Is India smart enough to make use of the opportunity? I don’t know for sure. The problem of energy is not directly amenable to a “market alone” solution.

The strict distinction between polytheism and monotheism you are trying to make is hard to maintain. Most polytheists are montheists who support multiple channels to one God. And by definition, polytheism supports monotheism, because many includes one.

They are better seen as different strategies: one tries to brand itself as different from everything else, and then seeks to convert everything else in its own image (American style), the other tries to wipe away all distinctions and create a goo similar to itself (Indian style). I suspect the latter will win out in the long term, as it is more energy efficient.

Polytheism does lead to significant evils, like a form of absolute relativism that encourages the anything-goes/chalta hai attitude characteristic of India. That too kills people and babies, though not as spectacularly as the shock-and-awe folks.

Green revolution, good or bad? Food is a good. So anything that increases food sustainably is good. Was the green revolution sustainable? If not, then it is not as good as the superficial understanding may lead one to believe. Population excessive because of the green revolution? Availability of food is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the population problem. The rich countries do have lots of food. That does not mean that their population numbers are out of whack. So pinning the problem of population explosion on the green revolution does not make sense to me.

BTW, I do believe that the per capita consumption of rich economies is also not sustainable. Excessive (suitably defined) consumption is as immoral and stupid as forcing people to live below a poverty line.

I don’t subscribe to any wing, right or left. Yes, I do hold strong positions on many matters. Yes, I have very strong opposition to monotheism, to communism, to general idiocy. I am very “pro-market” in the sense that I do believe that markets solve information asymmetries more efficiently. I believe that people should be free to do what they please as long as there are no externalities, etc. I am against violence against people, I am against coersion, against blind unquestioned faith. I am against the exploitation of the poor by the rich; I am against the exploitation of the weak by the powerful.

I think the best summary of my position is that I am against stupidity. I am sure that I have acted and reasoned stupidly myself in the past and I will no doubt fall into the trap occassionally in the future–I am against that as well. Fundamentally we humans suffer to a large extent as a result of our stupidity. I reason from experience: most of my suffering is the result of my own stupidity.

So to conclude, I am guilty as charged: I am seriously biased against monotheism, communism and all other forms of extreme stupidity.

So far I see more signs of blindly replicating the US model (more cars running on gasoline and most recently more nuclear power) as a solution. There are of course attempts going on towards sustainable sources (especially biodiesel and wind in India) and also towards smaller independent grids etc. But as long as the majority of us can’t imagine a prosperous society based on an alternate model, I don’t think rising gas prices will do us any good.

Like other problems this too may turn out to be a failure of imagination. No?

Some confusion here. Photosynthesis absorbs, not releases, atmospheric CO2 and protects the earth from global warming…

That aside, none of the renewable energy sources – wind, solar – are capable of providing 24 x 7 solutions which modern lifestyle demands. Bio-oil alone holds some promise.

Atanu’s response: Actually I should have written “Instead of photosynthesis using the products of photosynthesis of ages past for energy, a process which involves carbon dioxide …”

Current products of photosynthesis (bio-diesel or bio-fuels) are technically carbon-dioxide neutral, of course. These I categorize as being solar energy sources albeit indirect.

As for India, read up on biodiesel efforts happening across the country. goodnewsindia.com would be a good place to start. India is considered a model on policy initiatives to promote biodiesel, waaaay ahead of anyone else, except maybe Brazil. It is also the number one experimental market. If the policy, projections and the network effects turn out as expected, India will gain quite a bit from the fossil fuel crash.

Incidentally, one driving force behind the initiative is Indian Railways, which is being used as a testbed for biodiesel. Railways could play this paradigm-shifting role because it is a “public sector sloth”. So much for blind privatisation arguments pushed by smart alecky economists and stupid journalists.

As for the photoelectric slogan, there will be a fragmented market for all sorts of things before we hit direct solar. See this week’s Economist for a brilliant wind power project, developing as you read this.

Everything is possible, 1 year, 100 years, 1000 years. Just that i do not feel great about the idea of getting lucky.

just a few points

1) Do we have efficient markets to bring about what you claim ?

2) I dont think that we have or will have exact substitutes for many of the fossil fuels (with or without efficient markets). That would imply a change in the fossil-fuel based lifestyles.

3) We do have vast reserves of coal, next only to china, US and australia. There are cleaner coal technologies. You can get results here as well if some of the money is diverted from sun-screen technologies.
What is so special about solar ? There is wind-energy, bio-fuels, fission etc.

Coal is not an option for India. India has very low grade coal and we cannot afford the burden of the resulting pollution.

The developed ones still seem to have the hots for oversized-tin-boxes. Maybe in coming days, they would be less developed in some ways, like the ablility to travel kms to get toothpaste. Closer home, we are getting this 1 lakh car and we can all drive away into the sun. (i.e. if you get past the traffic jam)

Coal anyone ?