标签: carbon emission

Copenhagen was a bust! There is scientific consensus that carbon emissions due to human activity and climate change are linked. Everyone agrees that it is critically important that carbon emissions need to be reduced. Then why is it so difficult for world leaders to agree on what needs to be done? Developed nations have caused the carbon problem through their conspicuous consumption. However, now all nations are being invited to participate in reducing their carbon emissions to help save the planet. Emerging nations are likely to see a direct hit on cost of energy and GDP growth, directly impacting the prosperity of their people. A choice between saving the family and the planet is no choice at all—we must have both!  Let’s face it. Whereas we would all like to have no carbon emissions, we are really not prepared to give up our car, scooter or the various appliances we now have at home. We work hard for our family’s comfort and prosperity, and we are not really prepared to give up our fan, refrigerator or air conditioning. We want the lights to turn on, regardless of whether the electricity is there or not. However, we also like having fuel for our car and for cooking, and electricity for the home and office, at a cost-effective price that we have become accustomed to. A major increase in energy prices would simply not be acceptable. This creates a dilemma for the energy providers and for the government. It is clear that if fossil fuel prices were the same as for renewable resources, there is no question of which one would be preferred. That is still not the case. Solar energy prices are currently 2-3 times the price of conventional fossil fuel based electricity. Can we then justify the wide scale deployment of alternative energy technologies? What are the various technology options that are available, both globally and in particular for emerging nations such as India? Can these technologies be scaled to a national and global level? What actions can we take at an individual, national and global level to ensure that the world is preserved for our future generations? These are the questions that will be addressed in this blog. I look forward to a spirited dialog with our readers. These are issues that touch us all, and that can be effectively solved with the right mix of technology, economics and policy.