Thank you for your comments Dr. Jagdeesh. It is quite true when you say that "the success
of consumer financing efforts depends heavily on product performance. Channeling poor quality
products or failing to service a faulty product during the financing term is a significant credit risk borne by the financial institutions." This was observed in Uttar Pradesh where there were many defaulters with the RRB present there.

However, I would like to add to your point on the poor quality of batteries. At least partly. Many of these households have found their way to abuse the batteries excessively. For eg., in Uttarakhand, most of these hoseuholds have fitted televisions sets or radio or large speakers to their batteries. First, the charge controllers give up. The batteries are still usable at this stage but by directly connecting the solar panels to the battery. Without charge controller, the batteries get into deep discharge mode quite often. This completely ruins the battery. The households need to be educated about the over loading of batteries which they are actually not aware of unless there are technicians or other technical people nearby which is a rarity.

Secondly, the implementing agencies get the necessary supplies (including batteries) say for a project sanctioned in February 2012. It takes them more than a year in many cases before they actually deliver the equipment to the concerned households. This also, reduces the life of the batteries.

An excellent and well timed article on solar power. It is awell known fact that the known reserves of fossil fuels are getting depleted at an exponential rate. What took millions of years to form has been used up within a span of 100years. It is time we thought seriously about renewable sources of energy and in this regard solar energy is having vast potential.Experts in the field of energy says that we recieve roughly 1KW of solar energy for every square metre,but the conversion efficicy of the present day equipments are hardly 18-22% that is one reason for the unit cost being very high. If it is possible to improve the conversion efficiency, the unit cost can be brought down.The main flaw in the rural solar electrification programme is that the plans are devised by beauraucrats sitting in the office, who have little knowledge about ground realities,we should apply "quality function deployment" techniques here also, so that the "voice of the customer"is also taken care of.

There is much wastage of energy through cooling. The tragedy in India is we first heat the buildings and then cool it through Fans/Air Conditioners.
• Environmentally Friendly - Conventional Air Conditioners and refrigerators use a lot of electricity, or in the case of absorption cooling system, gas or some other combustible liquid. Reducing the consumption of these Energy sources, means less greenhouse gas production. Also non CFC based functioning of SACS makes it eco-friendly by preventing depletion of Ozone layer.
• Flexibility - By using heat exchangers, and in particular heat pipe style heat exchangers, liquids (e.g. refrigeration fluid) can be heated to high temperatures.
• Economic Saving - Reduce electricity bills by using Solar Energy to run Air Conditioners, refrigerators and Freezers, provide central heating (Radiative or Air), Cool water for drinking and supply hot water.
• Suits Large Scale Applications - Solar powered Air-Conditioning and refrigeration is ideal for hotels, supermarkets, schools, factories, and large office premises etc.
• Practical - When do you need Air-Conditioning? Summer. When is the sun shining the strongest? Summer. Throughout the year, solar thermal output and thus Air Conditioning output, match building cooling requirements.
In India Solar Manufacturers should design alternative power(Solar) gadgets like Solar Refrigerators,Solar Air conditioners etc. Now that the Solar Cell Efficiency is going up, it is time to use this abundant energy to save conventional power. China has already Commercial Air Conditioning Systems. We in India should not always be imitators but should be innovators in Renewable Energy Systems like Solar,Wind etc.

There is the Eastgate Centre in Harare,Zimbabwe which has natural cooling and ventilation.
The Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central Harare,Zimbabwe whose architect is Mick Pearce. Designed to be ventilated and cooled by entirely natural means, it was probably the first building in the world to use natural cooling to this level of sophistication. It opened in 1996 on Robert Mugabe Avenue and Second Street, and provides 5,600 m² of retail space, 26,000 m² of office space and parking for 450 cars.
The Eastgate Centre's design is a deliberate move away from the "big glass block". Glass office blocks are typically expensive to maintain at a comfortable temperature, needing substantial heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. They tend to recycle air, in an attempt to keep the expensively conditioned atmosphere inside, leading to high levels of air pollution in the building. Artificial air-conditioning systems are high-maintenance, and Zimbabwe has the additional problem that the original system and most spare parts have to be imported, squandering foreign exchange reserves.
Mick Pearce, the architect, therefore took an alternative approach. Because of its altitude, Harare has a temperate climate despite being in the tropics, and the typical daily temperature swing is 10 or 14 °C. This makes a mechanical or passive cooling system a viable alternative to artificial air-conditioning.

