Rising Wisely

The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), in collaboration with Carnegie Melon University (CMU), held the Indo-US Workshop on Climate and Energy Futures on October 26 – 27, 2009, at the GRT Temple Bay Beach Resort in Mamallapuram (near Chennai).

The workshop brought together experts from the United States and India to discuss and offer their innovative analyses of pressing climate-related challenges, including:

• Which low-carbon technologies are best for India and the United States?

• What is the relative importance of policy instruments such as performance standards, emissions trading, and carbon taxes?

• What is the role of technology transfers?

We asked some of the researchers from the Next Generation Infrastructures Lab at CSTEP to reflect on the conference and the things that stood out. Here is what a few of them had to say:

CSTEP Research Assistant, Rajalakshmi, reflected on one lesson from the conference:

The insight, which I got from the conference, is that each clean energy technology discussed is unique in its own way. Therefore, it is time to find out the right mix of clean energy technologies that can help to tackle the climate change effectively. Energy policy stability and tightly linked energy environmental policy is needed for long-term success in terms of tackling climate changes as well as meeting the electricity demand.

Smita Kumari Dolly, a Research Engineer at CSTEP, summarized some of the presentations:

The other presentations I enjoyed the most were from David Ginley of NREL, Peter Garretson and Gopichand Katragadda. David presented the case for renewable, but emphasized the need for multi-disciplinary systemic and integrated approaches to produce the profound transformations needed. He also noted the challenges of developing “translational” science – managing the science to technology and basic to applied interfaces that currently are weak. Peter Garretson presented a broad overview of the concept of space-based power, its promise and challenges, attempting to call attention specifically likely challenges and areas for innovation in science and engineering. He listened to all presentation too sincerely during whole session and raised several questions. Gopichand Katragadda emphasized on moving from culture of plenty to culture of responsibility.

and Robin King, Distinguished Research Fellow, outlined some of the more memorable contributions of the conference speakers:

I found the debate about the feasibility of solar power right at the beginning to be the most interesting of the conference. Sitting in sun-drenched Bangalore as the power goes off and on every few minutes today, I must confess to being biased – I think that solar power of all sorts is key to India solving its energy challenge as well as providing for a great dynamic production sector for the future, generating technology, innovation, and jobs as well as energy. Hearing Nobel Laureate Walter Kohn extol the benefits of solar, and his fears about nuclear proliferation, and the feasible economics of solar provided an excellent base. He mentioned how in Japan and Germany, countries far ahead in solar technologies, subsidies drove the market. Then NREL staff member David Ginley noted that in the US costs of solar are getting lower and lower, with First Solar now down to grid parity. To that, CMU prof and former Space Shuttle astronaut Jay Apt jumped up to state that “no, your numbers are plain wrong”. During the break a heated discussion took place, the importance of assumptions became clear.

The other two presentations I enjoyed the most were from David Ginley of NREL and Carl Dahlman, my colleague at Georgetown. Carl’s focused on the market failures which prevent abatement that makes sense financially and can be done with current technology from occurring, and emphasized the need for a strong government commitment. David presented the case for renewables, but emphasized the need for multi-disciplinary systemic and integrated approaches to produce the profound transformations needed. He also noted the challenges of developing “translational” science – managing the science to technology and basic to applied interfaces that currently are weak.

Harsha, a Research Engineer, developed a longer, theme-based analysis. Here it is in its entirety:

The Climate and Energy Futures workshop was held on the the beautiful shores of Mahabalipuram form the 26th to 27th of October, 2009. It was a charged atmosphere where policy makers, scientists and corporates discussed the future of energy usage and hence its effect on the climate change.

The workshop was significant in the follow up to the Copenhagen summit latter this year. India’s position on climate change will be significant given the size of the country and its energy requirement to sustain its growth. India is hoping to use nuclear power as a possible solution
to its energy needs. The world community is expecting all developing countries to choose sustainable and cleaner technologies to meet their energy demand.

Some of the topics that was discussed in the workshop included:
● Effectiveness of the different types of renewable energy in terms of its capacity, cost, carbon footprint, location (India), deployment time, etc,.
● Changes in policy that are required for the adoption of the new forms of energy generation.
● Identifying new research goals and the requirements to enable research in the area of renewable energy technologies and reducing emissions.
● Identifying policies and regulation mechanisms to discourage emissions and promote clean energy.
The following are the broad questions that the sessions tried to answer. They are grouped based on the type of solution it is (physical, chemical or policy based solution).

(Physical Solutions)
Is Nuclear Power the most viable option for India to meet its energy demand?
The high cost of the alternative forms of energy prevented policy makers to truly commit to change to renewable forms of energy. Given the current energy demand for India, nuclear power seems the most viable option given the available time frame.

There were discussions based on safety of going nuclear. The current state of the art in nuclear power generation was also presented. However, concern was expressed towards the security of nuclear reactors and the hazards it may pose to the environment. The efficiency of such reactors given their proposed capacity and India’s energy needs was also brought into question. The policy changes required to implement a nuclear power generation program was also discussed which mainly focused on ensuring a supply of nuclear fuel and the security of such a supply chain.

What is the state of the art in Solar Energy and how can it be implemented in India?
For the most part of the conference there was a huge focus on using various techniques of power generation using solar radiation. Power generation using the solar photovoltaic cells (Solar PV) and solar thermal where the major topics of discussion. The cutting edge of generating solar energy using a orbiting solar array and transferring the energy using radio waves was proposed.

