In In a startling revelation, which paints the Indian telecom sector in a much unfavorable light, Greenpeace released a report Dirty Talking A Case for telecom to shift from diesel to renewable, detailing how badly the sector was using up diesel and thereby accounting for huge loses. According to estimates made by the report, the subsidy on diesel has been aggressively exploited by the telecom sector, resulting in an annual loss of around Rs 2600 crore to the state exchequer. The report builds on the previous industry and government research which show that at current growth rates, the sector would require 26 billion KWh of electricity and 3 billion liters of diesel by 2012, contributing to a much larger carbon footprint than previously estimated.
However, the report also shows how the sector can become a transformative force by adopting renewable energy for their business operations and advocating economy wide climate and energy solutions. "With growth, the sectors appetite for energy will increase, making it a significant source of GHG emissions unless the industry adopts and advocates renewable energy use and backs laws to cut global warming," said Mrinmoy Chattoraj, Climate and Energy campaigner, Greenpeace India and co-author of the report.
Despite the clear and visible benefits of shifting to renewable sources of energy the sector has been reluctant to make this positive transition in a substantive way. "The Telecom sector is well positioned to transit to a low-carbon growth trajectory. They must use their influence to promote policies that will allow them to grow responsibly without helping to fuel climate change Chattaraj added.
The telecom sector in India emitted over 5.6m tonnes of CO2 in 2008 on as a result of diesel use (3).Emissions have since risen, and are likely to increase significantly with the sectors predicted exponential growth over the next few years. A shift in power sourcing to renewable technologies, such as solar photovoltaic, will result in a close to 300 per cent reduction in total costs (CAPEX + OPEX) for telecom operators, in comparison to a diesel generator (DG) based tower over ten years.
Add new comment