Q. Discuss the problems of alternative source of energy in our country. What are Carbon Credits? How much global – Warming can be tolerated for the sake of economic development? [47 BPSC/2007]

Q. Discuss the problems of alternative source of energy in our country. What are Carbon Credits? How much global – Warming can be tolerated for the sake of economic development? [47 BPSC/2007] ©crackingcivilservices.com
Ans:
Alternative energy represents the clean energy source (does not pollute) that derives from a natural and renewable source of energy such as solar, wind, geothermal, waves, tides, waste, biomass, hydrogen and so on.

As the name suggests, alternative energy has appeared as an alternative to fossil fuels because fossil fuels are considered finite sources of energy and are polluting the environment.

Today, we start using alternative sources of energy like solar power, wind power, geothermal, biomass, hydro power, waste energy and so on, because these renewable energy sources are not polluting the environment and are helping us to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere and to reduce climate change effects.

The problems of alternative source of energy in our country

• Problems with Solar energy:
  • The initial cost of purchasing a solar system is fairly high. This includes paying for solar panels, inverter, batteries, wiring, and the installation. Nevertheless, solar technologies are constantly developing, so it is safe to assume that prices will go down in the future.
  • T&D Losses are at approximately 40 percent make generation through solar energy sources highly unfeasible.
  • Weather-Dependent: Although solar energy can still be collected during cloudy and rainy days, the efficiency of the solar system drops. Solar panels are dependent on sunlight to effectively gather solar energy. Therefore, a few cloudy, rainy days can have a noticeable effect on the energy system.
    • Further, the solar energy cannot be collected during the night.
  • Solar Energy Storage is Expensive: Solar energy has to be used right away, or it can be stored in large batteries. These batteries, used in off-the-grid solar systems, can be charged during the day so that the energy is used at night
  • Uses a Lot of Space: The more electricity you want to produce, the more solar panels you will need, as you want to collect as much sunlight as possible. Solar PV panels require a lot of space and some roofs are not big enough to fit the number of solar panels that you would like to have.
  • There are also some toxic materials and hazardous products used during the manufacturing process of solar photovoltaic systems, which can indirectly affect the environment.
  • On the domestic manufacturing front, India fares worse. Various efforts by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to attract bids for the development of the Inter-state Transmission System (ISTS) connected Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Plant since 2018 has been in vain.
• Problem with wind energy:
  • Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically in the past several decades, wind projects must be able to compete economically with the other low-cost source of electricity
  • Some locations may not be windy enough to be cost competitive. Good land-based wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the electricity is needed.
    • Good land-based wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the electricity is needed.
  • Wind resource development might not be the most profitable use of the land.
  • Turbines might cause noise and aesthetic pollution (visual impacts to the landscape).
  • Wind plants can impact local wildlife. e.g. Birds have been killed by flying into spinning turbine blades.
• Problems with hydro power:
  • Hydropower is non-polluting, but does have environmental impacts. Hydropower facilities can affect land use, homes, and natural habitats in the dam area. Reservoirs may cover people’s homes, important natural areas, agricultural land etc.
  • Hydroelectricity is hydrology dependent. The system depends on precipitation levels, which can fluctuate from year to year, causing instability.
  • In some cases, hydroelectricity can disrupt wildlife habitat. Hydroelectric power plants can cause a loss or modification of fish habitat, and lead to the entrapment of fish and the restriction of their passages.
  • Other issues like land acquisition, relocation of local population, dam induced earthquake and flooding as result of mismanagement.
• Problems with geothermal energy:
  • The extraction of geothermal energy from the grounds leads to a release of greenhouse gases like hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia.
    • However, the amount of gas released is significantly lower than in the case of fossil fuels.
  • Furthermore, despite being considered a sustainable and renewable energy, the chances are that specific locations might cool down after time, making it impossible to harvest more geothermal energy in future.
    • The only non-depletable option is sourcing geothermal energy right from magma but the technology for doing so is still in the process of development.
  • Another disadvantage is the high initial cost for individual households. The need for drilling and installing quite a complex system.
  • In case of geothermal systems, having a piece of land next to the house is required in order to be able to install one.
• Problems with tidal energy
  • Expensive to build
  • Very location specific and locations are often remote.
  • Non-continuous, storage or grid-backup required
  • Barrages may restrict access to open water
  • Impact on fish, marine mammals and birds
  • Mud flats (where many birds feed) adversely impacted
  • Disrupts regular tidal cycles
• Problem with biomass energy:
  • Biomass contains carbon and it releases carbon dioxide on combustion.
  • Using fuels produced from biomass results in the release of various gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, NOx (nitrogen oxides), VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which all contribute to air pollution.
  • The construction and operating costs of a biomass energy plant can be expensive in relation to traditional forms of power generation.
  • The seasonality of biomass supply and a wide variability in available sources present a potential challenges for biomass energy plants.
• Problem with wave energy:
  • Location specific: Only power plants and towns near the ocean will benefit directly from it.
  • Large machines have to be put near and in the water to gather energy from the waves. These machines disturb the seafloor, change the habitat of near-shore creatures (like crabs and starfish) and create noise that disturbs the sea life around them.
  • Wind power is highly dependent on wavelength, i.e., wave speed, wavelength, wavelength and water density. They require a consistent flow of powerful waves to generate a significant amount of wave power.
    • Some areas experience unreliable wave behavior, and it becomes unpredictable to forecast accurate wave power and, therefore, cannot be trusted as a reliable energy source.
  • Noise and Visual Pollution: Wave energy generators may be unpleasant for some who live close to coastal regions.
  • It requires enormous cost of production. Energy production from the waves requires a huge setup.
• Problems with Biofuel:
  • Biofuel production using food crops such as corn, soybeans and sorghum can potentially affect the food security.
  • Some experts argue that widespread biofuel production is a negative-sum game: Producing enough biodiesel or ethanol to replace one gallon of petroleum fuel, they argue, requires the energy equivalent to several gallons’ worth of petroleum fuel.

