India: economy up, but at what cost to the environment?

India’s economy has been steadily growing over the past decade, but at a significant cost to the environment. The population is now exposed to tainted water supplies. Polluted air. Depleting resources and unstable ecosystems. These problems are only exacerbated by a growing gap between the wealthy and poor. So, what exactly does the country plan on doing about it?

According to the World Banks’ most recent report, environmental degradation is costing India approximately $80 billion per year. That’s 5.7% of the country’s total economy! At that rate, how much longer can they continue to grow and remain competitive on a global level?

Not very long, is the answer you’re looking for.

India, a country known for being a cultural melting pot, needs to start swaying its policy makers of the importance of appreciating natural resources.

A recent survey ranked India 126th out of 132 countries in overall environmental quality, and dead last in the air category. The survey concluded that India has the worst air pollution in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, narrowly edging out China, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

A whopping 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities can be found in India, where poverty is both a cause and effect of environmental degradation. Under-producing crop yields. Deforestation. Disease and famine. They’re all linked to the Earth. In order to survive, the poor are reduced to mining and pillaging the natural resources available to them, creating a cycle of degradation and destitution.

Since 2000, India's economic growth has reduced unemployment, allowing millions to make better lives for themselves. The country is not expected to veer from its current growth trajectory, meaning environmental sustainability is going to become the next hot button issue.

The report begs an interesting question: "Does growth so essential for development - have to come at the price of worsened air quality and other environmental impacts? Green growth is necessary. With cost of environmental degradation at 5.7% of GDP, environment could become a major constraint in sustaining future economic growth. Further, it may be impossible or prohibitively expensive to clean up later."

Muthukumara Mani, a senior economist at the World Bank, claims that "while the overall policies focus should be on meeting basic needs and expanding opportunities for growth, they should not be at the expense of unsustainable environmental degradation.”

There has to be a better way.

That’s why NRGLab has invested years and millions of dollars into developing highly-efficiently, environmentally-conscious methods of converting agricultural waste, natural gas, and even recycled crude oil into useable fuel. For more information, visit nrglab.asia. Learn what you can do to prepare for the future of energy independence.

In desperate times, new map shows world-wide energy potential

NRGLab isn’t alone in helping the developing world obtain reliable access to energy. A program being instituted by the World Bank is helping countries map their energy potentials. The hope is that this new map will provide countries with a plan for creating a renewable, self-sufficient infrastructure. Fingers crossed.

The World Bank’s program extends beyond outdated solar and wind models to provide the real data governments need to understand their natural resource potential. Pakistan epitomizes the energy challenges faced by developing countries. Despite an abundance of renewable resources – hydro, bio waste, solar, and wind – one third of the nation's population lives without regular access to electricity. Pakistan has lofty goals for their solar and wind programs currently in development, while innovative projects like those offered by NRGLab go unnoticed.

“The importance of this resource mapping cannot be overstated,” says Arif Alauddin, Director of Pakistan’s National Energy Conservation Center. “The country’s energy shortage is unprecedented, tariffs are going up, and petroleum imports are eating up a large share of export earnings.  There is a need to shift to domestic renewable energy resources.”

While solar and wind maps have been available for years now, they fail to identify projects in the private sector in need of development funding.  So basically – the rich get rich, while everyone else in the science community struggles to get noticed.

This problem is why the World Bank joined together with nine countries, including Pakistan, Indonesia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia, to create a new map of renewable energy potential. Financed by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), the map will cover solar, wind, biomass, and small hydropower potential.

Resource mapping is a step in the right direction, for sure. But does it quite cover the array of energy opportunities presented by NRGLab?

With our revolutionary gasification techniques, NRGLab can convert all-natural gas, coal, risk husk, and APG into useable fuel. For developing countries, this means increasing their share of the global energy market, not to mention creating a sustainable, independent domestic infrastructure.

“Resource mapping is a crucial step in providing the resource and policy certainty that commercial developers need to scale up investment in renewables,” says Oliver Knight, Senior Energy Specialist at ESMAP.  “In addition, government authorities will be better informed in negotiations on specific projects, and donors will have a clearer sense of the data and capacity needs, as well as the renewable potential, of clients.”

NRGLab has been focused on this goal from the start. Providing consumers with a cost-effective, clean alternative is the solution to the energy crisis. For more information on partnering with NRGLab, visit nrglab.asia.

Together, we can ensure a greener future. For our children. And their children. For centuries after we’re gone.