2011 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
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The impact of climate change is projected to
have different effects within and between countries.
Developing countries have to carefully evaluate the
need for, and the roles of global and national
institutions in promoting both mitigation and
adaptation programs. Mitigation and adaptation actions
can, if appropriately designed, advance
The Kyoto reduction, by itself, is inadequate to
achieve a stabilization of climate change by 2100. A
continual and larger reduction, similar to that
stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol for the 2008–2012
periods, will be needed in the future in order to
begin to stabilize long-term greenhouse gas
emissions. Even if stabilization of greenhouse gases
is achieved, global warming will still continue for
several decades and sea levels will continue to rise
for several centuries. IPCC studies make it
abundantly clear, how- ever, that industrialized
countries
alone
cannot
achieve
this reduction. Even if their emissions were reduced to
zero in the near future, the current trends of growing
emissions from developing countries alone could force
the atmospheric concentration to exceed stabilization
levels of 550 PPM. The participation of all countries,
including the developing countries such as India, is
essential for a successful worldwide effort to arrest the
growth of greenhouse gas emissions.
The impact of climate change is projected to have
different effects within and between countries.
Developing countries have to carefully evaluate the
need for, and the role for global and national
institutions in promoting both sustainable development
and equity both within and across countries and
between generations. The pervasiveness of inertia and
the possibility of irreversibility in the consequences of
the interactions among climate, ecological and socio-
economic systems are major reasons why anticipatory
adaptation and mitigation actions are beneficial. Thus,
the inertia and uncertainty imply that targets and
timetables must be fixed for avoiding dangerous levels
of interference in the climate system. A number of
opportunities to exercise adaptation and mitigation
options may be lost if action is delayed.
There are many ways to pursue sustainable
development strategies that contributes to the
mitigation of climate change like adoption of energy
efficient technologies in electricity generation,
transmission distribution, end- use can be reduce cost
and local pollution in addition to reduction of green
house gas emission and shift to renewable, some of
which are already cost effective, enhance sustainable
energy supply and can reduce pollution.
Developing nations can count on a variety of
potential electrical energy sources, including solar,
hydroelectric,
people-powered,
fossil-fueled,
geothermal, and wind. To maintain availability of
electricity, backup batteries are often used. Cost
remains a major factor in obtaining affordable power
sources. But frequently power sources are undersized,
battery and charging system are often misused and fail,
and there is a lack of standard and convenient
interfaces for switching among various power sources
based on capacity and demand.
Some power sources are AC, typically 220-volt, 50-
Hz, and others are DC, typically solar-powered or
backup batteries DC to AC inverters, or devices
capable of operating off either type of power, are
important and generally lacking. Where electrical
energy sources are present, there often is insufficient
operations, maintenance and repair capability on the
part of the local people. A lack of spare parts and a lack
of local knowledge, including illiteracy in some cases,
contribute to once-functioning systems languishing in a
state of disrepair. The demand for energy in these
countries is expected to grow with increases in
population and living standards. The International
Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that by 2020,
developing countries will need to double their
electrical power output. Demand for energy is growing
much more rapidly than the rate of expansion of
conventional
electricity
grids.
Estimates predict that developing countries will have to
more than double their energy capacity.
Conventional energy will not be enough to meet the
continuously increasing need for energy in the future.
In this case, renewable energy sources will become
important. An alternative solution for this problem is
solar energy, available in most areas and representing a
good source of thermal energy. Of the various solar air
conditioning alternatives, the absorption system
appears to be one of the most promising methods.
As part of the National Action Plan on Climate
Change, the government has set the target of increasing
contribution of renewable energy sources to power
generations to ten percent by 2015. Although the
installed renewable energy capacity is more than the
ten percent – at 16.8 GW – of the total generation
capacity of 161.4 GW, the contribution of renewable
energy to real power generated is only four percent.
Wind energy leads all the renewable energy sources in
terms of installed capacity. Wind energy resources are
concentrated in a handful of Indian states like Tamil
Nadu, Andra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka
and Rajasthan, but given the rapidly evolving wind
energy technology and the presence of the world’s third
largest wind turbine manufacturer as a domestic player
has resulted in consistent increase in wind energy
capacity expansion. The tariff rates of wind energy
generated power are also much more competitive with
the power generated from conventional fuels as
compared to solar energy.
