India is poised and best positioned to lead the emerging world in the third industrial revolution, which will base itself on democratizing energy, according to noted American economist Jeremy Rifkin. However, this is possible provided the country channelizes its rich renewable resource base and its vibrant democracy in the right direction.
A road map to democratise energy for India has been laid out by a white paper-joint initiative of industry chamber Ficci and Rifkin through what he calls ‘an energy internet’. ?A full shift to renewable energy is a pre-requisite. India should transform its building stock into micro-power plants to collect renewable energies on-site. For instance, buildings can start harnessing solar energy for their energy requirements. And then deploy hydrogen and other storage technologies in every building to store intermittent energies, which should be put to use for the period when the direct source of energy dries up,? said Rifkin.
He added that information technology should be used to transform the electricity grid of every continent into an energy sharing network that acts just like internet and finally the entire transport fleet should be transitioned to electric plug-in and fuel cell vehicles that can buy and
sell electricity on a smart, continental, interactive
power grid. All this, according to Rifkin, open the doors for India to a third Industrial revolution.
?Today, majority of India still uses kerosene as fuel, the government subsidizes the fuel. It is actually exorbitant from a financial perspective, criminal and immensely wasteful to be doing so for a billion plus people. The same resources should be spent on making the country transform to a renewable energy regime. It is the initial cost which may prove to be a hindrance, but a 10 to 12 year horizon to shift to a renewable energy regime would help India greatly,? said the Wharton School professor who authored the best selling book ?The third industrial revolution.?