One of the severest global crisis is the disappearance of fossil fuel reserves, and the consequent shortage of energy all nations would face in the future. Different countries are planning to meet the inevitable challenge of energy shortage in different ways. Germany, for example, is concentrating on promoting renewable energy. It has already encouraged, through subsidy, the growth of renewable energy which now provides 20% of its energy needs, up from 6% in 2000.
How did Germany do this?
It assured anyone who could generate solar power and supply rit to the grid, a price which was double the price a consumer would pay to buy power from the grid. This was assured for 20 years. Almost overnight a huge solar roof industry sprang up, as home owners covered their roofs with solar panels. Interestingly, a new industry, that of solar roof investors, also sprang up. These were investors who would 'rent' roofs from a house owner, incur the cost of installing the panels and provide, by way of 'rent' free electricity to the home owner upto an agreed quantum, selling the rest to the grid at the State assured price. This legislative change not only encouraged the growth of the solar power industry, but it provided employment. There are more persons working in the solar power industry in Germany now than in its auto industry.
How was the subsidy cost borne?
The subsidy provided for buying the more expensive solar power was added on to the electricity bills of those consuming regular power. This spurred conservation, and an inclination to shift to solar power, using their roof. In essence, the roofs of homes replaced costly land which would have been used to house a power plant. Germany hopes to generate 35% of its energy through renewable needs by 2020.
Not every country is going the renewable way. Britain believes in gas, and its Chancellor, George Osborne, is fighting calls for a new subsidy regime for renewable, believing that gas, which is also environmentally friendly, is the way forward for Britain
China, amongst other things, is encouraging the growth of its electric car industry. Besides reducing its dependence on fading reserves of petro products, electric vehicles reduce carbon emissions by 40%.
An Israeli company, Better Place, did even better! It realised that the main obstacle to popularising electric vehicle was the need for the battery to be recharged, overnight, thus reducing the vehicle (and its owner's) flexibility and range of travel. What the founder of Better Place did was to de-link ownership of the battery from the vehicle, and make the battery replaceable, at several thousand stations. The car owner drives into a station where the vehicle is winched up, the old battery removed and a recharged one inserted, all within a matter of minutes; less time than it would take to fill a gas tank.
By J Mulraj
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