Era of Cheap Coal Ends, Solar Age Dawns
The bright lights of Diwali have further exposed the depth and breadth of India’s coal crisis bringing a 21st century reality into painful focus: Geologically speaking coal is abundant, economically speaking cheap coal is not. India may be the first country to face this harsh reality, but it will not be the last. Fortunately, the clean energy sector is [...]
Solar Wars
If anyone needed proof that clean energy is the future they need look no further than the recent trade disputes the US has filed against China over wind and now solar. Nations simply do not fight over unprofitable, unviable sectors. Instead they do exactly what China, India, the EU, and the US are all doing: [...]
Getting India’s Solar Boom Right
Solar installations grew at a blistering pace in 2010 – 73% compared to 2009. A situation enabled in large part by prices that have dropped 60% in the past three years alone. Given the rapidly changing economics there is enormous interest in the first phase of India’s solar mission, which currently has 80 MW operational, [...]
Mission Critical: Focusing on What Energy Costs Today
A disruptive shift in the world energy economy has rendered the commonly accepted axiom that renewable energy is expensive and fossil fuels are cheap oversimplified and outdated. From soaring coal and oil prices, to rock bottomsolar module prices, the signs are everywhere that what we believe we know about energy costs today requires immediate revision. Most importantly, [...]
Pay-as-you-go: Simpa’s Radical Affordability Solution
There are now 48 million people worldwide who have a mobile phone, but no connection to the grid. These un-electrified, mobile phone users are expected to increase to 138 million by 2015 marking the intersection between mobile phone and off-grid lighting technology that is spawning a number of innovations shaping the future of rural electrification [...]
The Albedo Effect
This article basically discusses the environmental impacts of Photovoltaic Technology. Though most of us think that solar energy is by far the most prominent solution to our energy demands- safe and pure, we overlook certain facts. It’s not that I am against solar-energy but I want to bring the matter to light. The Albedo Effect [...]
