Despite India’s effort to achieve energy security by opening new mines and acquiring oil wells abroad, the massive quantity of energy required for smart cities is likely to remain elusive

Unlike the fully fossil-fuelled cities of North nations, Indian cities are semi-fossil fuelled. They consist of an older city constructed in a pre-fossil fuel era, with narrow streets made for pedestrians and animal carts and low-rise buildings made from lime binders, and a newer city constructed with broad streets for fossil- fuelled vehicles and concrete high-rise buildings. A conservative energy cost for upgrading 5,000 kilometres in older cities is 600 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE). That is almost equal to India’s annual total primary energy supply (TPES) worth Rs. 35 lakh crore, i.e., more than double of the Union budget for 2014-15.

Since 2000, India’s energy consumption has grown at 7 per cent per annum, keeping pace with GDP growth. If the additional energy consumption for the smart cities project is spread over the next 10 years, the annual fossil fuel consumption rate will have to jump to 15 per cent.

Unlike money, extra energy cannot be printed at will. It has to be first found, and then accessed. India is already hard pressed to meet the current demand for fossil fuel. Coal contributes 60 per cent of the fossil fuel that India consumes. The country has the fifth largest coal reserves in the world. Yet, it imported 21 per cent of its coal last year, as indigenous production failed to meet demand. Consequently, India’s power utilities enforce regular rolling power cuts. Opening new coal mines has its own problems. According to former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, untapped coal blocks are in dense forests that constitute only 2.5 per cent of the country’s area. Opening them will further endanger our forests.

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To be more convincing, Mr. Naidu should share his energy costing and supply analysis for the proposed 100 new smart cities. The Ministers for Railways and Water Resources should do the same for the bullet train and river linking projects. And Mr. Javadekar must argue his “more emissions for poverty reduction” statement. Else there will be further gain maximisation for a few.

(Sagar Dhara works on energetics and risk issues.)

Keywords: smart cities, coal production, India energy crisis, carbon emission, India’s energy consumption