Corruption is common

Two of my cousins have talked about tax evasion in last one year. Another cousin is facing tough times in convincing his vendors to issue bills. Tax evasion is in the psyche of younger generation before they finish education. Maybe some among their parents, relatives evade tax. Maybe they see how lot of big conglomerates go about their business with the help of corruption. May be it is disillusionment.

But tax evasion is everywhere. Are you sure the caterer, decorator, musician or photographer for any marriage pays tax?

However.. Do you want the protection offered by police in your everyday life. Do you want the systems (albeit archaic and definitely needs improvement) which protects your right to property including land. Do you want the freedom to go on a bike to Ladakh, which is made possible by the army and its weapons. Do you want the roads that make these rides possible.

Our taxes make it possible. But aren't these taxes wasted by the inefficiency of the government? So why should the taxes be paid? If you have a better way of organising/spending your taxes and providing common services, may be it is your duty to come out in public and state the same. Lobby for what you think is right. Start a transformation based on research and dialogue. To convince the government or people to change the ways. If we are convinced that the structure of governance is reasonable in the country, then our responsibility lies in paying tax and individually making sure that the taxes are used productively. A great many tools are available with us including right to information.

Solar Energy is Going to Change the World

In a previous post, there is a quote "Energy is freedom. Growth is freedom."

It can be changed to "Solar & Storage are freedom. Growth is freedom".

I have no compunction in adding this zillionth article on the subject and feed into the euphoria that is building up. Yes, already governments are going crazy over solar, but the real revolution will happen when people start buying and making solar energy generation ubiquitous. 

I insist everyone to have a look at this solar cell efficiency chart. Future is written there. Efficiency of crystalline Si cells and thin film cells have plateaued at around 20%. But the newer technologies have shown more potential. Observed cell efficiency of ~45% implies that the cell converts 45% of incident solar energy into electricity. Yes, few types of cells have exhibited high efficiency for quite sometime. However, bringing the technology to maturity and to make it suitable for commercial production takes a long time. Hindrances can be prohibitive manufacturing cost, toxic materials in the panel, creation of a new ecosystem while there is already huge manufacturing capacities for crystalline Si panel, etc.

However, I feel that there is so much research going on in solar technology that it can be equated to human brute force. And commercial production of panels with high efficiency would result in solar technology spreading like how smartphone revolution happened over last ten years.

While I let my imagination run away, what if solar panels could be made with aluminium and easy to manufacture. Imagine, if all vehicle rooftops can generate solar energy.

Now, coming to how much land in India has to be covered with solar panels to supply its entire energy requirement..

Estimated energy requirement in FY17: 1214.6 billion kWh (Data from Central Electricity Authority; One kWh means "One Unit" - based on which our power bills are raised) 

Performance ratio: 75% (due to myriad losses caused by actual operational conditions, 25% of generated electricity is lost)

Average annual solar resource is assumed at 5 kWh/Day/sq. m (Solar Resource Map). This means that five units of electricity are incident in one square metre per day. i.e if efficiency of panel and performance ratio are 100%, you can generate 5 units day from one square metre of land.

So the area of solar panels required to supply entire electricity requirement of India is:

Ya, the land requirement is as small as that. And I have arbitrarily increase the values by 20% to account for myriad factors like very cloudy days, shading or whatever other issues that can crop up. Over compensated. Anyway there is this older article that says area of Spain is enough to power the entire world at 20% cell efficiency. So half of Spain would be enough if efficiency doubles.

Of course, energy will be available only for half of the day. If you want it for the other half, massive storage/world wide super transmission grid is required. Let us put it aside for a moment. Even people worried about lot of metallic junk covering the entire world in the form of solar and wind turbines, this is not much to worry about when you think how much of de-forestation for coal mines and carbon emission can be avoided. 

As land requirement is as less as that, why do we have to build these solar panels over ponds/catchment area of dams/any water body. I am not particularly positive about the impact on aquatic life.

In this context, should we even put up hydro plants in the country. Is it worth the environmental impact that hydro plants cause.  

In Indian context, solar is a boon as it uses less than half litre per kWh while thermal plants in India use two to seven litre per kWh. So switch off the lights/use solar panels and save water.

Of course, the problem of heavy metal pollution from the solar panels and batteries remain. But I pin my hopes on research in this field to come up with answers. This article talks about valid concerns regarding solar energy. May be, solar panels will turn into the enemy in another 50 years like coal and oil now.