Here are views of Dr.Harish Hande which are pertinent:
It’s interesting that the rich in the states without power are complaining the most, about how they are suffering because of no air conditioners, etcetera. Yet 400 million Indians today still have not seen a light bulb while 200 million more regularly suffer from regular brownouts (between 6 and 19 hours).
The massive grid breakdown in India should not come as a surprise at all. The surprise part is why it did not happen before. It has been a ticking time bomb. Coal and nuclear will not solve the issue. Energy inefficiency, creaking infrastructure (increasing transmission and distribution losses), lowering of water tables and electricity theft all have to be taken care of at once. Increased urbanization is caused mostly by rural migrants. Proper planning of new urban houses is essential and also a great opportunity. For example, such housing could be designed for better day lighting (and easily could be designed in combination with renewables like solar from day one).
In Delhi, having modern buildings with glass facades that trap heat (increasing the need for heavy air conditioners) just does not make sense. Modern buildings have been designed with scant respect for the local environment and have been built for outward show.
In the name of satisfying voters, huge subsidies for electricity for agricultural water pumping have led to to rapid depletion of groundwater, thus leading to the need for more powerful water pumps, and thus the need for more electricity — a vicious cycle.
It is time for India and Indians (especially the rich ones) to reflect and not just complain. Mere complaining will not solve this problem. The problem is here to stay — and coal and nuclear will not solve it. They will just hide the problem under the carpet for sometime. Renewable energy options and decentralization will help foster discipline — demand-side power management, energy efficiency, accountability and a sense of ownership — things that the centralized grid can never provide.
India should see this power outage as a opportunity — but sadly the debate is going the other way — as if pumping in more power will solve the underlying problems. Pragmatic solutions will give way to politics. The climate change problem and solutions will be set aside. Hopefully, the 400 million Indians who do not have electricity today (because they never had!) will show the rest of India how to behave in the future(Behind India’s Grid Breakdown, Deeper Energy Issues – and Opportunities,Dot Earth, July 31, 2012)

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

Solar Cookers(Box Type) in India is a story of HIGH PROMISE AND LOW PERFORMANCE.

Solar Cookers(Mostly Box Type) were promoted in India. These suffer from many drawbacks:

1. open cooking,Many Hindus does not want to cook in open.
2. There is no provision for frying. In South India no meal is served without fried curries. The
Box Type Solar Cooker is useful for boiling only like dal,rice etc., One can't use two systems one for boiling and the other for frying.

As per MNRE statistics the solar cookers in the country are 6.39 lakhs(as on 31-1-2011).

Why Solar Cookers are not popular despite subsidies by the Government?

Parabolic cookers need to be oriented towards the SUN.

There is geodesic Prometheus solar cooker which is very efficient and cost effective too.

Solar Energy Limited, UK, promotes Prometheus solar cookers. Dominic Michaelis is the inventor. The cookers are made of waterproof cardboard sandwiched between two layers of polyester film, one of which is reflective. Though the functionality of the Prometheus is similar to parabolic-type solar cookers, the geodesic construction is unique, earning the European Carton Makers Association (ECMA) Innovation Award in 2000. The cooker reaches temperatures of 200 degrees C, and is capable of boiling 5 liters of water in under 20 minutes. Tests have shown that the Prometheus is also capable of medical sterilization with a special pressure cooker. Contact: Dominic Michaelis, Solar Energy Limited, 11 Highlever Rd, London, W10 6PP, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)7968 988 327, E-mail: Dominic.Michaelis@wanadoo.fr.

I tested the cooker I and found it is very efficient. The advantage of this cooker compared to parabolic one is that the geodesic focuses towards the sun without constant changing it. On the other hand the small dimon shape whole will help from the shade to know whether the solar cooker is facing the sun or not.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

The quantities of coal, oil and natural gas are decreasing and in a nearby future, they won’t be available for man for producing electricity. In major cities around the world, people are nowadays saying farewell to these kinds of fossil fuels and turning to renewable sources of energy. Rubbish and other kinds of waste are the best among those sources which can be used for this purpose. Wastetricity is becoming more and more an accepted form of energy to replace electricity. Rubbish accumulated through years in a city are now lying in heaps serving as mere landfills, constantly producing harmful greenhouse gases and obnoxious smell, wasting valuable real estate. Normally this rubbish will decompose at a slower rate but by adding chemicals, its decomposing can be speeded up. By adding oxygen, decaying rubbish can be made to produce carbon dioxide and methane which can be pipe-transported to conversion plants to produce electricity. In nearby future, all metropolises in the world will have to observe stringent world regulations to keep greenhouse gases under control and turning rubbish into electricity will be the only viable option before them. South America and India are already pioneers in the field of marketing carbon content derived from rubbish. Both city waste and industrial waste can be made good use of for producing electricity. Incinerating municipal waste in itself is a waste and dangerous. Incineration does not eliminate gas emission during burning of rubbish. It also destroys precious raw material for electricity. Therefore incineration is a foolish and costly measure adopted by unwise municipal administrations in haste, to escape from the public accusation of doing nothing for disposal of municipal waste. Waste consisting of carbon content such as plastic, paper and food leftover are churned inside plasma gasification chambers at 6000°C to produce gas. Vitrified slag would be the residue which is in demand at road construction sites. This gas can be directly piped to internal combustion engines to produce electricity with the dual benefits of availability of electricity at unbelievably low prices and the height of the Rubbish Mountains coming lower each day. The modern method is to replace internal combustion engines with alkaline fuel cells to increase output by an unbelievable sixty percent. Since these kinds of electrical plants can be constructed at rubbish-disposing sites, there would be no need to find new places to locate the plants. World seminars on eco preservation have put forward many regulations on waste disposal as well as on electricity production. By 2030, half of the electricity produced in every country will have to be from renewable sources. Besides, no country in the world will be allowed to keep Rubbish Mountains in their cities, freely releasing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere which is everyone’s property. Turning rubbish to electricity will be the only option then. Why not start a little early?