Strategies for Environmental Management in the Power Sector

♦  Since hydropower is a cleaner source of power, there should be a greater thrust on its development in the short, medium and long terms. Hydropower would reduce carbon dioxide and other GHG emissions.

♦  For thermal power generation, the cleanest fuel economically available should be chosen. (Natural gas is preferable to coal subject to its availability and price.) Clean-coal technologies could be promoted in the short term; especially coal beneficiation could be undertaken in the short term, to achieve immediate advantages. Other clean technologies like supercritical boilers, and integrated gasification merged cycle, etc., could be promoted in the long term. Preference requires to be given to high-heat-content low-ash; low-sulphur coal and beneficiation should be considered for high-ash coal.

♦ Fly-ash management and utilization by appropriate market-based instruments should be facilitated; the fly-ash should be priced appropriately. Public acceptance of fly-ash based products could be improved through awareness and demonstration. Movement of ash by the rail network should be facilitated.

♦  Exploitation of coal-bed methane as a clean alternative source of energy could be adopted.

♦  there should be a greater thrust on renewable resources of energy and these should be developed as decentralized sources of energy.

You could coin your own slogans conveying this message.

The other way of conserving energy resources is to decrease the energy intensity of our economy through improving the energy efficiency in the power sector.