Alternative Energy: The Indian Advantage

India is a country on a roll. With national GDP growing over 8% a year, new industry flooding the country and a population soon to take over China, India is a country ready to take its place as a world power.  Economically the country has risen past any expectation of potential and in the wake of this success social reforms have begun sweeping through India with greater passion and success than ever and the middle class is projected to grow from the current 5% to reach 40% before 2030 (McKinsey & Co.)  While many problems still exist, one of the greatest threats to India’s economic success and credibility as a developed nation is its insufficient infrastructure.  In regards to sanitation, electricity, and power generation, India is behind.  To stay in competition and raise its standards for quality of life India must become more independent in its power generation and the distribution of that power.

            As a guest at an established university, I experienced wonderful care.  We were lucky enough to be equipped with back-up generators which switched on daily to accommodate the power failures on campus.  In some areas of the country, electricity is only available for a few hours a day, where other villages it is not available at all.  India will need much more energy as its population becomes more affluent.  India currently relies on foreign imports for most of its fossil fuels; with a population of over a billion people and a growing middle class demanding services, India will need to look into alternative energies to appease its citizens and stay competitive.

            Renewable energies could be an excellent investment opportunity for India.  It does not have a strong infrastructure like the United States, which means it does not have to overcome an established system to the same degree.  India can build from scratch and build their system right, with the capacity to take advantage of alternative energies.  It also has resources in the huge number of scientists at their disposal, as well as a number of renewable energy sources in wind, water, and solar.  If properly utilized, India could reduce its energy independence while greening its energy portfolio.  This would have an undeniable impact on the health of the average Indian.

Any person who has visited the mountain-locked north could testify to the evident air pollution, and while this is certainly uncomfortable it has actually had a marked effect on public health.  Rising asthma rates are an excellent indicator of the negative effect of increased use of fossil fuels.  From 1994-1999, persistent asthma rates rose from 20% to 27.5% (World Health Organization).  Since this data has been published, the number of cars in India has only increased and added to these figures. It is in India’s best interest to invest in the health of its citizens while simultaneously supplying them with better living conditions through greater energy access. Renewables are the answer.

            Wind energy has tremendous potential in southern India in the Western Ghats and the states lying to the east all the way to the Bay of Bengal.  With proper management, this could become a viable means of bringing electricity to remote villages. All that would be required to run a village would be an independent turbine and a small converter station.  There would be no need to establish an entire energy grid and would solve some issues regarding the cost of implementing such a grid.

            Another (already heavily utilized) potential is water and hydropower.  India is a country of extremes, especially in regards to water.  Some areas receive the highest rainfall in the world, only to dry up a few months after the monsoon has ended.  With water instability like this, India would greatly benefit from better utilization of its water resources.  Interbasin transfer, management of groundwater, rainwater harvesting, and more efficient turbines used in hydroelectric power production would have an immense impact in power production and use.  By making its use of water more efficient, India could also better aid water stressed areas and reduce political tensions over water with its neighbor Pakistan.

            Last but not least, solar energy could be utilized by independent homes or on a grid system set up on the roofs of urban dwellings to lower stress to the overall grid and decrease power interruptions.  By literally putting the power into the hands of the citizens, India could meet its energy demands, empower its citizens, improve public health, and truly create a more sustainable country.

            The role of fossil fuels over the next century will wan; peak oil has already been predicted and peak gas and coal are sure to follow.  As fossil fuels become more expensive to extract, the country whose infrastructure is best set up to accommodate alternatives will be in the best position to step into a leadership role.  While many other social, economic, and political issues plague India, investing in a future of renewable energies could address a number of problems while maintaining the momentum they are experiencing now.

Sanitation and Health, and Why It's Not Going Anywhere

      No matter what I read or told myself to be prepared for, there are certain things about India that I never understood until I saw or experienced them for myself.  While I myself never experienced a lack of sanitation facilities during my time in India, I was a witness more than once to the fact of life that is public defecation.  More than any other example of poverty, these were the moments that I was able to truly distinguish the quality of my life compared to the 300 million people in India that live in poverty.

      Sanitation is a large indicator of quality of life in a developing nation like India; it is important not only for improving health conditions in communities, but also represents education on health and hygiene.  In rural India open defecation and urination happens in fields and paddies. When presented with public or private toilets, many of these people do not take advantage of them because they do not see it as a more hygienic alternative.  Why would someone want a room in their home that held waste? In their minds it is better to “do their business” out in the open away from0 their homes and it is easy to see the logic of that decision.  The problems begin when these people migrate to urban areas for employment opportunities.  They take their village-logic with them and apply it to a very different set of living conditions.  Instead of an open field, defecation is taking place in allies and open sewers which run thru the slums and shanty towns that migrants often populate. 

The first time I witnessed this for myself, a young child was utilizing the sewer which was little more than a depression in the concrete alley of the slum I was visiting.  I didn’t feel disgust as I expected I would, but sadness that the people living in these situations had few other options and no education of the dangers of germs or disease passed through waste.  We often take our knowledge of bacteria and viruses for granted, but imagine yourself coming from a remote village in India where superstition has a much stronger hold than science.  It is not unexpected that people do not react positively or with understanding to initiatives to improve public health through proper sanitation.  In reality, this education is paramount to decreasing mortality rates in urban India.  More than one-third of urban deaths in India are due to waterborne illnesses like Cholera (World Health Organization) which are passed through the waste of humans. It is important to recognize that any sanitation infrastructure implemented in these slums must be accompanied by a way of educating the public of its importance.  Otherwise, public toilets will remain unused and there will be little encouragement to put further funds into sanitation infrastructures.

The illegal status of slums also presents a problem for government intervention in this public health issue.  While the government of India and its enforcement agencies often turn a blind eye to illegally built and occupied slums, they cannot offer public infrastructure services without condoning their existence.  However if the government does not intercede they allow entire communities (legal and illegal alike) to become victims of the waterborne illnesses and diseases that breed in the open sewers.  It is a great point of contention whether the government should offer sanitation services and cement these communities, or if they should remain uninvolved and allow for dangerous public health issues to grow.  This is one example of many issues which get caught up in bureaucratic dead-ends concerning slum life.

After my first experience in the slum, I became much more aware of open defecation across northern India.  I saw it in streets and by riverbanks, and soon it was with the casual interest of someone observing and oddity.  It was then I realized that I had adopted the same apathetic attitude of the natives; I had become so used to it that I had ceased to see it as a problem.  My mind justified it as a way of life but upon reflection I know that isn’t true.  My apathy made what was once abhorrent, acceptable.  It is not that India and its people do not wish to address its problems, but the system has become so entangle in the bureaucracy that it is not making decisions or moving forward.  This causes people to lose interest and requires crusaders to step forth and push these issues.  I firmly believe that India will make great leaps and bounds in regards to all its infrastructure in the coming century, but it will not happen as long as we surrender to our apathy and accept things because they have always been so.