DiaNuke.org

It is possible for Tamil Nadu to overcome the current electricity crisis in the near term without relying on controversial large centralised projects, said experts who addressed students at a seminar organised by Loyola Enviro Club, the Indian Institute of Public Policy and the Chennai Solidarity Group. The seminar titled “Coal-free, Nuclear Free: Tamil Nadu’s Electricity Future Beyond 2050” emphasised that efficiency improvements, through reduction of losses during production, distirbution and consumption, combined with rationalised pricing and equitable electricity usage and renewable energy technologies can easily overcome the existing crisis and provide for the state’s future needs as well.

I recently wrote about—and debunked—the renewables “disinformation campaign” that spreads misinformed and falsely negative stories about the growth of renewable energy. A special focus of such disinformation has been reportage on Germany’s efficiency-and-renewables revolution.

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2013 (WNISR) was published last Thursday and revealed a measly growth of over 1.2 GW during 2012 globally, compared to 32 GW of solar growth in the same time. In fact, the nuclear industry seems to be in decline in every category and in every country across the face of the planet, and many are laying the blame equally at the feet of the Fukushima disaster and the growth of the renewable energy sector.

Politicians lost the chance to reform the energy monopoly — the very system that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster two years ago. Lawmakers have not advanced the nation toward embracing more “dynamic market competition” that would lead toward decentralized and greener energy systems. Instead, the decrepit dinosaurs in the nuclear and oil cartels have won again.