India's push to be a gas-based economy-I: Has the world moved beyond gas?
Dec 01: Is India's move towards a gas-based economy coming too late? 8Has the world moved to a post-gas based industrial economy? 8Will the massive ongoing technological revolution in battery storage, electric and hydrogen based cars, distributed renewal energy production and driverless cars make gas as redundant as liquid fuels? 8Will the world have to shut down not just coal but also gas based activity in order to be able to keep global warming from spiraling out of control? 8There is an increasing body of research that seems to suggest that gas may not be a great substitute for coal to keep emissions down. In fact, all hydrocarbon emissions will have to be brought down dramatically to keep warming under control. 8The research on this is already well established and it is time for Indian planners to look beyond the active lobbying by the oil & gas industry to push for gas as a substitute for coal or liquid fuels to see what is around the corner. 8There is no denying the fact that gas is going to be imported into India and that is always going to be expensive. If transformative technological changes are taking place that will help us get away from gas, we must look at them first before committing to invest heavily in a gas backbone for the Indian economy that can become redundant soon after it is built. 8What the government should do is to put together a Committee of Experts to look at "India beyond Gas". Click on Reports for more