Congratulations, Dr Harish Hiraniji
( Director, CMERI / director@cmeri.res.in ),
Couple of weeks back, PM Shri Modi made following
pledges :
·
India will achieve net Zero status by 2070
·
By 2030, 50 % of energy to come from renewable sources
·
To raise non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 GW 2030 ( considering
that we are currently at 100 GW, it would mean adding another 400 GW by 2030 ,
which is almost 50 GW / year for next 8 years )
·
Cut projected emissions by a billion tons
·
Cut carbon intensity of India’s economy by 45 %
While
making those commitments, did Shri Modi have in mind, a Solar Cooker ?
May
be, if he had read the following news report :
Giving away a cook stove to earn carbon credit /
Business Line / 12 Nov 2021
Extract / Highlights :
If someone told you that a company
intends to distribute about 400 cook stoves, each
worth ₹ 1,600, you would think that
either it is philanthropy or that the company’s management is crazy.
Well, it is neither. GHG Reduction
Technologies Pvt Ltd is putting up a factory at Nashik, Maharashtra, to
manufacture cook stoves that it plans to distribute to the rural poor (over several
years) free of cost, with a solid business plan behind it.
The
company aims to get carbon credits for each cook stove given away, which, it reckons, will more than pay for the manufacturing
cost of the cook stove.
GHG Reduction Technologies has been
promoted by Manish Dabkara
(manish.dabkara@enkingint.org /manishdabkara@gmail.com )
-
who has also promoted EKI Energy, a
company that facilitates in carbon trading
Dabkara calculates that each cook stove will earn the
company four carbon credits a year because they save a lot on
fuel wood.
And the prices of carbon credits ( or offsets )
are already going through the roof
Today, certain types of carbon offsets sell for as much as € 60
Whenever the rules are made, governments
(mostly of developed countries) would start buying the offsets
They would form the ‘compliance market’,
where offsets are purchased to meet a commitment.
The voluntary market, comprising
companies such as Google and Apple, have vowed to reduce their carbon
footprint to meet their ‘net-zero’ commitments
Today, investors are buying
offsets in the hope of selling for a profit to entities that will be
obliged under various agreements to reduce their carbon footprint
Other potential buyers are oil and gas companies.
Dabkara believes that the market will
only grow, with more and more entities demanding offsets. That is why he is
investing in the manufacture of cook stoves that he will give away free.
==================================================
MY TAKE :
The news report
cited above does not say what kind of cook-stoves
are these
Priced at Rs 1600, these
are most likely to be single burner stoves which
use LPG Cylinder for fuel
May be GHG
Reduction Technology stoves are very efficient
and consume much less LPG – and, as a result, produce much less green house
gases – which is certainly a very desirable improvement
But a real
breakthrough reduction in GHG can come only through use of Solar Cookers ( thereby completely
eliminating need to use LPG , which country imports at a cost of lakhs
of crores of rupees )
What is required is
for the Central Govt to go ALL OUT to push the Solar Cooker technology reported in :
Extract :
Prof. Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-CMERI, handed over the
CSIR-CMERI developed Solar DC Cooking
System to the Asansol Braille Academy, West Bengal today
The CSIR-CMERI developed Solar DC Cooking
Technology was transferred to two business entities namely M/s Asansol
Solar & LED House, WB and M/s Meeco Solar & Infrastructure Associates,
Durgapur, WB.
The CSIR-CMERI developed Solar DC Cooking System is a Solar
Energy based Cooking System which consists of solar PV panel / charge controller / battery bank and / cooking oven.
Specifications :
√ Maximum Heating Capacity: 1200
W
√ Regulation: Two Steps (700W
& 1200W)
√ Operating Voltage: 50 VDC
√ Solar PV Panels: 1300 W ( This
will need a PV panel of 145 Sq Ft @ 9 W / Sq ft )
√ Battery Bank: 48 V, 100 Ah ( 4
no x 12V batteries / approx total cost = Rs
27,000 )
√ PWM/MPPT Charge Controller
Watch video at : https://www.indiascience.in/videos/csir-cmeri-launches-solar-dc-cooking-system-e
The technology provides:
# Clean Cooking Environment,
# Invertor-Less Direct Operation,
# Fast and Uniform Heating, and a
# Potential to save 1 ton Carbon Dioxide emissions year / household.
It was a dream of a ‘Pollution-Free India’ and the CSIR-CMERI developed Solar DC Cooking System is a small step
towards realization of that dream.
The CSIR-CMERI developed Solar DC Cooking
System has 20-25% better efficiency and more Economical in
comparison with Conventional Solar based Cooking Systems which
loses efficiency owing to AC-DC conversion.
The simple Technology Design also ensures
Ease-of-Manufacturing and thus provides a
substantial Economic Opportunity for the Micro-Industries.
This System will help in substantial
curbing of Carbon Dioxide emissions - as even LPG usage emits Carbon Dioxide.
The Technology once it reaches the market
will cost in the range of Rs 65,000 - Rs 70,000.
Similar to other Solar Energy based
products, if Government subsidies are provided there will be a significant
reduction in the price of the product.
Widespread usage of the CSIR-CMERI
developed Solar DC Cooking System
can also play a critical role in:
# achieving the target of 200 GW of Solar energy as envisioned by the Hon’ble Prime Minister
of India and
# also to save almost 290 million tons of Carbon Dioxide emissions.
( Related News :
National Indian
Carbon Coalition
===================================================
Dear Dr
Hirani,
While congratulating
you – and your team of researchers – for this path-breaking innovation, I urge
you to bring out V 2.0 of your system, with following
objectives :
Ø Bring down the size of PV solar panel required, from 145 sq ft to a low of 15 sq ft , so that , all of India’s
households ( some 290
million ) can mount it on roof / terrace or projecting from a window
Only then, will your System manage
to save 290 million tons of Carbon Dioxide emissions.
Ø Instead of
using FOUR ( lead acid ? ) automotive batteries of 12 V each , consider a
single / compact New Age battery, that
can store generated Solar Power for 100 HOURS but cost only ONE-TENTH of current
Lithium-ion batteries
Taken together, these improvements may bring down the selling
price of your system from Rs 70,000 to an affordable Rs 20,000
In the hands of the householder, this can be further brought down to ( say ) Rs 5,000
, by :
Ø Central Govt providing
a BUYER SUBSIDY ( DBT ) of ( say ), Rs 5000 ( what govt may be spending
today on subsidizing LPG cylinders to poor households under UJWALA scheme
Ø Govts reimbursing GST / SGST + introducing Production
linked Incentives ( Rs 5,000 ? )
Ø For every unit sold, system manufacturers allotted 10
Carbon Credits ( worth Rs 5,000 )
With regards,
Related Readings
:
Ø World's cheapest energy storage will be an iron-air battery
Ø Inscrutable are the ways of the Providence ? ……[
15 June 2021 ]
Ø Solar Chula ? Some Unanswered
Questions
