Power Politics

After spending two months at BARC ,amid all the hooplah over the nuclear deal and watching uncommon ground where Dr. Pachauri and Mukesh Ambani expressed themselves I think I am in a better position to comment on India's Energy future more than 60% of the MP's during that vote of confidence motion(I still liked the way Omar Abdullah,Pranab Mukherjee and even Laloo Prasad Yadav and L K Advani spoke :P).

First the Nuclear Deal:I read the IAEA draft and the following were my observations-

1)The draft at any point does not speak about our military establishments but only those reactors that would be used for civilian purposes.

2)USA has a right to invoke the Hyde Act which would lead to the deal being withdrawn but,

i)When a nuclear reactor is built,the entire supply of nuclear fuel is stored with the reactor which means that even if the deal is off, our reactors for civilian purposes are safe and productive and the NSG can still supply us fuel for future reactors if they want to(..but maybe they won't fearing the US)

ii)The Hyde Act is a domestic act made to ensure the sovereignity and internal US security and any action that will be taken against India has to follow International procedures and India can have its own version of the Hyde Act which clearly proves that India will at no point be dependent on the USA or the NSG or that there would not be a Pokhran III.

3)China has already made a similar deal with the USA..the text is almost similar..except for the line where it says that both US and China would mutually agree to cut off the deal if the need arises to say so.India is lobbying for a similar clause even though we have a less explicit line in the IAEA draft for the 123.

4)Even though the nuclear energy produced would contribute only 5-6% of our requirements in 2050..that amount is huge enough to offset the current type of load shedding happening in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and considering Inflation and depleting crude it seems an Intelligent choice.

5)Politics is a game in which politicians never lose.


So in the end, What do you think about it?


Secondly India's and the world's Energy future:

Being at the undergraduate level I couldn't exactly do anything much about my ideas to build a graphene based solar device or graphene transistors(Graphene is the one dimensional allotrope of Carbon) or even work on microalgae that I can get from my neighbourhood beach and build a photobioreactor(Well it basically uses algae to produce biodiesel) but I could surely write on it.When Dr. Pachauri and Mukesh Ambani spoke, it was clear that alternative energy is soon (10-20 years!) going to become mainstream energy.How?

Consider the market side of it: Reliance Investing in Solar RnD and starting production in Maharashtra,Tulsi Tanti's Suzlon making billions out of air(wind!),Bio Diesel(Both the good one and the bad one) playing a significant role in Inflation due to food shortage and wasteland development respectively and the Carbon credits.Doesn't it look like an energy Rennaissance in the making?

Now the politics part of it:Rich countries already have polluted and developed...now when its time for the not so developed ones, they need to pay us not to pollute(Proof: The Kyoto Protocol,the recent Bali meet and even the deadlocked WTO talks),the Tata nano boon-bane story is all about connecting the policy making people directly with the 'Aam aadmi'.


All the above Information overload will surely consume a significant portion of your energy needs but just to sum it all up for an enginner, its a new interesting emerging vocation and for the person right now reading this blog with the AC on (despite the monsoons outside ur window) and the monitor at full brightness, just close your comp and sleep for a better sleep 20 years later :P