Jayant Sathaye

India's aluminum industry: Productivity, energy efficiency and carbon emissions

Historical estimates of productivity growth in Indias aluminum sector vary from indicating an improvement to a decline in the sectors productivity. The variance may be traced to the time period of study, source of data for analysis, and type of indices and econometric specifications used for reporting productivity growth. An analysis shows that in the twenty year period, 1973 to 1993, productivity in the aluminum sector declined slightly by 0.2%. An econometric analysis reveals that technical progress in Indias aluminum sector has been biased towards the use of energy, while it has been labor saving. The decline in productivity was mainly driven by a decline in the 1970s when capacity utilization was low and the energy crisis hit India and the world. From the early 1980s on productivity recuperated. The authors examine the current changes in structure and energy efficiency in the sector. Their analysis shows that the Indian aluminum sector has high potential to move towards world-best technology, which will result in fewer carbon emissions and more efficient energy use. Substantial energy savings and carbon reduction options exist.

Energy use and carbon implications in India Focus on industry

Our objective in this paper is to assess the economic impact of alternative abatement strategies which may be adopted by India in the perspective of its industrialization program. For this purpose, we quantify levels of CO2 emissions associated with different industrial strategies and process choices for given levels of projected demand for end-use service and for industrial products. We then estimate optimal process and fuel mix of energy supply for each end use which is consistent with given emission abatement levels, and identify policy options in view of the above.

Cost of reducing CO2 emissions from India: Imperatives for international transfer of resources and technologies

This paper evaluates the cost, capital and foreign exchange requirements associated with restraining the growth of CO2 emissions in India through a range of technological alternatives. The different options include higher-cost efficiency improvements, fuel switching from coal to oil to gas and increasing the use of renewables. The paper also examines the types of actions required at both the national and international levels to effectively curtail Indias CO2 growth. The development of a coupon system, which would allow carbon-restraining technologies to be transferred from the industrialized to the developing world, is one of the novel mechanisms suggested in this analysis.

Rural electricity in the Philippines: Planning issues

Abstract The government of the Philippines is committed to reducing the countrys dependence on imported oil. An element in its plan to accomplish this goal is the generation of electricity using indigenous energy sources — wood/ biomass, hydro, geothermal and coal. Wood-fired generation in the Philippines has drawn worldwide attention from other developing countries interested in embarking on similar programmes. This investigation reveals the difficulties inherent in implementing such a programme. Primary concerns include the institutional issues in the generation and distribution of power by the National Power Corporation (NPC), the National Electrification Administration (NEA), the rural electric cooperatives (RECs) and the tree farmer associations (TFAs), the influence of demand patterns on the financial viability of rural electric cooperatives, and the influence of low load factors, small size and remote locations on the cost of dendro thermal power plants. The conclusions s should be of interest to other countries interested in pursuing similar programmes.

WG4 Summary: Human dimensions of the forest-carbon issue

The preceding discussions have dealt with basic biophysical processes associated with forests and the global carbon (C) cycle, and the technical feasibilities of intervening in those processes so that forests play a stronger role in sequestering C from the atmosphere. Such discussions are a vital component of a full understanding of how humanity might mitigate what we shall call the C problem—what will it take to manage and use forests to lessen climatic change due to increasing atmospheric CO2? Any meaningful answer requires that we put the technical possibilities into the social, economic, institutional and political contexts within which all human endeavour takes place. Are these contexts—current and future— facilitative of strong implementation of the technically feasible actions, or will they pose constraints? If the latter, what will it take to remove the barriers?

Planning for oil overcharge funds: The California experience

Within the next few years, states will be receiving some of the largest amounts of funds (

Productivity trends in India's energy intensive industries: A growth accounting analysis

3–5 billion) ever released by the U.S. government to be spent on energy conservation and renewable energy programs and projects. The source of these funds is the Petroleum Violation Escrow Account (PVEA). In anticipation of these funds, a PVEA planning process was developed in California to assist the Governor and the State Legislature in allocating the PVEA money. The California Energy Commission selected the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) to evaluate energy projects proposed by state agencies and those generated from public workshops. We review the evaluation process undertaken in California and present the evaluations of 10 energy programs as examples. The lessons learned in this process should be of interest to all states planning for these anticipated funds.