Thus, there are various issues associated with the generation, transmission and use of the alternative sources of energy. Government is trying to fix these problems through steps like encouraging domestic production of equipments, pooling energy from various source to ensure constant supply and R&D.

What are Carbon Credits:

• A carbon credit is a permit that allows the company that holds it to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.
• One carbon credit is equal to one ton of carbon dioxide, or in some markets, carbon dioxide equivalent gases.
• How does one earn a carbon credit?
  • An organisation which produces one tonne less of carbon or carbon dioxide equivalent than the standard level of carbon emission allowed for its outfit or activity, earns a carbon credit.
• How does it help?
  • Countries which are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol under the UNFCCC have laid down gas emission norms for their companies to be met by 2012. In such cases, a company has two ways to reduce emissions.
  • (i) It can reduce the GHG (greenhouse gases) by adopting new technology or improving upon the existing technology to attain the new norms for emission of gases.
  • (ii) It can tie up with developing nations and help them set up new technology that is eco-friendly, thereby helping developing country or its companies ‘earn’ credits. This credit becomes a permit for the company to emit GHGS in its own country.
  • However, only a portion of carbon credits of the company in developing country can be transferred to the company in developed country.
• Carbon, like any other commodity, has begun to be traded on India’s Multi Commodity Exchange. MCX has become first exchange in Asia to trade carbon credits.

India is at the top of the list of nations expected to be worst hit by the adverse effects of climate change. The process of economic development is associated with the release of the green house gases because of higher energy use, urbanisation and transportation etc. India’s efforts to boost economic growth and development by rapidly industrializing and transforming itself into a manufacturing hub are set to drastically increase the demand for energy in a country that is home to about a sixth of the world’s population. Energy sector is a major contributing factor.
So, the challenge is to cut the nation’s high carbon footprint while not jeopardizing its economic growth prospects.

How much global – Warming can be tolerated for the sake of economic development?

• The Paris Agreement within UNFCCC aims to limit the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degree Celsius, above pre-industrial levels; and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 °C, recognizing that this would substantially reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.
• Many experts, organisations and policymakers consider the rise of approx 2 degree Celsius as a tipping point beyond which its own natural processes trigger uncontrollable warming.
• However, this the two-degree limit has been questioned as “utterly inadequate.” There are a few major objections to the two-degree target and even 1.5 degree target.
  • First, it’s somewhat arbitrary. The climate is a complex system. To the extent that we accept the notion of tipping points, there are likely to be several rather than one. Two degrees is, in the view of many, a handy rallying cry rather than a scientific threshold.
  • In 2018, the IPCC had released its Special Report titled “Global Warming of 1.5°C”. This report has highlighted that at 1.5°C rise in temperature,
    • world would witness greater sea level rise, increased precipitation and higher frequency of droughts and floods, hotter days and heatwaves, more intense tropical cyclones,
    • Decline in crop yields, unprecedented climate extremes and increased susceptibility could push poverty by several million by 2050.
    • Coral reefs would decline by 70-90 percent with global warming of 1.5°C, whereas virtually all (> 99 percent) would be lost with 2°C.
    • About 350 million additional people could be exposed to deadly heat waves.
  • A study “Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment” reveals that more than one-third of the glaciers in the region could retreat by 2100, even if the global temperature rise is capped at 1.5ºC. and in case of 2 ºC half of the ice wil be lost by 2100.
  • The two-degree global mean temperature rise might result in Africa’s temperature rising as much as 3.5 degrees—a potentially disastrous change. The perceived consensus around the target involves a geographic bias.

Thus, though the prevailing view is that we need to limit the global warming under well below 2°C, many researchers questioned the use of a single number to indicate the moment of catastrophe. But, we need a goal that is both achievable and worthwhile, so the argument over degrees is one worth having.

Going forward, we should not consider the economic development and climate conservation antithetical to each other. Only with economic growth we can invest in the climate conservation and only by conserving climate we can sustain the economic development.
Aggressively advancing renewable energy technology and limiting the use of conventional sources of energy will help us progress in right direction. As IPCC report has pointed out that if global emissions continue as per the commitments made under Paris Agreement, the carbon budget (the amount of CO2 that the world can emit) for 1.5°C warming will be exhausted by 2030. And in order to limit warming at 1.5°C, the world will have to reduce CO2 emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 from the 2010 levels and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. ©crackingcivilservices.com