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If everyone in the USA drove an EV, it wouldn't scratch the surface of what is going on in India. With the world's 5th largest coal reserves and the need to improve the education and economics of 400 million people that currently do not have electricity, they are turning to coal.
The air doesn't stay in India anymore than it does anywhere else. The people in India want what we want and they aren't going to sit around waiting for solar power to get it either.
Yes, that short term solution is entirely predictable based on the country's rapid economic growth and the extreme gap between current standards of living in rural areas vs fully developed First World countries. They need a lot of power, and they need it quick and cheap.
And yet, as they build that infrastructure they are already planning the transition away from coal as quickly as possible, and the economic plans call for them to become global leaders in Green Tech. Here's just one of many exciting stories...
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India to Build World's Largest Solar Power Plant
The facility is designed to triple the country's solar capacity
India has pledged to build the world’s most powerful solar plant. With a nominal capacity of 4,000 megawatts, comparable to that of four full-size nuclear reactors, the ‘ultra mega' project will be more than ten times larger than any other solar project built so far, and it will spread over 77 square kilometers of land — greater than the island of Manhattan.
In addition, in a commitment that began in 1990, India also is a major player in wind energy, which conveniently provides a natural balance to solar energy, because in many locations it blows strongest at night. And some of the most interesting energy storage technology research is coming from India...
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The Indian wind energy sector has an installed capacity of 21,141.36 MW (as on March 31, 2014). In terms of wind power installed capacity, India is ranked 5th in the World. Today India is a major player in the global wind energy market.
The potential is far from exhausted. Indian Wind Energy Association has estimated that with the current level of technology, the ‘on-shore’ potential for utilization of wind energy for electricity generation is of the order of 102 GW. The unexploited resource availability has the potential to sustain the growth of wind energy sector in India in the years to come.
China burns about 5 billion tons a year, in the last decade alone it increased 1 billion tons. In comparison here in the US we burn 1 billion tons. I'd also have to wonder how reliable those Chinese numbers are since they so dependent on it for home heating, on a side note that dependency is going to be almost impossible to replace.
The good news is they will run out of coal in 2 or 3 decades.
If everyone in the USA drove an EV, it wouldn't scratch the surface of what is going on in India. With the world's 5th largest coal reserves and the need to improve the education and economics of 400 million people that currently do not have electricity, they are turning to coal.
The air doesn't stay in India anymore than it does anywhere else. The people in India want what we want and they aren't going to sit around waiting for solar power to get it either.
China burns about 5 billion tons a year, in the last decade alone it increased 1 billion tons. In comparison here in the US we burn 1 billion tons. I'd also have to wonder how reliable those Chinese numbers are since they so dependent on it for home heating, on a side note that dependency is going to be almost impossible to replace.
The good news is they will run out of coal in 2 or 3 decades.
China is also running into daunting ecological problems that require immediate attention, so they've begun making major commitments to increasing the harvest of renewable energies, and decreasing dependency on coal and oil. Just a few months ago it was announced that coal burning in Beijing and a few other areas will be phased out over the next six years. In a way I think that replacing the millions of individual coal stoves and furnaces across the city will be the biggest challenge, but they say they will cut off coal sales in the six districts, which is a stronger motivation to switch to gas or electric heat than we can possibly bring to bear in a democracy.
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August 7 2014 -The Beijing plan was announced on Monday by the city's Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection. It is no pipedream. The first of four big coal-fired power stations, Gaojing, shut last month. The city plans to turn off the rest by the end of 2016, but two will be kept functional but mothballed for emergencies.
Four new gas-fired plants, and pipelines to bring more gas to the city from Shaanxi province, are under construction. Smaller coal-burning factories and heating plants will also have to shut or move out by 2020.
India has pledged to build the world’s most powerful solar plant.
................... And it won't provide power at night.
Quite true and in reading the articles, one of the biggest problems related to not having electricity is it's impact after the sun sets.
When it comes to India and China, the big hit is still to come. As their economies expand to bring greater wealth beyond the major cities the demand for electricity will demand more than any amount solar can provide. Solar is nice to talk about but it's a fair weather friend. It can be part of a solution but it isn't reliable. Climate change means areas that had more cloud cover will not and the areas where sunlight exposure is dependable might not be in the future. Then what, move the solar energy installations?
The Indian and Chinese economies are just getting started which also means their demands for energy are just now ramping up as well. We can talk all we want about nifty ideas but all you have to do is some basic math to see where those countries are headed in reference to their energy demands.
We have what, 300+ million people? Put together just a few of their cities and they have that and more. Start thinking in terms of billions of people, not a few hundred million and all of them are going to want cars, not bicycles, the big screen TVs, the warm homes in winter and cool homes in summer.
Want to talk about solar meeting the needs of more than a niche? Think a billion people wanting air conditioning.
Consider the storage installations for solar energy needed to meet that scale. Sure a portion of that could be met that way and add in wind and hydro but still, we're talking about billions of people. The next big demand to use coal is coming.
...Consider the storage installations for solar energy needed to meet that scale. Sure a portion of that could be met that way and add in wind and hydro but still, we're talking about billions of people. The next big demand to use coal is coming.
Now think about how much off-line energy storage would be needed for all that solar! How many millions of batteries? Batteries aren't exactly "green" whether it be in the mining, manufacturing, or eventual disposition of the batteries.
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