India/Asia: Water a more serious Issue than Energy Crisis

NEW DELHI: The country’s attention may be focused on an ever-increasing energy needs, but water is a much bigger issue, says a key policymaker in the government. “Water crisis is a more serious issue than energy crisis,” said Montek Singh Ahluwalia , deputy chairman of Planning commission, at the World Economic Forum on Sunday. Speaking at a session on ‘How will India avert a Water Crisis?’ Mr Ahluwalia said that that the government was seized of the problem and was in the process of reviewing its water policy. He added that some of its key elements could be incorporated in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17).
The annual extraction of groundwater in India is by far the highest in the world and the unsustainable over-extraction has lowered the water table to dangerous levels, mid-term appraisal of the Eleventh five year plan had said. Multilateral agencies such as the World Bank have flagged the concern much before Indian authorities have woken up to the problem. Read more...

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye _kt75 | mirror. Hello _progress | M
- a status note -

Image
  note (by W. Scharnhorst ) As of 1st July 2015 _progress | M will replace _kt75 | mirror, the latter will as of than to be further developed nor will any content be published via that platform. Already today, you can visit _progress | M via http://progress-m.blogspot.ch . There are many improvements compared with _kt75 | mirror, e.g.: full responsive design panel/mobile reader mode (recommended if you want to get the full content of an article redesigned download area ( http://progress-m.blogspot.ch/p/downloads.html ) redesigned fonts to facilitate readability There are some more features currently still in the development mode, therefore they are not yet available, e.g.: embedding related content (via the content bar in the panel£/mobile reader mode) opportunities to allow for 3rd party actions (user customisation) Overall the development of _progress | M is part an entire blog development package. Other parts of development include: u.pid
Read more

Renewables - Part I: Is Solar Energy Ready To Compete With Oil And Other Fossil Fuels?
- a status note -

Image
reprint The solar energy industry may prove to be a dark horse in the race to provide global energy security. The world has renewed its interest in solar energy investment as it searches for a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to conventional fossil fuels. Countries like China , Germany, the UK, the US, Japan and Canada have already made significant investments in solar power . Who are the other players who are investing big in solar energy? With its own set of limitations such as high installation costs and high plug-in time, are consumers across the world ready to choose solar energy to power their daily lives? Or, are the conventional energy sources still the best bet? The best part about solar energy is that it is abundant and freely available, at least in most parts of the world. However, the high upfront costs of a photo voltaic panel remain a concern for many. Things are changing fast, however, and according to data from SEIA, the cost of an average PV system i
Read more

The Red Line: The Potential Impact on Asia Gas Markets of Russia’s Eastern Gas Strategy

Image
  reprint Russia possesses the potential to produce significant gas from its Eastern Regions, with total proved reserves  in  East  Siberia  and  the  Far  East  of  Russia  standing  at  5  trillion  cubic  metres  (Tcm)  while prospective  resources  could  be  as  large  as  65Tcm. This  would  appear  to  give  Russia  a  huge opportunity for export sales into the Asia Pacific region , which contains the world’s largest LNG importing  nations  and  two  of  the  world’s  fastest  growing  gas  markets   in  China  and  India   (also importers  of  LNG). It  is  surprising,  therefore,  that  despite  the  obvious  commercial  logic  of  linking enormous gas resources to expanding consumption centres, to date Russia’s only significant exports in  the  region  are  from  the  Sakhalin  2  project,  which  currently  sells  10.8mt  (14.6  Bcm)  of  LNG  per annum  into  the  neighbouring  Asian  markets . However,  it  is  possible  this  situation  could  change significant
Read more