Full Circle

There are several view points and facets to this debate that has been going on for quite some time now. What does one mean by energy crisis?

How much energy does an average Indian consume? This question answers a lot of other questions about how developed we are and where we stand now in the world scenario. The highest per capita energy TPES(Total Primary Energy Supply) for a country stands at 23.24 toe/capita (toe – tonnes of oil equivalent), the country being Qatar. Developed countries like US and Japan stand at 7.91 units and 4.18 units respectively. China stands at 1.24 units and then comes India at 0.52 units. The world average for TPES per capita is 1.77 units. Click here for more 'authentic data'.

The above data must give us a wide angle perspective of what the energy consumption trends in the world are. India constitutes 1/6^th of the world’s population and consumes energy that is less than 1/3^rd of the world average. That is a tremendous imbalance, isn’t it? Should we set the imbalance right? Many say yes. Maybe people should start re-thinking.

Looking at such figures, and the regular reports that go around saying that the growth and development of a country are signified by the energy consumption of the country, tells us that India is not anywhere closed to being called a developed country. In fact, it has been, mind you, has been far behind even on the developing nations list. As every country has to boast about its pathway to development and glory, India too has to increase that figure and hence be called a developed country. Now what exactly are we supposed to do to increase that figure? Are our needs such that the number (TPES/capita) is expected to increase? And are the speculations true that we will not be able to cater to the demands?

So we decide to increase the energy available at an average(?) Indian’s disposal. We are taking steps to achieve the aforementioned goal. At the top of the list of the steps would be the idea of adding 1,20,000 MW of installed capacity in the next five year plan.

Something to open up our eyes:
With simple calculations we can arrive at the fact that even after we add 1,20,000 MW to our existing installed capacity, our annual per capita electricity consumption will only be a sizeable fraction of China’s current per capita electricity consumption. It is not very difficult to guess that China will not be sitting quiet for the next five years and might very well end up installing a few lakh MW of capacity themselves. In which case, the per capita electricity consumption for India becomes much smaller in comparison with China, which again, is below the world average.

I would like to throw light upon the fact that India as a country has never installed more than 40 MW in any five year plan. The idea of installing 1,20,000 MW in the next five year plan sounds overly ambitious to any layman.

Probably this is what is known as energy crisis.

We will only end up buggering the atmosphere and the environment by adding 1,20,000 MW capacity in the next five years. Indian think tanks are just trying to follow the trends that the west and developed economies have set. We just want to reach where they are today. Beyond that nobody knows what should be done. The developed economies are already on the path backwards, and will very soon be paying heavily in terms of environmental costs. India too, is trying to imitate its way to hell.

The needs always arise because there are facilities to cater to a new need. What I am trying to say is, needs are not perennially existent. They merely arise every time human beings find something new. I always used to think that need is the mother of all innovation. Of late I have been thinking that needs are results of innovations.

Human beings are a little short of traveling a full circle. And I believe that many of us have lost the capacity to realize the same. After talking to lot of people on this front and thinking a bit myself, I have started wondering how exactly should growth be defined? From an Indian’s perspective, one should realize that the existing scenario of a billion people killing for that extra piece of land itself is frightening. If we go any further, very soon there will be nothing to lose.

It is high time that we stop defining growth in terms of the energy one consumes and the lifestyle standards. We need to define our standards ourselves, and showcase that for everyone on this planet to survive happily, the standards need not always get higher and higher. Again, that very definition of ‘higher’ is subjective.

Till date, every budget was measured in terms of the amount of money one possessed. It will still effectively be the same. With the introduction of CDM, and Carbon Credits for entities, industrial houses and countries, carbon costs are making their way into the budgets and balance sheets of these biggies. It wont be far from now that carbon budgeting will be the way of life for every individual.

A person traveling by a bicycle will have to be paid by a person owning a SUV for the guy owning the bicycle is more environment friendly. A person staying in a smaller house will be paid by a person residing in a mansion for the former consumes lesser energy at home, and hence the latter has to buy his carbon credits to be environmentally friendly too.

All said and done, being environmental friendly will become fashionable and being green will make you richer. The green will eventually transfer hands. That was a brilliant pun, wasn’t it? :)