Sri Lanka should evolve a green energy missionto be achieved before 2030 - Dr.

Abdul Kalam

2015-06-30
Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, an eminent scientist and engineer
who has also served as the 11th president of India from the period 2002 to
2007 is a man of vision. Dr. Kalam is always been richly equipped with ideas
aimed at the development of the country. He firmly believes that India
needs to play a more assertive role in international relations. Making his
presence as the keynote speaker at the International Symposium on Energy
Challenges in the Knowledge Economy held in Sri Lanka on June 26, Dr.
Kalam expressed his ideas on concepts such as Carbon neutral cities and
most importantly the SAARC Energy Independence Platform: Livable Planet
Earth.
Excerpts are as follows: I am delighted to participate and address at the
International Symposium on Energy Challenges in the Knowledge Economy,
here in the beautiful city of Colombo. I am happy to know that this
Symposium is organised by the Ministry of Power and Energy. Sri Lanka
which envisages organising the scientific knowledge base for plan
implementation and will provide the forum for Sri Lankan, invited foreign
experts in the field to discuss, debate and share futuristic knowledge
relevant to the challenges that the nation is facing in the evolving
economy.
This is in line with the mega trend of our times, where steady supply of
energy is being replaced by a new paradigm which recognises two

fundamentally new energy transformations: replacing oil with electricity in

transportation, and replacing high carbon, finite-supply of coal and natural
gas with renewable wind, solar, marine, nuclear and biomass energies for
electricity production. The objective of this symposium is to facilitate a rich
exchange of knowledge among energy policy makers, researchers,
academia, and industry, who seek solutions to problems of energy
economy, sustainability of sources, and effectiveness in energy use in the
new economy.
When we are all here together, discussing on sustainable future, I would like
to share my views on the topic SAARC Energy Independence Platform:
Livable Planet Earth.
I would like to share with you one important aspect of Energy
Independence. 86 % of the total energy produced comes from fossil fuel;
around 14% comes from renewable energy and nuclear sector. In this
situation, it is essential to find innovative methods to reduce the
consumption of the electric power from fossil fuel and increase the
deployment of renewable energy systems.
In India, we are already working on adopting certain innovative methods to
convert certain important segments for improving the efficiency of the
electric power usage from fossil fuel and increase the use of renewable
energy systems.
For example, India has 600 million mobile users, and 250,000 cell phone
towers, who consumes nearly 2 billion litres of diesel for power. If we
convert these installations into solar powered systems, we save about 1.7
billion dollars and offset 5 million tonnes of CO2 emission and gain carbon
credit. Next, if we transform all our 600,000 villages where 700 million
people live, into solar powered homes and street lights, we may offset
around 60% of fossil fuel usage in that sector.
With this background of energy saving, in India I have been advocating to
convert the cities into Carbon neutral cities, which has taken a momentum
now. I may also suggest Energy Symposium Sri Lanka to adopt such
experiences including transforming Colombo and other Sri Lankan cities
into Carbon Neutral Cities, which will create a new momentum in this
mission globally.
These are some of the innovative methods to reduce the consumption of
fossil fuel usage and increase the deployment of renewable energy sources.
I hope these steps will lead us towards achieving energy independence in a
much faster way.

Sea Waves
I come from an island in Rameswaram, in the southern part of India and not
far from here. I was born in Rameswaram, studied there and lived with full
connectivity during the last seventy eight years. I was asking myself what
my island has taught me? It was a great experience of sea travel, great
experience of climbing over sandy hills, sailing in my brothers thoni (fishing
boat) and bringing boats full of seasonal tiny fishes. Buyers from many
parts of India and Sri Lanka used to queue to obtain fresh fish on the seashore. Also I have seen a real life experience of how my father built a
passenger sail boat of forty passenger capacity, part by part, with two
expert carpenters (experienced boat builders). When this boat was
launched on a Full Moon Day, it brought great joy to our joint family.
When I visited Iceland, which was well known for volcanoes and
earthquakes, I could see that the islanders have learnt and evolved a
lifestyle to live happily and meet the challenges whenever they occurred.
This volcanic island is blessed with hot springs. The steam from hot springs
is converted into electricity and the hot water is supplied for heating houses
and buildings, through an integrated pipe-line network. The technology has
been developed to make their lives adequately safe through the research
efforts, for forecasting eruptions of volcanoes and occurrences of
earthquakes well before they occur.
Leading to Energy Independence
As you are aware, there is a continuous depletion of fossil-material-derived
oil, gas and coal reserves as predicted by World Energy Forum. Also, there
is a continuous fluctuation of cost of crude oil. In fact, presence of oil in a
nation and business of the oil is becoming the liability to the oil nation
instead of prosperity, for the reasons of changing geo-political dimensions.
It led to many wars which the world is witnessing so far. This changing
scenario has made me to think of Energy Independence. Inequality in the
per capita consumption of power, leads to unsustainable development.
Hence for every nation, it is imperative to achieve Energy Independence.
The world consumes more than 91 million barrels of petroleum per day.
Collectively as a world, we are not only paying for the cost of fuel, but also
paying for the continuous environmental degradation. The solution to these
problems is achieving energy independence by framing an integrated policy
and action for climate change mitigation and energy.
Let me share some thoughts about the global energy independence vision
by 2030, which is just 15 years away.

