In a dynamic world with ever-depleting resources, countries are increasingly focusing on sustainability. To become a superpower, a nation needs to imbibe sustainability in addressing their Energy requirements, which is possible only by pursuing renewables. The major roadblock in addressing Sustainability issue is keeping pace with the increasing energy demand. It is possible only through collective efforts in a two-pronged approach – First is improved and efficient generation of power from abundant and inexhaustible resources like the solar and wind energy and secondly, reduced dependence on fossil fuels for our daily electricity requirements.

Many developed nations like Germany have been proactive in this regard and have successfully removed these roadblocks. On 16^th of May 2016, for the first time ever, Germany successfully powered all their energy needs through renewables for an entire hour. This is a dream that every country wants to achieve. Most developing countries including India are far lagging behind on this front. With increased thrust placed on infrastructure and rapid economic growth in most of the energy guzzling countries, global energy requirements are expected to double by 2040. In fact, as per the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), India is the only country among the top three coal users of the world (The US, China and India) which is forecasted to increase coal consumption by 2040.

Currently, only 14.5% of India’s energy production comes from renewable sources and of that only 18% is contributed by solar. This is miniscule considering the huge abundance of sunshine and its long duration in the country. According to the India Energy Security Scenarios developed by the Government, India has a potential to reach 470 GW of solar power by 2047. Further, India has decided in the COP 21 conference in Paris that the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) is to produce 40% of installed power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.

India is well endowed with clear sunshine for over 300 days but it is also home to the second largest population in the world which makes the issue of energy security more complicated. With limited land availability, the feasibility of large Solar Park installations is less. To achieve the dream of a sustainable solar future, each household has to take the onus and contribute. With improving technology, prices of a solar PV system components have reduced significantly and with government subsidies, installing solar rooftop system is not only possible but quite lucrative for households.

Sustainable development is defined as “Development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This is our guiding principle, our motto, our job- be it food, resources or energy, use each of them responsibly and judiciously, keeping in mind the requirement of the future generations. Resource abundance is a utopia, and Sun makes that utopia a reality. We have another 5 billion years to look for a new energy source, but til then Sun is the only option to SUSTAIN us.

The post Sustainability – Going the Solar Way appeared first on Ujaas Solar Home.