International Conference on Research Policy for Sustainable Energy

International Conference on Research Policy for Sustainable Energy

October 12-13, 2009

Venue: India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

Organized by: Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi

Climate Change and Global warming caused by excessive Greenhouse gases (GHG) are considered the biggest threat to our planet. Kyoto Protocol is a mandate for countries to reduce GHG emission globally although few are subscribing to it aggressively. Electricity generation resulting from burning of fossil fuels is considered one of the prime sources of GHG emission. Therefore alternate energy systems to reduce burning of fossil fuels have come to centre stage of development globally. Wind, Small Hydro, Solar and Bio Energy are considered as viable sources for power generation so as to reduce the need for additional coal and oil based plants. In addition, Ocean / Tidal, geothermal and Hydrogen Energy are also in development stage. About 20% generation from such renewables is anticipated in the next decade. Recent EU summit has proposed an attractive “20-20-20” plan implying 20% reduction in GHG by 2020 with 20% electricity generation from Renewable Energy.
Energy Conservation and Efficiency are the new Mantra in this endeavor wherein saving energy is assuming prime importance in all sectors. Converting Urban and Rural waste to energy called “Waste to Watts” is another promising area. Both Micro and Macro level solutions should be attempted. Unlike centralized power generation of yore, emphasis will be on distributed and decentralized generation (DDG) using locally available resources. ‘Roof top’, ‘back yard’ or ‘basement’ power plants may become the order of the day both to feed local loads and to the grid. Many technological, economic and social challenges lie ahead as ‘out of box’ solutions are attempted.
The Kyoto protocol thrust may indeed become the vehicle for industrialized countries to not only reduce their emissions but help developing countries to effect the same through development of appropriate technologies. An appropriate “Carbon Credit” scheme could also support developing countries to reduce emissions through technology intervention and implementation in the latter. Thus “global synergy” will become a requirement and global R&D a necessity in tackling this energy crisis and climate change. We need to identify suitable R&D projects to be undertaken by Industry, Universities, Utilities, Energy Agencies and Research organizations to augment the above efforts leading to viable “green technologies” centered on “ Sustainable and Renewable Energy Systems”. Conventional Energy can not be wished away as it continues to be the mainstay for development for decades to come. The challenge is to make conventional energy sustainable. Clean coal technologies, emission reduction, improved efficiency, reduction of losses are some of the aspects.
The sequence of steps for any Technology to see the light of the day is: a) Scientific inventions, b) Engineering & Technology, c) Lab. Models & conceptualization, d) Field Models, e) Field Demonstration, f) Replication and scalability of Field models for mass applications, g) Commercial Model h) Business model. Unless the R&D concept ultimately results in a Business Model acceptable to Society the effort is considered incomplete.
Identification of R&D Projects will remain a wish list unless a suitable mechanism is worked out to implement the same. Therefore a Two day conference is being organized on “Research Policy for Sustainable Energy” to deliberate on all relevant issues to make “ Sustainable Energy” (SE) realizable. The prime objectives of such a policy should be to spur technology development and help its adaptation for societal applications.
There are many international agencies supporting R&D in Sustainable Energy such as USAID, UN, GEF, UNDP, World Bank, EU, Asia Pacific consortium (AP6) etc. India has entered into S&T collaboration agreements with several countries with emphasis on SE, such as Canada, Australia, Israel etc. Ministries of Govt. of India dealing with Energy such as Coal, NRE, Power, S&T, Petroleum etc, are mandated to support developments in SE. Academic and Research Institutions established by Govt. and non- Govt agencies are prime actors in R&D. Similarly Industry, Energy Agencies, utilities are active stake holders. The conference will have presentations from above organizations on their role to support research for SE so as to brainstorm on networking them for expected outcome. A conducive research policy to achieve desired results is being aimed at.

Conference Objectives

• Brainstorm on viable / implementable technologies for local/global applications through Research Development & Deployment (RD&D) efforts on “Sustainable Energy”.
• Understanding of past energy policy/initiative and their effectiveness.• Identify the role of stake holders- Universities, Industry, Govt./Funding Agencies (National and international) and Utilities/ User Agencies in this effort.
• Discuss workable institutional mechanism to carry out RD&D in a consortium mode to achieve the desired goals.
• Discuss mechanism of international cooperation in these efforts to effect ‘Global Synergy’

Registration
Participants/delegates are requested to register in advance. The Registration Form may be filled and mailed alongwith following registration fee, so as to reach the Chairman, Organizing Committee before July 15, 2009.

• Students Rs.500
• Participants from Academia/R&D/Govt Organisations Rs.1500
• Industrial/Corporate Sector Rs.5000

All remittances should be made by a demand draft drawn in favour of “Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi”.

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