12-14 September, 2011, Lucknow - Earth Science India
12-14 September, 2011, Lucknow - Earth Science India
12-14 September, 2011, Lucknow - Earth Science India
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National Conference on <strong>Science</strong> of Climate Change and <strong>Earth</strong>’s Sustainability: Issues and Challenges ‘A Scientist-People Partnership’<br />
<strong>12</strong>-<strong>14</strong> <strong>September</strong>, <strong>2011</strong>, <strong>Lucknow</strong><br />
up. Suitable sites for renewable energy installations were identified through resource<br />
assessment, fiscal and financial incentives were announced, policies conducive to<br />
private participation were put in place. As a result, renewable energy in <strong>India</strong> has made<br />
a noteworthy progress with its definite contribution in the energy technology portfolio<br />
of the country. To day, the total installed grid interactive renewable power generating<br />
capacity stands at around 20 GW. This constitutes 11% of the total power generating<br />
capacity in the country. The Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission being implemented by the<br />
Government is an important initiative. Within one year, the achievements made under<br />
the Mission have attracted attention world over.<br />
Apart from grid interactive power, the contribution of decentralized renewable<br />
energy systems like photovoltaic (PV) lighting systems, small PV power plants, solar<br />
pumps, water heating systems, biogas plants, biomass gasifiers is not only significant in<br />
terms of energy generation and savings but also because of the impact these could<br />
create in the society. Potential of various renewable energy technologies in the country<br />
has been estimated based on the state of technology currently available. However, for<br />
harnessing this potential, still there are constraints in terms of low capacity utilization<br />
factor, high initial investment, problems in energy storage and balance of systems, load<br />
management, maintenance etc. Eventually renewable energy technologies will have to<br />
compete with their conventional counterparts in terms of quality, reliability and cost. It<br />
is therefore required to realign our strategies on R&D, technology development,<br />
management, industrial production, financial & fiscal incentives, policies in such a way<br />
that larger share of renewable energy can be achieved in shorter period with<br />
concomitant environmental benefits.<br />
PHOTOSYNTHETIC EFFICIENCY TO CONVERT SOLAR<br />
ENERGY: LESSONS TO LEARN FROM NATURE<br />
Madhumita Banerjee and Bibek Bandyopadhyay<br />
Department of Botany, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007<br />
Solar Energy Centre, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Lodi Road, New Delhi 110003<br />
Email: madhumita01@gmail.com, bbibek@nic.in<br />
Photosynthesis is the fundamental biological process that converts the<br />
electromagnetic energy of solar radiation into stored biomass energy. Over millions of<br />
years, nature evolved this phenomenon to harness the energy from sun. It is a very<br />
complex process that involves a series of reactions starting with the splitting of water<br />
molecules into molecular oxygen, protons and electrons, followed by a chain of electron<br />
transfer reactions resulting in the production of chemical energy used in cell<br />
metabolism.<br />
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