The current efficiency of solar power generation techniques was brought into question. Views were expressed that the technology has still not archived its promise to deliver affordable power and the power generation methods need to improve in efficiencies. It was also expressed that
the help given to this sector by governments has helped it develop and more help is expected to make solar power affordable.
Solar energy could be used in other ways to reduce emissions by using using solar power as an auxiliary to other established systems. Solar panels can be installed on domestic buildings to generate power locally. However there can be a excess or a shortage of power. By sharing all the
generated power on a common grid, the amount of wastage can be prevented. The mechanism to share solar power using such ‘smart grids’ was also discussed.

A comparison of efficiency of generating energy from wind and solar was made with India as the location of interest. Solar methods found more favor as the energy that can be generated by solar, given the amount of insolation in India was far greater than wind power. There was no
sufficient study and hence lack of data to support the effectiveness of wind power in India.

(Chemical Solutions)
Are BioFuels a suitable alternative?
It was shown that there is a significant amount of emission due to transportation systems. It was argued that solar energy is still not mature enough to generate the same amount of energy as fossil fuels that is required by these systems. Alternative forms of fuels using certain biological
matter that do not produce the green house gases is proposed as a solution. The Jatropa plant is considered as the best candidate for biodiesel.

It was shown that under favorable conditions Jatropa had a high yield, and the amount of energy produced would easily satisfy the required energy demand. The algae fuel was also presented as a possible solution. A proposal to use solar assisted methods to produce biofuel was also discussed. However concerns were expressed on the low yield of the Jatropa crops. There is lack of data with respect to Jatropa cultivation and its yield is unpredictable. In this light if all the available land that is suitable for Jatropa farming is used, it may not meet the required energy demand for India.

Is coal Gasification viable?
Techniques for coal gasification was also discussed. The feasibility and cost of setting up such a facility was demonstrated. The process produces coal gas which serves as a raw material for producing traditional forms of fuel and Hydrogen. The process is not a clean form of generating
power. But, India (and China) have significant quantities of coal reserves. Although not a clean form of energy this option could be highly attractive.

(Policy Solutions)
Should India introduce the Carbon Trade mechanism to reduce emissions and what are its implications?
This is an area where India finds itself at crossroads. The country has to decide on its policies to control emissions in time for the Copenhagen summit. Given the size of the population, a decision will have significant effects on the planet’s climate. On the flip side such a regulation is
sternly opposed by the financial sector. Such mechanisms that have are already implemented in Europe was demonstrated in the workshop and its implications were discussed. It was pointed out the system was effective but needs to be tweaked and tested in the Indian environment.

There was a general agreement in the workshop that not one but the right combination of all the discussed solutions, a energy mix, is necessary to meet the energy demands of any region. Such a mix is characteristic of a region and will have to be decided only after extensive studies.

Future research directions were discussed which included:
● Better solar technologies and associated mechanisms to connect to the grid.
● Mechanisms to determine the best energy mix.
● Including other resources under the topic of climate change in addition to energy, Ex: water.

The workshop concluded with a visit to the Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant. The visit was extremely exciting and interesting. The Kalpakkam facility is still under development and has not reached its full capacity yet but, the complex building techniques that goes into construction of a
reactor were demonstrated. We also visited an experimental facility, a smaller reactor, which serves as a testbed for running experiments to determine parameters for a real reactor.

The conference highlighted the urgency to switch to cleaner forms of technology. It will be a very difficult task for India to choose the right energy mixture for its future. In most cases there is lack of data or the technology involved is in its infant stages. Given the urgent demand for energy, India faces a difficult dilemma. India (and China) will need to choose carefully as its choice for energy security will affect not only its growth but also the climate of the world.

Our contributor this week is Mustafa Biviji, who is pursuing his summer internship with CSTEP and is a Masters Student of Engineering and Technology Innovation Management at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.


I have been fascinated by the concept of using solar and wind energy to power all kinds of things. As I learnt of the potential of renewable energy over the years, and in seeing some initial-stage, phased out implementation projects, I now wonder why the nomenclature of Alternative Energy is applied to these forms of energy.



The name Renewable Energy makes sense and is aptly used, but the name alternative energy evokes the single important question that the industry is trying to answer – what will happen when these so-called alternatives become mainstream? As we all know, the term “alternative” is used to designate a substitute for a primary source.

Different forms of renewable energy like solar and wind might satisfy this definition somewhat; however, when analyzed conceptually, chemical and solar energy form the basis of all other forms of energy, be it conventional, unconventional, or renewable.


The questions “What would have been of earth without the sun?” or, more accurately, “Would the earth have survived without the apt proximity of the sun?” are asked repeatedly. Though mass and energy are two critical components, an external force is needed for these components to play a useful role on earth. This force is usually manifested in the form of solar energy, which has acted as a catalyst for the earth to be a living planet. So while most scientists are in agreement about the important role of solar energy, power engineers and a large number of consumers still designate it as an alternative source!


This approach raises the question of a change in attitude from the industry and from consumers of energy. Instead of the term “alternative,” why not call solar energy “real” or “natural” energy?
Let us take the parallel case example of food. There is the perception of organic and/or natural foods as being the best for our health. In reality, they are supposed to be healthy and true foods. Just as those foods that contain minimal artificial ingredients are best for consumers, energy solutions that utilize minimal conventional energy might be better for the planet.


Producers and distributors in the energy sector could consider changing their marketing verbiage and promote “alternative energy” as “real energy”. This might start a backward chain reaction with competitors and industries more readily opting for a renewable energy approach.


I’d like to share a real life example here. The financial entity PNC Bank, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) claims that employees in green offices with natural lighting are much more satisfied than in non-green offices. This ploy of featuring real/renewable energy in allied product or service marketing could positively affect the renewable energy industry goals in the long run, and help reduce environmental degradation.