Editor's Note

The key to India's Energy Impasse

The growing demand for power brought on by the simultaneous growth of urban areas and modernisation of rural areas is putting a great deal of pressure on our coal-based energy sector. Alternative energy sources like hydropower and wind seem to have limited potential for large-scale electricity generation in a country where land is highly contested, while traditional power plants are groaning under the strain. Some 'green' energy sources can incur environmental and social costs as a result of poor design, as was the case with the wind farms and small hydroelectric projects in the Western Ghats. Furthermore, inefficient transmission networks cause substantial losses of available electricity.

Small scale, decentralised energy systems might hold the answer. In decentralised models, urban, semiurban, and rural...  >>More