Energy Independence Vision 2030

The Energy Vision 2030 has to be three dimensional. First, is to ensure
affordability in access to quality energy for all. Second, is to ensure that the
dependence on depleting fossil fuels is minimised thereby giving stability to
the energy supply. Third, it has to be balanced against the environment
aspect, by stressing on development of green energy thereby giving
cleanliness in our energy.
The Energy Independence Vision has to be global in its implementation and
a priority of all nations in the world.
1.Improving energy efficiency in industrial, transport, residential and
commercial sector to reduce the energy demand growth rate by 50%.
2.Dependence on fossil fuels as primary energy source to be brought under
50%.
3.Replacement of petroleum as a primary fuel source for transport by less
carbon emitting or completely carbon neutral renewable fuels. This would
require an urgent thrust on research, development and deployment of
solutions such as solar, wind, hydro, biofuel, nuclear and other forms of
green energy
4.Reducing the nett emission per unit energy consumption to half of the
current rate, which means from the current 1.3 Kg of CO2 per Watt of power
per year to less than 0.65 Kg of CO2 per Watt of power per year.
5. Promoting distributed energy systems from small sizes for the domestic
use to mid sizes in the few Mega watt range for the industrial use using
solar, bio and wood gasification and other locally relevant forms of
renewable energy resources.
6. Promotion of roof-top based solar power generation and thereby make
every household self-reliant in its energy requirement.
7. International collaboration on promoting green energy development
methods with a seamless flow of ideas and technologies.
Green energy missions for Sri Lanka
Historically there has been a distinct correlation between energy availability
and economic prosperity of a nation or a society. In the future, the emerging
trend is that there is also a strong bond between quality of energy and
environment. Keeping this in mind, I would like to suggest the following
missions which can be taken by the government and private sector of Sri
Lanka.

Missions for World Green Energy Platform

Sri Lanka should evolve a green energy mission to achieve before 2030 for
graduating from fossil fuel to renewable energy particularly terrestrial solar
power. This can be especially realised using roof-top solar power generation
in the 4 million homes in the nation. Sri Lanka receives abundant solar
radiation throughout the year and hence the scope for solar power
generation is significant.
a) Sri Lanka can be a partner in Indias sustainable development and they
can be spread to Sri Lanka through the model of PURA (Providing Urban
Amenities in Rural Areas).
b) India is busy in establishing a sustainable development system,
particularly for the development of 600,000 villages through PURA. The
employment generation and also clean power and clean water generation
will be the focal needs. Definitely, Sri Lanka can be a partner in Indias
sustainable development and they can be spread to Sri Lanka. It is indeed
economic proposition related to green technology and application.
c) India has launched two ocean sat to study dynamics of sea and
atmosphere linked. Scientists, Technologists, and Strategists of both
countries can plan and build jointly an ocean satellite between India and Sri
Lanka. This ocean sat can be a research system for planning the execution
of green nation, green atmosphere linking to oceans of our regions.
d) I visualize both our nations investing in research and development
mission for green home, green fuel, green transport system and above all a
green habitat for the millions of millions of people. This can come about
also as a strong academic tie up between the nations.
e) Sri Lanka can pioneer the work on developing bio fuel from coconut oil to
power the transportation sector. India has been working in this domain for
quite some time with some breakthroughs. Recently, an experiment proved
to produce 760 litres of bio fuel from 10,000 coconuts which can replace
diesel in standard cars. The cost of generating this coconut bio fuel is
expected to be about half a dollar per litre. I am sure scientists from Sri
Lanka and India can work together on such a large scale mission given that
Sri Lanka has an abundance of coconut.
I am sure that Energy Symposium Sri Lanka will certainly succeed in its
clean energy mission and creation of green jobs. The present climate
change consideration is posing a great challenge to the society as a whole
and I am confident, collectively we will find innovative solutions to the

global problems through the SAARC Energy Independence Platform.

I am sure with our collective vision and action we ensure prosperity without
poverty, peace without fear of war and a happy place for the lives of all
citizens of the nation.
My best wishes for all your future endeavours.
Pics by Pradeep Dilrukshana
Posted by Thavam