Energy & Sustainability

India Blackout Shines Light On Solar Alternative

Aug 1, 2012 |  1

The failure of India's northern electricity grid this week has shone a light on the massive demand for power in a country that is struggling to maintain supply. It has also bolstered efforts to develop solar power as an alternative.


All Videos  tab arrow Scientific American Exclusives  tab arrow Instant Egghead  tab arrow

1 Comments

Add Comment
View
  1. 1. anumakonda 01:34 PM 8/7/12

    India needs to tap all available Alternative Energy sources like Solar,wind,biomass, biofuel and biogas besides minihydel and microhydel. Also energy conservation in Pumpsets(irrigation) lighting etc., is the need of the hour. It is a pity that still in some areas incandescent bulbs are in use. Another area is water heating using geysers. It is suicidal to use a high grade energy like electricity to a low grade purpose like water heating. In the west for water heating either gas or solar is used. Old irrigation Pumpsets are inefficient. Replacing them with high efficient ones will save enormous power. Also switching from Fluorescent lamps to CFLs and Digital lighting will conserve much of electricity. Each Kwh saved is each Kwh generated.

    India should follow China in power generation. The installed capacity of power since independence is around 1,86, 000 MW while China added 2,00,000 MW of power in 1 year! Also China started Wind energy in 2003 and is now world leader with 64,000 MW while India with around 16,400 MW occupies fifth place (since 1984).

    Biofuel from Agave (Sisal Agave) offers promise as it is a care-free growth plant with multiple uses. Also Opuntia as input to generate biogas. Mexico is pioneer in both these technologies. Unless efficient solar cells from materials like Gallium Arsenide,Gallium Phosphide,Tandem,Organic ploymer are utilised with the present solar cell technology the economics of solar PV power is not rosy. Also in India efforts should be made to go in offshore wind farms on a massive scale.
    Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
    Wind Energy Expert
    E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Leave this field empty

Add a Comment

You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmerican.com member to submit a comment.
Click one of the buttons below to register using an existing Social Account.

More from Scientific American

See what we're tweeting about

Scientific American Editors

Tweets could not be retrieved at this time

Free Newsletters


Get the best from Scientific American in your inbox

Solve Innovation Challenges

Powered By: Innocentive

  SA Digital
  SA Digital

Email this Article

X
Scientific American MIND iPad

Tap into your MIND

Get Both Print & Tablet Editions for one low price!

Subscribe Now >>

X

Please Log In

Forgot: Password

X

Account Linking

Welcome, . Do you have an existing ScientificAmerican.com account?

Yes, please link my existing account with for quick, secure access.



Forgot Password?

No, I would like to create a new account with my profile information.

Create Account
X

Report Abuse

Are you sure?

X

Institutional Access

It has been identified that the institution you are trying to access this article from has institutional site license access to Scientific American on nature.com. To access this article in its entirety through site license access, click below.

Site license access
X

Error

X

Share this Article

X