Alternative Energy, Biogas & Carbon Credits

Part 2 · The problems of alternative sources of energy in our country

The Problems of Each Alternative Source

Cost, weather, land, location, storage and impacts on wildlife: every clean source comes with limits that slow its spread in India.

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, making 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 have been in vain.

What the government is doing

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.

Part 3 · What are carbon credits?

Carbon Credits: A Permit to Emit

A tradable permit for one tonne of carbon dioxide, earned by emitting less than the allowed level and bought by companies that emit more.

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.
Example: Suppose a cement plant is allowed to emit 1,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. If cleaner kilns bring it down to 900 tonnes, it earns 100 carbon credits, which it can sell to a company that is over its limit.

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.

Way (i)
Cut its own emissions
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.
Way (ii)
Help a developing country cut emissions
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 on the commodity exchange

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.

Part 4 · How much global warming can be tolerated for the sake of economic development?

How Much Warming Can Development Afford?

The Paris Agreement aims for well below 2°C and ideally 1.5°C, but even 1.5°C brings serious harm, and some argue a single number misleads.

India's dilemma

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.

The 2°C and 1.5°C targets

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, 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.

Objections to the two-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 2ºC half of the ice will 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.

The verdict

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.

The way forward

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.

Part 5 · What is biogas technology?

Biogas: Fuel and Manure from Organic Waste

Anaerobic fermentation turns dung and organic waste into a clean, smokeless fuel that is mostly methane, and leaves behind rich manure.

Biogas, or “Gobar Gas”

Biogas is a gas mixture which is generated when organic compounds are fermented in the absence of air (anaerobic fermentation). This gas mixture is mainly made of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (75%) and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), moisture.

It burns without smoke, leaves no residue like ash in wood, charcoal and coal burning. Its heating capacity is high. Bio-gas is also used for lighting. The slurry left behind is removed periodically and used as excellent manure, rich in nitrogen and phosphorous.

Biogas is a renewable energy source. In India, it is also known as “Gobar Gas”.

How biogas technology works

Biogas technology enables harnessing the anaerobic digestion (AD) process to convert household, community, or commercial organic wastes to energy in the form of biogas and enabling nutrients to be recycled via the output slurry known as digestate.

Input
Organic waste
Household, community or commercial organic wastes, such as cattle dung.
Process
Anaerobic digestion
Organic compounds are fermented in the absence of air.
Output
Biogas and digestate
Biogas for cooking and lighting; the slurry (digestate) as manure rich in nitrogen and phosphorous.

Benefits

Waste and pollution

Responsible waste management, reduction in carbon emissions and pollution.

Farm income

Additional revenue source for farmers.

Rural economy

Boost to entrepreneurship, rural economy and employment.

Climate goals

Support to national commitments in achieving climate change goals.

Fewer imports

Reduction in import of natural gas and crude oil.

Price buffer

Buffer against crude oil/gas price fluctuations.

Part 6 · The steps taken by Government of India towards its development

How the Government Has Promoted Biogas

From the oil-crisis programmes of the 1970s and the family biogas plants of the 1980s to compressed biogas under SATAT and GOBAR-DHAN.

The steps taken by Government of India

Programs for promoting biogas technologies have been running since the 1970s (after first oil crisis in early 1970's).
- India was a net importer of oil products. The combination of global energy crisis together with the local energy shortages heightened the national energy security risk from rising costs of energy imports as well as the pressure on the national budget to meet the rising energy subsidy etc.
Several rural programs such as National Biogas and Manure Management program (since 1981-82) and off-grid biogas power generation program for providing renewable energy for cooking and lighting use.
- National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP) has provisions for setting up family type biogas plant. It mainly aims to provide clean bio-gaseous fuel mainly for cooking purposes; for reducing use of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and other conventional fuels; and to provide bio-fertilizer/organic manure to reduce use of chemical fertilizers.
The biogas development program in 1981 was a part of a multi-pronged approach adopted to alleviate the rural energy crisis.
Programs and initiatives for boosting the waste-to-energy sector from municipal solid waste and industrial wastes.
India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy offers some subsidy per brick model constructed.
In 2018, Petroleum Minister launched SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative to promote Compressed Bio-Gas as an alternative, green transport fuel.
The National Policy on Biofuels 2018 emphasises active promotion of advanced bio-fuels, including CBG.
The Government of India had launched the GOBAR-DHAN (Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources) scheme in 2018 to convert cattle dung and solid waste in farms to CBG and compost.
- The scheme proposes to cover 700 projects across the country in 2018-19. The programme will be funded under Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) component of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) to benefit households in identified villages through Gram Panchayats.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) invites proposals from groups engaged in manufacturing / development of small biogas plant for Innovative & New Design and/or significant change in existing approved designs leading towards simple and cost effective domestic, community / village level small scale Biogas usage.

Still a small share

The rate of biogas dissemination is low in rural areas and the share of biogas in the fuel mix in rural households is insignificant. Around five million family biogas plants (40%) have been installed under the biogas development program against the total potential of 12 million domestic biogas plants estimated by the MNRE.

In addition to family type biogas plants, 400 biogas off-grid power plants have been set up with a power generation capacity of about 5.5 MW (MNRE, 2015). Currently, there are only 56 operational biogas based power plants in India, the majority of them are located in three states, Maharashtra, Kerala, and Karnataka.

More research in this direction and awareness creation among people are the need in this area.

Exam preparation

BPSC Mains Previous Year Questions

Every question this page prepares you for, with the parts that answer it.

Q147th BPSC · 2007

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?

Study:Alternative Energy Problems by Source Carbon Credits Tolerable Warming

Q240th BPSC · 1995

What is bio-gas technology? What are the steps taken by Government of India towards its development?

Study:Biogas Technology Government Steps

Quick revisionProblems of each source Quick revisionHow carbon credits work Quick revisionHow biogas is made

Alternative Energy, Biogas & Carbon CreditsClean Power, Its Limits & the Warming Debate

Alternative Energy: Clean Power from Natural Sources