What is CleanTech - Part 2

Let me give a shot here on explaining CleanTech in a very simple way as we see it. We have divided cleantech opportunities in three broad buckets:

1. Energy - Thermal, Power and Fuel
2. Water - Water desalination, recycling, drip irrigation
3. Agriculture (Food) - Organic farming, supply chain efficiency, yield improvement

These three buckets also form the basis of our day-to-day basic needs. Energy as a whole is $5.2 trillion market, water $500 billion and Food is close to $3 trillion market. These are big markets but also have bigger problems which translate to bigger opportunities.

Cleantech essentially is using resources more efficiently - getting more by using lesser resources. You can still be using coal, but getting more output. You can still be using gasoline, but getting more mileage out of it.

We, developing nations, can have bigger impact on CleanTech simply because we have choices which developed world did not have when they were expanding their energy infrastructure left and right. We have choices to:

•To burn coal more efficiently

–Coal Gasification

–Carbon sequestration

•To choose renewable energy

–Capex requirement is similar to coal ($1/W)

–Cost/unit is competitive (Rs 2-3/unit)

–PLF can be high (> 80%, Biomass)

•To use resources more efficiently

–Smart monitoring

–Water recycling

Lets choose them as we grow. We can grow faster.

Manoj