Global Warming
June 10, 2022
India is facing one of its worst summer seasons this year with average temperatures in the 28 degrees Celsius range. Climate change is very obvious and […]
February 28, 2022
According to a native American proverb, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” This means that it is […]
May 12, 2021
The Indian EV industry took a hard knock in 2020 as the pandemic affected the sector just like other industrial segments. The two-wheeler and three-wheeler category […]
September 30, 2020
BP to go Green The big oil majors have for many years been paying lip service to clean energy and climate change issues. Despite having massive […]
December 11, 2019
India is already the third largest emitter of carbon in the world and is one of the biggest users of coal. It will be the biggest growth […]
July 4, 2013
Solar & Wind Energy to rise to 8% by 2018 Solar and Wind energy should double their share of the global electricity generation to 8% by […]
June 27, 2013
President Obama failed to push climate change legislation in his first term, though there were a lot of expectations that some sort of carbon tax or […]
June 19, 2013
Net Metering Distributed solar energy is growing at an exponential rate with 80,000 homes in the US installing solar panels last year, raising the total to […]
April 12, 2013
Natural Gas from Fire Ice India is a land of diverse culture, huge population, slow development, medium standard of living. Majority of its people are employed […]
March 22, 2013
Coal Deaths in India India gets more than 50% of its energy requirements from coal, of which the country has got billions of tons in reserves. […]
February 21, 2013
Global Warming Is Global Warming Real Global warming is very real – retreating glaciers, shrinking ice caps, expanding deserts and changed animal migration provide undeniable visible […]
January 31, 2013
Subsidy on Fossil Fuels Well it’s a very heated topic about the subsidy given by the countries for the fossil fuel. The subsidy does nothing good […]
October 15, 2012
Food prices have increased rapidly in the last 5 years after a long secular decline in food prices relative to world income. Not only have prices […]
August 15, 2012
Top global asset manager Grantham has been calling that the rising commodity prices is not a cyclical phenomenon but rather a major structural inflection point. Note […]
August 14, 2012
Nuclear Energy As the whole world is fixated on the debate about on using and not using nuclear power for energy generation, the anti-nuclear protestors have […]
August 9, 2012
Greenland The ice sheet in Greenland has been melting to an increasing extent almost every year in the recent past summers giving one of the most […]
July 16, 2012
Energy Efficiency Rankings In an unsurprising ranking by International Energy Efficiency Scorecard developed by ACEEE, US and Canada have bottom ranks in Energy Efficiency along with […]
July 5, 2012
China Solar and Wind China’s renewable (solar & wind) manufacturing industry has generated a massive global oversupplying leading to a price crash in solar panels and […]
June 20, 2012
Note the market for water heaters in India is around $200 million annually and solar water heaters have managed to capture more than 30% of the market showing that solar water heaters are now a part of the mainstream. Note many solar products are starting to become more mainstream as their price competitiveness increases every year. Solar Panels which are the most widely used solar product has seen the price come down by almost 80% in the last few years .
May 23, 2012
Saudi Arabia has recently unveiled a new plan to add almost 40 Gigawatts of solar power over the next 20 years investing more than $100 billion. […]
February 23, 2012
Critics have claimed that Germany has spent $130 billion in solar subsidies to provide only 0.3% of its electricity. This is a shallow and ignorant argument at its worst. The critics from all over the world cite figures and statistics without going into the deeper implications. Germany has in the last 5 years made solar energy reach the poorest people in the world . The country's subsideis have made large solar companies lower costs and improve technology at a rapid pace to keep up with the lowered subsidies. Solar Panels which were sold for $4/watt in 2008 are solar for 80c/watt now. A truly remarkable story in Energy which has been missed the the fossil fuel funded hacks in media. For the last few centuries man has been trying to harness solar energy at reasonable costs but has failed to make a big impression. Germany in the last 5 years has made a huge and lasting impact as solar energy will go from strenght to strenght ..
February 16, 2012
Wind Energy is the largest renewable energy source in the globe right now (if you don't count in hydro and nuclear energy). The total installed wind energy capacity exceeds the solar and biomass capacity by quite a margin at over 200 GW . The recent surge in wind energy installations has been from China which put up almost 40-50% of the global wind turbine installations in 2010 and 2011. Now China has surpassed every other country to become the largest wind energy country in the world with over 60 GW. While Europe earlier led by Spain, Denamark and Germany used to lead in wind capacity, they have been comprehensively overtaken by the Middle Kingdom in the last couple of years. USA comes in next but still far below its potential while the rest of the world has started to pick up now. India is the 5th largest country and has been steadily putting up around 2-3 GW of wind capacity each year.
