Renewable energy has never been so relevant in this age of rising energy costs and increasing environmental damage. More so in a country like India with 80000 villages still unconnected to the power grid and with millions of people still depending on kerosene lamps for lighting and firewood for cooking. While successive governments at the centre have been crying hoarse and praising themselves over the number of villages that have been electrified during their tenure, solar energy has been slowly relegated to the background. While electricity does not generate harmful emissions in its final form as power, the means to produce it,majorly by coal devouring thermal powerplants does generate a lot of pollution. So, why not Solar energy in a country with 300 days of bright sunshine. Though the ministry of new and renewable energy has tried to make the solar cooker available to villages, the slow cooking time and the lack of awareness among villagers has resulted in the solar cooker not being widely accepted, though it comes with a hefty subsidy in excess of 50%. Since then, Solar energy in Rural India has not been given the required push. Considering the huge amount of capital the government can save by adopting solar energy in rural India, it is time for the government to take another shot at popularising and subsidising solar energy.
Enter the Lifepod? Well almost.what does a structure which has 15 preassembled steel pieces with each weighing less than 75 pounds and an array of solar panels which serve as the roof of the structure got to do with India.
This solar structure manufactured by the american environment technology company envision technology has the relevance to change the Indian ruralscape with it’s not so innovative although versatile but pricey solar structure which can be used for a plethora of purposes ranging from a car shed to a store room. Lifepod’s high estimated price of $20000 for a 120 sq ft structure is, in my opinion the only and biggest deterrant in the context of the Indian ruralscape. Now, what exactly is the lifepod.Old wine in a new bottle.The lifepod is a light,chic steel,hollywood celebrities endorsing structure with solar panels for roofing with a 1.7kwh rating which has a capacity of generating 7kwh per day and this power can be stored in a battery for use as and when required. Thus solar energy can be used to generate electricity, albeit a clean one at that.
But India, still a land with millions below the poverty line with many among the rural poor having access to less than $1 a day surely cannot afford the lifepod with it’s massive,atleast for the rural poor, $20000 estimated price tag. The people of the villages will be more content to make do with their kerosene lamps and firewood Chulla’s than this flashy,costly lifepod. Now, does this make the lifepod completely irrelevant for India’s ruralfolk?...Well almost...But not if this concept, though not entirely new but which will in all probablity get popular with hollywood stars endorsing it at the oscars 2008, filters through to India. To India’s hinterland,where there is a huge opportunity for the Indian government to revitalise solar power in the process saving huge energy capital outlays and for the now rising India inc’s innovative business tycoon’s who can electrify India’s hinterland with clean renewable solar power at the same time make some money. But,the existing design will have to undergo a sea change, a la tata nano, retaining the concept while tailoring this idea to suit the dusty rugged Indian villages.
More than a new steel structure with solar panelled roofing,the rural folks of India, most of them who already have a roof over heads need only the solar panels and the resulting power harnessed from them.
For this some company, tata bpsolar, for example can devise a way to mount these panels onto the houses of the village’s and link these panels to rugged batteries that can store this energy for use as electricity. This calls for ingenuity, innovation and an understanding of rural India and it’s people which places indian solar energy companies like tata-bpsolar at a distinct advantage as compared to their foreign counterparts. But a la tata nano, the cost of solar panels, which is still prohibitively high has to be sufficiently reduced to enable high acceptance. But as Ratan Tata and his engineers demonstrated with the tata nano, India inc can do a tata nano with solar energy as well.The Indian government too can do it’s bit,it is doing some stuff already in this regard-cheers to it,but it has to popularise solar energy on a war footing this time and make sure India is fully electrified,electrified the solar way.The opportunities are endless.Going Green is the best way of going anywhere.Photo courtesy:autobloggreen,climateactionprograme,renewing india
Enter the Lifepod? Well almost.what does a structure which has 15 preassembled steel pieces with each weighing less than 75 pounds and an array of solar panels which serve as the roof of the structure got to do with India.
This solar structure manufactured by the american environment technology company envision technology has the relevance to change the Indian ruralscape with it’s not so innovative although versatile but pricey solar structure which can be used for a plethora of purposes ranging from a car shed to a store room. Lifepod’s high estimated price of $20000 for a 120 sq ft structure is, in my opinion the only and biggest deterrant in the context of the Indian ruralscape. Now, what exactly is the lifepod.Old wine in a new bottle.The lifepod is a light,chic steel,hollywood celebrities endorsing structure with solar panels for roofing with a 1.7kwh rating which has a capacity of generating 7kwh per day and this power can be stored in a battery for use as and when required. Thus solar energy can be used to generate electricity, albeit a clean one at that.
But India, still a land with millions below the poverty line with many among the rural poor having access to less than $1 a day surely cannot afford the lifepod with it’s massive,atleast for the rural poor, $20000 estimated price tag. The people of the villages will be more content to make do with their kerosene lamps and firewood Chulla’s than this flashy,costly lifepod. Now, does this make the lifepod completely irrelevant for India’s ruralfolk?...Well almost...But not if this concept, though not entirely new but which will in all probablity get popular with hollywood stars endorsing it at the oscars 2008, filters through to India. To India’s hinterland,where there is a huge opportunity for the Indian government to revitalise solar power in the process saving huge energy capital outlays and for the now rising India inc’s innovative business tycoon’s who can electrify India’s hinterland with clean renewable solar power at the same time make some money. But,the existing design will have to undergo a sea change, a la tata nano, retaining the concept while tailoring this idea to suit the dusty rugged Indian villages.
More than a new steel structure with solar panelled roofing,the rural folks of India, most of them who already have a roof over heads need only the solar panels and the resulting power harnessed from them.
For this some company, tata bpsolar, for example can devise a way to mount these panels onto the houses of the village’s and link these panels to rugged batteries that can store this energy for use as electricity. This calls for ingenuity, innovation and an understanding of rural India and it’s people which places indian solar energy companies like tata-bpsolar at a distinct advantage as compared to their foreign counterparts. But a la tata nano, the cost of solar panels, which is still prohibitively high has to be sufficiently reduced to enable high acceptance. But as Ratan Tata and his engineers demonstrated with the tata nano, India inc can do a tata nano with solar energy as well.The Indian government too can do it’s bit,it is doing some stuff already in this regard-cheers to it,but it has to popularise solar energy on a war footing this time and make sure India is fully electrified,electrified the solar way.The opportunities are endless.Going Green is the best way of going anywhere.Photo courtesy:autobloggreen,climateactionprograme,renewing india