energy can reduce the power sector’s heavy reliance on oil, gas and coal. Local reserves of these resources are not adequate to meet the present energy demand, and they contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. So far, the governments in Pakistan and Bangladesh had not taken renewable energy seriously as a part of their short-term and long-term energy strategy and as a part of a policy for rural development. The situation is more explicit from the3  approximate renewable energy potential and achievements in India.

Tikamgarh district is by far the most backward district in Madhya Pradesh. One of the major problems in the region is lack of livelihoods and poor productivity of existing resources. Per acre productivity is very low, resulting in low returns from agriculture due to which agricultural incomes are also quite low.

Taragram, Orchha (Tikamgarh district), is the appropriate training centre of Development Alternatives. Where local problems are addressed by the creation of sustainable livelihoods, based on the sustainable use of local resources through technological innovations and extension. The emphasis is on developing the interest-potential among women group, enabling them to use the local resources including technological inputs, in harmony with the locally available natural resources.

The energy requirements of TARAgram are primarily electrical energy for motors and pumps; heat energy for assured drying of paper and water heating, and cooking energy for site requirements. The captive power plant in Taragram converts renewable biomass fuels, mainly local agro-wastes and usable weeds, into 100 kw of electricity using a highly efficient gasifier and diesel generating set. The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, developed the technology together with a commercially available diesel generating set. An initial assessment of local availability established renewable resources of approximately 500 tonnes per annum of Ipomea, sufficient for the One tonne per day requirement of the power plant. There is no conflict in the use of Ipomea since it has no other use. The waste heat from the exhaust system and the cooling water is utilised for drying paper and biomass products.

Some of the key concerns that need to be addressed are as follows:

To reduce poverty and extreme shortage of electricity in South Asia, regional co-operation for sustainable use of renewable energy is essential. At this juncture, it is important to assess the progress made in the decentralised energy sector in the region; document the lessons learnt and identify the barriers and create an enabling environment for maximising decentralised energy management and production, particularly in rural areas. To improve the quality of life, it is important to prepare an action plan for diffusion and extension of alternate sustainable technologies and create awareness on the sustainable use of energy sources. q