February 16, 2012
While there is massive outrage amongst some politicians against the giveaways to support renewable energy, there is very little discussions on the massive subsidies given to the fossil fuel sector. Note globally more than half a trillion dollars is given away to support fossil fuels which is already a mature competitive sector. Green Energy which is a developing industry has got compete with not only the established 100 year infrastructure of fossil fuels but also against these massive $600 billion. However propagandist's and ignorant sections of the media protest against the support given to the cleantech industry.Here is some bad and shallow journalism on German Solar subsidies
February 10, 2012
However Solar Thermal Technology is finding a niche in Hybrid Fossil Fuel Power Plants . The reason that Solar Thermal is gaining traction in Solar Hybrid Plants is
1) They can use the existing Electricity and Transmission Infrastructure of the new Fossil Fuel Plant or the Existing One
2) Solar Thermal Technology in most cases generate Steam which can be used by the Turbines of the Fossil Fuel Plant saving additional costs
February 9, 2012
US Coal Companies are being forced to close coal mines and reduce production because of a massive glut of cheap natural gas and emission standards . Note Coal Disadvantages are much more than that of other fossil fuels making it the dirtiest form of energy. While India and China face massive coal shortages , USA on the other hand faces a glut . Coal has been coming under increasing attact in the West with few new thermal plants being opened and many closed due to tougher pollution standards. Note Clean Coal Technolgies and CCS is being promoted to prolong the use of Coal but they are not getting much traction.
February 1, 2012
I continue to be surprised by the bad and shallow analysis of renewable energy subsidies done by media. Most of it is due to bad research and lack of investigative and unbiased journalism. Writers with little or no background in energy or cleantech sensationalize an issue taking a report from some biased thinktank. Here is one example from a website called ironically Reason.com which you can read here http://reason.com/blog/2012/01/31/black-hole-sun-germany-spends-100-billio
February 1, 2012
In these days of economic crises it has become unsexy to talk about Global Warming and Climate Change which pose a much greater threat to mankind. The Western countries have turned apathetic towards climate change with most like Canada, USA and UK showing shocking attitude towards Global Warming . The reason is that rich countries can throw resources at ameliorating the affects of climate change . The poor countries have little in terms of resources to either slowdown climate change or change the attitude of the richer countries. South Asia and Africa two of the poorest regions in the world will face the worst of the global warming affects. A new study has indicated that India's wheat yield could be halved to 40 million tons a year from the current 80 million tons due to rising temperature. The reason is that wheat yields will come down as temperature goes up by 2 degrees centigrade or more.
January 16, 2012
China add the most electricity capacity annually in the world at around 100 GW and its total electricity generation capacity is second only to the USA which it will surpass in the next few years. China is highly dependent on thermal power for its energy needs which is becoming scarce and expensive by the day. Not to speak of the big disadvantages of coal as a fuel which causes thousands of deaths each year. Solar Energy has now reached grid parity in many parts of the world thanks to the low cost cheap solar panels being made by Chinese solar panel producers. With many countries now thinking of putting an anti dumping duty on Chiense solar modules, the government is looking to boost domestic demand . Chinese solar panel Tier 1 players like LDK, Suntech, Trina and Yingli besides some others are the biggest beneficiaries of this new solar policy from China.
January 11, 2012
Europe which has been one of the greenest regions on earth in terms of promoting green energy and reducing carbon emissions is set to face a severe test. Europe is going to impose a Carbon Tax on Airlines flying into the region from 2012 . This has got the other major countries seeing red, with most of them planning retaliation. This Green Tax will add around $3 billion per year in terms of extra fees from airlines or around $6 per extra passenger. While airlines from USA and Canada approached the court, airlines from India and China are refusing to pay the tax outright. Indian airlines won't supply their carbon data while China won't pay the taxes . Note European Union is isolated in this fight against climate change . Though Carbon Trading is not a perfect system and open to abuses, at least it makes a pretense to fight global warming. On the other hand,these other countries have no plan or intention to fight climate change.