How renewable energy can aid inclusive growth

NEW DELHI, INDIA: With over 70 per cent of crude oil imports posing a potential  threat to India's energy security, Greenpeace feels that optimal usage of renewable resources will reduce dependence on fossil fuel.

Commentator and journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta said that the country has not invested much in renewable energy. Since the governments across the world are eying renewable resources to transform energy markets, the clean technology industry is all set to boom.

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Abhishek Pratap, senior campaigner for the renewable energy at Greenpeace India, said that the country is facing a perpetual energy crisis. ''Since resources are depleting, the economic growth is going down. Industry has to make a choice for sustained growth for future,'' he said at Decarbonosing Economy, the event jointly organised by CyberMedia and Greenpeace, in New Delhi.

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The companies have started making efforts to be self-sufficient in energy usage. ''The IT sector itself can provide leadership and set a precedent for others. Diesel is adopted heavily but it's environmentally hazardous,'' added Pratap.

Renewable energy, he said, provides clean energy resource opportunities for companies. ''Since the conventional energy is cheaper, we should look at renewable energy for inclusive development,'' Pratap insisted.

V Subramaniam, secretary general, Indian Wind Energy Association, said that solar energy in India is being driven by subsidies, but there is a need to bring this resource into the mainstream. The policy, however, doesn't talk much about solar which is critical besides wind energy, he added.

''We need to evolve business models. There is a need to think of a business model where we can replicate telecom model in rural regions, so that they would not be dependent on subsidies,'' he believes.

In addition, he said, there is no database available that could track the energy usage in the corporate sector. ''There is a need to develop IT solutions for tracking as well as facilitating transmission,'' Subramaniam added.

Of late, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has come up with a novel mandate to initiate eco labels for IT product vendors. In addition, the ministry of new and renewable energy has initiated the process for formulation of its 12th five-year plan recommendations.

Rajiv Mehrotra, CEO, VNL, said that there are close to half-a-million BTS towers in the country which are heavily dependent on diesel. ''The large companies are big polluters too,'' he added.

Mehrotra said that TRAI has come up with the mandate that 50 per cent of rural and 20 per cent of urban towers must be powered by hybrid solution (grid and renewable resources) by 2015.

Deepak Maheshwari, director, corporate affairs at Microsoft India, said that environmental sustainability includes reduction, recyling and reusage of resources. “We should also look at the solutions which require low energy consumption."

Maheshwari also said that there is a need to bring awareness about green buildings so as to manage energy consumption effectively. The country, he said, should look at institutional mechanism. "We should leverage ICT solutions for energy management, including sharing and borrowing," added Maheshwari.