Smart Planet: If Airports in Tennessee could Save so much Power by Going Solar, Imagine How much Indian Airports CoSuld Save

mart Planet has this piece about the Chattanooga Airport in the beautiful state of Tennessee saving 90,000 kWh of power in a year by putting up 4.5 acres of solar panels over the airport. I am guessing that these are early generation solar PVs - the latest from Semprius Solar are three times as efficient. Just imagine how much electricity could be saved, how much pollution could be reduced from the thermal powerplants that generate power in India, and how much less load shedding there would be in the rest of the country because of power saved, if this readily available technology were used more often. Large government buildings could also be an excellent mounting platform for these PVs for even more power savings. And, of course, there are the new private sector buildings - software parks, malls, large apartment condominiums and so on. The potential is immense. Someone is going to show some initiative one of these days and do something good. My guess is that whoever this first mover is, is going to end up laughing all the way to the bank. If I were to bet on a company to do this, my bet would be on the Tatas. Let's see where this goes . . .

Geneva 2010: Tata debuts Nano EV concept

Geneva 2010: Tata debuts Nano EV concept

Chalk one more hurrah up for the Tatas and their electric Nano. With Indian streets stinking of the smell of untreated exhausts from many millions of old vehicles and with the ever increasing prices of fuel in India whenever some silly sheikh decides to build himself a new palace or acquire a new harem, this car could address two very important needs: use less imported fuel and pollute less. Unfortunately, there are problems and these are not related to the car itself: India's power sector is pathetic and many places including the capital suffer from power shortages for several hours a day. Unless this is addressed, the Nano Enectric will only work well in cities like Mumbai and Pune which have decent electric utilities. Hopefully, though, India will address the power issue - I have friends who work in the infrastructure sector talk about possibly as much as Rs 50,000 crores in new investments in powerplants. Hopefully, these will not be coal-burning plants which need imported coal.

In any case, a leading private sector company in India is doing a great job. Cheers for the Tatas for producing an electric car that is suited to the Indian marketplace. I doubt that any of the foreign companies which have set up shop in India would invest the time and the money to come up with something like this. India will have to look for Indian solutions to Indian problems, eventually. This is as good a beginning as is possible.