Earth Equity News

India's Roaring Economy Remains Hitched to Coal. By Gayathri Vaidyanathan, ClimateWire, February 4, 2010. "While environmental groups in developed nations talk of a coming world based on solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy, India's 8% economic growth rate is powered by coal. Its consumption is projected to increase by at least 400% by the year 2030, according to the government's 205 Integrated Energy Policy report. This means that in the next 20 years, India will extract, transport, import and burn coal at record rates. It could emit between 4 billion and 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year and approach the United States' current emission levels, according to the report. 'While others are worrying about global warming, India's energy elite fret mainly about how to secure enough coal,' David Victor, a professor at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego, recently wrote in the Boston Review [Living with Coal]. About 70% of India's electricity comes from coal-burning plants, and that fraction is likely to grow, according to Victor. At the moment, India's power supply is running about 12% behind demand."