Dr. Aditya Dev Sood, Founder and CEO of CKS, used a complex chart from the study to illustrate this point: "Many Emerging Economies have tiny carbon footprints in comparison with industrialized economies. Yet some of them are highly energy efficient: this means that they create more economic value per unit of energy consumed. However, as the GDP per capita of these nations increases, their demand for energy increases, and their carbon footprint balloons! The only way out of this logic is to pursue energy innovation."
While the government is seized of the need for better access to energy in order to power India's continued economic growth, their efforts have been primarily diplomatic in nature. This is because with 17% of the world's population, India has only 0.8% of the world's fossil fuel reserves. The government has sought to ensure India has maximal access to diverse sources of energy from different parts of the world. Dr. Sood and his collaborators address energy innovation in the Report from several directions, always focusing on how people actually use energy in their everyday lives.
Today, electricity, gas, water, and media mostly flow into an office or dwelling, and are therefore metered in only one direction. In future, however, these resources might be stored or even generated so that they could feed back to the grid as and when necessary. Consider for example a micro wind turbine atop a townhouse or sitting outside an apartment window, feeding a set of eco-neutral storage batteries that power media appliances through the home, and even houses next door. According to the Emerging Economy Report, CKS, Osmotic Utilities could be key to creating new energy communities of the future.
As Emerging Economies continue to grow, however, the Report predicts that they will want to make more and more efficient and intelligent investments into infrastructure, so as to make their economies more sustainable. The Report points out that even though educated consumers want to be more energy efficient in their everyday life, they have limited options, as most of the decisions concerning the energy and environmental costs of different activities are scripted into the infrastructure that makes them possible.
Emerging Economies determine global energy negotiations: Emerging Economies will play pivotal roles in reducing the environmental anxieties that are growing worldwide. They have the opportunity to voluntarily moderate their carbon emissions for global environmental benefit and market advantage. Environmental concerns and carbon footprints will be the next major global dividers over emissions commitments negotiations and implementation.
China and India lead the market for Carbon Credit: In the future, carbon credit will become a future source of major national income for the Emerging Economies. The global carbon credit market is estimated to be around 30 billion US $, of which India and China together comprise roughly two-thirds of 5 billion US $.
Intelligent Infrastructure for Green Energy: Infrastructure gets smarter as utilities become more diffuse and users make energy decisions that are appropriate for them. The intelligence about energy needs and requirements is best known to the user. Power decisions will be progressively taken by consumers.
