India's
energy security is at risk if it fails to embrace the opportunity to develop low-carbon solutions, with its power demands set to surge over the coming years, the
International Energy Agency
(IEA) has warned.
"Current trends will drive up imports of fossil fuels, local pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and put energy security at risk," according to a new report by the IEA, presented at the Clean Energy Ministerial conference in New Delhi yesterday.
"India faces formidable energy challenges. It relies heavily on fossil fuels and its energy demand is set to grow more than fourfold over the coming decades."
The IEA also said that progress globally of the development of green
energy
solutions was too slow to limit global warming to the desired extent.
Still, India is in a position to solve some of its own problems.
"India is well placed to take advantage of new clean energy technologies that could head off these dangers, with a solid engineering base and a strong, innovative private sector that has consistently surprised the world with pioneering and affordable technology solutions," the report added.
Hundreds of millions of Indians in rural areas do not have access to electricity. There are frequent outages in many parts of the country and coal shortages, expensive fuel imports and government subsidies are all weighing heavily on the economy, which is expected to have hit a decade low in terms of growth in the past financial year.
Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, said steps were being taken to develop clean energy sources including solar and wind power, as well as biomass.
"It is proposed to double the renewable energy capacity in our country from 25,000 megawatts in 2012 to 55,000 MW by the year 2017," Mr Singh said, speaking at the same event yesterday. "The pace at which we can expand our reliance on these new energy sources is constrained by the fact that they are more expensive than conventional energy. However, costs are falling. The cost of solar energy, for example, has nearly halved over the last two years, though it remains higher than the cost of fossil fuel-based electricity."
Developing countries make up 82 per cent of the world's population and use 55 per cent of the available global energy supply, he added.
"They must aim at faster growth of their GDP to improve the living standards of their populations and this will entail an expanded demand for energy," Mr Singh said. "If they follow the industrialised countries in meeting their energy requirements through fossil fuel based energy, we know that the impact on the global climate would be simply unsustainable."
Mr Singh added that "industrialised countries have to bear a large share of the burden" involved in controlling emissions.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950