India can meet its energy needs without nuclear plants: Study

October 4, 2012

 

nuclear_plantsBangalore, October 4: India's energy needs can be met entirely by solar and other renewable sources, says a new study by two professors at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore.  Their report published in the journal Current Science may add ammunition to the anti-nuclear agitation in India.

 

The analysis by Hiremath Mitavachan and Jayaraman  Srinivasan of  IISc's Divecha Centre for Climate Change overturns the argument that nuclear power is essential for India because the country does not have enough land to exploit the potential of solar energy in India.

 

According to their study, 4.1 percent of the total uncultivable and waste land area in India  is enough to meet the projected annual demand of 3,400 terawatt-hour (TWh) by 2070 by solar energy alone (1 terawatt-hour per year equals 114 megawatts). The land area required will be further reduced to 3.1 percent "if we bring the other potential renewable energy sources of India into picture", they claim. They conclude that land availability is not a limiting constraint for the solar source as believed.

 

They say their calculations are based on present-day solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and do not include higher efficiencies achieved by new solar cells. Neither have they considered roof-top PV systems that can be established without any need for additional land.

 

The IISc researchers' conclusion is in conformity with that of a report prepared last year  by the Australian government which said: "There is more than enough suitable land in India, with high direct beam solar, to meet the entire nation's electricity needs in principle."

 

Convinced that sunlight differs from other energy sources in the way it uses the land, the researchers compared the land-use pattern of three primary energy sources - coal, nuclear and hydro - with solar energy.  They then calculated the percentage of India's land area that would be required to meet the future projected energy demand. Coal power plants not only transform the land around the facility but also require land for mining coal and its upstream processing, the authors note.  An average dam displaces 31,340 persons and submerges 8,748 hectares of land. The direct land footprint of a nuclear power plant includes power plant area, buffer zone, waste disposal area and the land that goes into mining uranium.

 

"Our study shows that solar power plants require less land in comparison to hydro-power plants and are comparable with coal and nuclear energy power generation when life-cycle transformations are considered," Srinivasan said.

 

While nuclear and fossil fuel-based technologies must continuously transform some land to extract the fuels or dispose of the waste, this is not the case with solar plants. In fact, the same land used for PV solar power plants can be utilised for other purposes like grazing.

 

The roof-top solar power technology, along with that proposed by IISc professors, "will be able to meet most of the electricity demand, and has the potential to transform the power sector," says Shankar Sarma, a power policy analyst  and author of forthcoming book "Integrated Power Policy."

 

Atul  Chokshi of the IISc Department of Materials Engineering and an expert on solar energy agrees. He reported recently  that a three kilowatt  rooftop solar panel system on the 425 million households   can generate a total energy per year 1900 TWh - half of the projected energy demand by 2070.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Kozhikode, Aug 8: The death toll in Kozhikode air crash is likely to rise as the condition of 22 injured passengers is said to be extremely critical. A total of 149 injured passengers have been admitted to hospitals in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. 22 others have been discharged after first aid, says K Gopalakrishnan, Malappuram Collector

Deceased passengers:
Mohammed Riyas VP, 24 years - Palakkad, 
Saheer Sayed, 38 years -Malappuram, 
Lailabi KV, 51 years -Malappuram, 
Rajeevan Cherikka Parambil, 61 years - Kozhikode, 
Manal Ahamed, 25 years - Kozhikode, 
Sharafudheen, 35 years - Kozhikode, 
Janaky Kunnoth, 55 years - Kozhikode, 
Azam Muhammed Chembayi ,1 year - Kozhikode, 
Santha Marakkat, 59 years - Malappuram, 
Sudheer Vaariyath, 45 years -Malappuram, 
Sheza Fathima, 2 years -Malappuram, 
Remya Muraleedharan, 32 years - Kozhikode
Aysha Dua, 2 years – Palakkad 
Shivathmika, 5 Years- Kozhikode
Zhenobia, 40 years – Kozhikode
Sahira Banu, 29 years - Kozhikode

Deceased crew:
Deepak Sathe (Pilot)
Akhilesh Kumar (Copilot)

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News Network
January 13,2020

New Delhi, Jan 13: The Supreme Court on Monday commenced hearing on issues related to discrimination against women in various religions and at religious places including Kerala's Sabarimala Temple.

A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said that it was not considering review pleas in the Sabarimala case.

“We are not hearing review pleas of Sabarimala case. We are considering issues referred to by a 5-judge bench earlier,” the bench said.

The apex court had on November 14 asked a larger bench to re-examine various religious issues, including the entry of women into the Sabarimala Temple and mosques and the practice of female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra community.

While the five-judge bench unanimously agreed to refer religious issues to a larger bench, it gave a 3:2 split decision on petitions seeking a review of the apex court's September 2018 decision allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala.

A majority verdict by then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra decided to keep pending pleas seeking a review of its decision regarding entry of women into the shrine, and said restrictions on women in religious places was not restricted to Sabarimala alone and was prevalent in other religions as well.

The minority verdict by Justices R F Nariman and D Y Chandrachud gave a dissenting view by dismissing all review pleas and directing compliance of its September 28 decision.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: Senior Delhi Congress leader and national spokesperson of the party Sharmishtha Mukherjee alleged delay in decision making and lack of strategy and unity at the state level for the party's humiliating performance reflected in the Assembly poll results on Tuesday.

Mukherjee, president of Delhi Mahila Congress, stated that it was high time that the party takes some action. She added that she too was responsible for the Congress' poor show.

The Congress is on the verge of drawing blank again in the Assembly polls as all its candidates were way far behind their AAP and BJP opponents on all the 70 seats. In the 2015 Assembly elections too, Congress failed to win any seat.

"We r again decimated in Delhi. Enuf of introspection, time 4 action now. Inordinate delay in decision making at the top, lack of strategy & unity at state level, demotivated workers, no grassroots connect-all r factors. Being part of d system, I too take my share of responsibility (sic)," Mukherjee tweeted as the results came out.

She also accused the BJP of playing divisive politics while crediting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for playing "smart politics" as the results showed a clean sweep by the AAP to return to power.

"BJP playing divisive politics, Kejriwal playing ‘smart politics’ & what r we doing? Can we honestly say that we’ve done all 2 put our house in order? We r busy capturing Congress whereas other parties are capturing India. If we r 2 survive, time 2 come out of exalted echo chambers! (sic)," she said in another tweet.

The Congress contested the Delhi polls in alliance with the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), fielding candidates on 66 seats and leaving four to its partner.

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