1. Hydroelectric projects alone are not to be blamed. And states like Arunachal Pradesh for eg. has huge potential and minimal population. And any state with rivers can use river mill projects.
At least, you agree that Hydroelectric projects are also to be blamed. Big Dams are ecological disasters in themselves. We need not blindly emulate China in destroying the ecology we have to live in, since the short-term benefits accrued would simply not be enough to compensate for the cataclysmic consequences that would inevitably follow.
The Shivaliks are a highly sensitive zone & Himalaya as a whole being a young-fold range, is especially prone to natural disasters. The hydro-electric potential is India is highly over-hyped & miscalculated. It does not take into account what can be safely exploited & what can be disastrous. Instead of thoughtlessly aping old model, we need to be tread cautiously in hydro-electric projects.
2. We should use thermal power aggressively, if the world cries give us soft loans to shift to nuclear power
Not necessarily, especially in the long-term. Despite the gestation period & safety concerns, nuclear power is lot more sustainable & much less polluting as a whole.
I talked about bikes, not cars.
There are a few reasons why electric bikes are preferred, they will be limited for nearby jaunts, forcing bike owners to use public transport over large distances. You can't put 3000$ batteries in bikes.
Does it matters ? Electric vehicles need not make more sense, on a national-level. The cost of electricity generation for charging bikes can be huge & not enough studies have been conducted yet to take a decision in the favour of electrification all LMV's.
Have you see BRT corridors worldwide ?
Developed nations have a sizeable proportion of nuclear energy & multiple non-conventional sources as well. Further, their needs are nothing compared to ours (given the requirement & size of our fleets). Population difference between puny EU states & India have to be accounted for.
Aren't we overlooking simply everything, including the basics ?
They can easily be electrified to create a neo-tram-bus hybrid.
Can easily be, but should we ? Our electricity transmission & distribution losses are massive (actually among the highest in the world). Most if it is going to be wasted/stolen/unpaid/leaked anyway. No point is electrifying BRT corridors.
Why impossibe and undesirable ?
Reason already shared above. Practical constraints, so it is avoidable. Lot of existing infrastructure needs to strengthened if we are to proceed in this direction & then too, it would be done in a very gradual manner. Our means, when it comes to usable power, are pathetically limited & would continue to remain so unless we expedite our nuclear projects.
Will it cost more than *edit* 1 TRILLION $ ? If not then its desirable and possible.
Edit: 3million bbl/day is our requirement of oil per day, and only increasing every year. At 100$ a bbl over a decade it will be over a trillion $
Affordable.
Accessible.
Available.
We are wasting precious ForEx in the process of importing crude oil; it has disastrous effect on foreign policy etc. etc. Despite all other arguments against it, crude oil remains a practical option & would continue to remain so in future.
We have billions of tonnes of coal, it can last us centuries
.
No, not with present level of increase in consumption rate which is only going to increase further.
Pollution be damned. We don't even pollute 10% of US and China.
No, a nation with population density & the healthcare system (which is inaccessible to more than half of population) that India has, cannot & would not ignore pollution. Our population density, especially in the cities & towns (even though lower than some EU nations) cannot afford Chinese level of smog. It would be a Healthcare disaster. As I maintain, no need to ape Chines everywhere.
We have access to nuclear power, build plants.
We are too slow on this. This has to be the single-biggest focus for a better tomorrow. Though it wont fetch vote for the govt. in power. Only later govt's would benefit out of it.
We can utilise hydroelectric potential (in conjuction with river linking project).
River linking project sounds very glamorous & appeals to many. But, it is not a simplistic concept.
Not enough studies yet conducted. Pros & cons have not been evaluated yet. Nation-wide debate is needed for start on this, if even it delays the project take-off.
We are talking about putting the existence of around 1.5 billion people at stake.
No need to go in for unconvential 100MW projects when we can pursue 100,000MW projects.
With Indian quality of governance, with India's present means & needs in the hindsight & the constraints our nation operates in (e.g. with T&D losses upto 50% in certain grids), a multitude of 100MW projects make complete sense (even from a file clearance perspective, quickly commissioned), rather than 100,000MW projects (less practical given our economy, means, governance & half of whose output is going to be wasted, anyway).
The only thing that I have issue with, is the usage of batteries as part of a grid. Using batteries in automobiles is one thing, but doing the same on a grid level seemed far-fetched. Imagine the size of the batteries! Did a google search and apparently, it turns out to have been POC'd already, so I'm wrong already! Still find it tough to imagine the kind of batteries that would be required to implement this on a larger scale!
