India is largely dependent of thermal power plants right now which generates about 64 - 65% of the total power generated in the country. We burn about 600 million tonnes of coal every year to produce vast amount of power which is yet to get out of cities and reach those more than 500 million houses in small villages that are not even connected to the grid. As our demand increases, the limited amount of fossil fuels are running out.
The thermal power stations consume a lot of water to generate power by burning coal to turn water into steam which then spins a turbine. Apart from consumption of huge amount of water, these power plants are also responsible for polluting the air around the power plant by emitting Greenhouse gases. So the real cost of getting coal based power would have to include the loss of forest cover due to mining, environmental and health impacts of mining, carbon footprint of transporting coal, environmental and health impacts of burning this coal and polluting the air. How expensive do you think coal would be now?
However, fortunately, you and me are not paying this cost yet but if our dependence on coal does not change, our kids and future generations will have to deal with the consequences.
So, what's the government doing about this?
On one hand the government has acknowledged the problem and has decided to switch to Nuclear energy but on the other hand there are plans in process of bringing up a few hundred power plants more and completely pollute some more of India's fertile land. Find one close to you - click here
A supposedly clean, green, and reliable source of power. Nuclear power plants are based on radioactive sources and since there is no burning of fossil fuels, there is no greenhouse gases emitted at the site of power generation. Thus, the air we breathe stays clean around the nuclear plans.
If adopted properly, it has the potential to meet the energy demand and India has adopted a plan to build some of the biggest and highly advanced nuclear power plants all over the country to do so.
However, there is one specific thing that does not fit into the plan of sustainable development, the waste generated at a nuclear power plant. As of now, apart from all the technological advances that allows us to re-use radioactive waste from the last generation nuclear plants for the new ones, there is no clean and green way of disposing radioactive waste.
Our plan (and the same goes for the rest of the world) is to take this highly radioactive waste and put them into containers so that it can be dumped under water and land or pollute our universe. The toxic waste would take hundreds of thousands of years to lose its radioactivity as we dump more and more every year with the growing number of nuclear plants that we plan to build in the next few decades. You can read more about Nuclear waste disposal and understand the consequences better.
Is that how we want to satisfy our power needs? Do you wish to light your house by setting up a nuclear bomb under the land your future generation might live on?
From the safety perspective, these nuclear plants are very advance hence creating a more dangerous situation if not operated according to the strict safety measures. Personally, I am still not convinced by the way our government handled the Bhopal gas leak and also, I do not want to risk a Chernobyl in India.
SOLUTION:
Personally, after reading through documents and going through reports. I decided to provide my choice as a solution.
It may sound costly and not easy to set up now but my vote is up for Renewable energy. The cost of wind power is already competing with coal power and if the amount of subsidies that thermal power generation gets is moved to solar power, that might just do the trick to bring down the price and make it more affordable.
It is clean, green, and we would not run out of the source. A strong push by the government would provide us with the right kind of electricity which does not harm our environment either.
If adopted properly, it has the potential to meet the energy demand and India has adopted a plan to build some of the biggest and highly advanced nuclear power plants all over the country to do so.
However, there is one specific thing that does not fit into the plan of sustainable development, the waste generated at a nuclear power plant. As of now, apart from all the technological advances that allows us to re-use radioactive waste from the last generation nuclear plants for the new ones, there is no clean and green way of disposing radioactive waste.
Our plan (and the same goes for the rest of the world) is to take this highly radioactive waste and put them into containers so that it can be dumped under water and land or pollute our universe. The toxic waste would take hundreds of thousands of years to lose its radioactivity as we dump more and more every year with the growing number of nuclear plants that we plan to build in the next few decades. You can read more about Nuclear waste disposal and understand the consequences better.
Is that how we want to satisfy our power needs? Do you wish to light your house by setting up a nuclear bomb under the land your future generation might live on?
From the safety perspective, these nuclear plants are very advance hence creating a more dangerous situation if not operated according to the strict safety measures. Personally, I am still not convinced by the way our government handled the Bhopal gas leak and also, I do not want to risk a Chernobyl in India.
SOLUTION:
Personally, after reading through documents and going through reports. I decided to provide my choice as a solution.
It may sound costly and not easy to set up now but my vote is up for Renewable energy. The cost of wind power is already competing with coal power and if the amount of subsidies that thermal power generation gets is moved to solar power, that might just do the trick to bring down the price and make it more affordable.
It is clean, green, and we would not run out of the source. A strong push by the government would provide us with the right kind of electricity which does not harm our environment either.
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