Silver Jubilee Endowment Lecture and Inauguration of

Clean Energy & Nano Convergence (CENCON) Centre

Chennai
6 January 2011

“Energy Independence as Global Mission”

Sustainable Development in the urgent need of humanity

I am delighted to be at the Hindustan Institute of Technology and

Sciences (HITS) and inaugurate the Clean Energy & Nano Convergence
(CENCON) Centre. I would also like to greet the members of the
institution, both past and present for completing 25 years of their
journey to impart quality education to the youth of the nation. I was
reading about the institute and was happy to know that it was
established by Late Dr. K. C. G. Verghese with the vision to “To Make
Every Man a Success and No Man a Failure”. I am glad to know that
Clean Energy & Nano Convergence (CENCON) Centre, is being
established under collaboration with various research institutes from
around the world with the objective to promote research and provide
consultations in the domain of clean energy, nano-composites, non-
volatile memories, LED, UID and other areas of nano-convergence. This
is indeed the need of the hour for the nation. I would like to share my
thoughts on the topic “Energy Independence as Global Mission”. This is
a topic which has become extremely relevant and a matter of action
for governments across the world, societies, institutions, leaders and
individual citizens. Two months back, I inaugurated in Washington DC,
what is called “Kalam NSS Initiative on Solar Power Satellite”, I will also
be discussing with you.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

www.abdulkalam.com

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First, let me discuss about convergence of technologies and their
paradigms.

Convergence of Technologies
The Information Technology and Communication Technology have
already converged leading to Information and Communication
Technology (ICT). Information Technology combined with bio-
technology has led to bio-informatics. Similarly, Photonics is grown out
from the labs to converge with classical Electronics and
Microelectronics to bring in new high speed options in consumer
products. Flexible and unbreakable displays using thin layer of film on
transparent polymers have emerged as new symbols of entertainment
and media tools. Now, Nano-technology has come in. It is the field of
the future that will replace microelectronics and many fields with
tremendous application potential in the areas of medicine, electronics
and material science. I am sure about the use of nano-robot for drug
delivery. When Nano technology and ICT meet, integrated silicon
electronics, photonics are born and it can be said that material
convergence will happen. With material convergence and
biotechnology linked, a new science called Intelligent Bioscience will be
born which would lead to a disease free, happy and more intelligent
human habitat with longevity and high human capabilities.
Convergence of bio-nano-info technologies can lead to the
development of nano robots. Nano robots when they are injected into a
patient, my expert friends say, it will diagnose and deliver the
treatment exclusively in the affected area and then the nano-robot
gets digested as it is a DNA based product. I saw the product sample

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in one of the star labs in South Korea where best minds with multiple
technology work with a target of finding out of the box solution.

Now, recently, a new trend is emerging. The aspect being introduced is

that of Ecology. Globally the demand, is shifting towards development
of sustainable systems which are technologically superior. This is the
new dimension of the 21st century knowledge society, where science
and environment will go together. Thus the new age model would be a
four dimensional bio-nano-info-eco based. Take the example of GM
crops. I was reading in an article by Dick Taverne, titled “Freedom of
Research and eco-fundamentalism”, that the notion that GM crops will
benefit only top corporate is mistaken. He says, that most of the
development of GM is taking place in the lesser developed regions of
the world. Moreover, not only would carefully researched GM crops
benefit the impoverished, would also improve the environment as they
reduce the need to use pesticides – thereby avoiding water pollution.
Similarly, some of the GM crops brought the idea of no-till, which would
preserve the top soil. They would use less energy, both directly as well
as indirectly. India is the 4th largest cultivator of GM crops in the world
and has vast experience of GM Cotton. Some well renowned papers
show that the environmental impact of crops in 2007 was equivalent of
taking 4 million cars off the road. The next generation GM crops or
hybrid crops would require further thrust on converging ecology and
science, where the crops would be able to be grown in salty soil
regions and also heal the unproductive soil. The need would be bring
bio needs of fulfilling specific nutritional requirements of the human
beings. Thus, the next generation, well researched and tested, GM
crops, will not only lead to the 2nd green revolution but also herald the
now needed convergence of bio-info-nano-eco streams.

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Let me now discuss about energy independence and its need in the
modern context.

Leading to Energy Independence

As you are aware, there is a continuous depletion of fossil-material-
derived oil, gas and coal reserves as predicted by World Energy Forum.
Also, there is a continuous rise of cost of crude. I have been studying
the price pattern of standard crude oil over the last five years. From
under $25 per barrel in September 2003 and in 2008 it touched $147
and now is above $80 per barrel. The world consumes more than 85
million barrels per day, one fourth of which it’s consumed by US. India
too is a six largest consumer of crude oil. We are not only paying for
the cost of fuel, but also paying for the continuous environmental
degradation. The solution to these problems is achieving energy
independence which would also act as the bridge between energy and
environment. Let me first give you the current global energy scenario.

Global Energy Scenario

According to the Statistical Review of World Energy 2009, world is
consuming about 277 billion units (in Kilo Watts -hour) of primary
energy per year which is equivalent to continuous demand of 15 Tera-
Watts of average power. Of this, 38% is met by Oil, 23% by gas and
26% by coal. Which means that about 87% of the total primary energy
is supplied by fossil fuels? The remaining comes from Nuclear(6%),
Hydropower(6%) and other renewable sources like solar, wind, tidal
and geothermal contribute only 1%. Against this, the global emissions
of GHG (Green House Gases) stand at over 36 Gigatons of CO 2. Out of
which 66% is directly attributable to energy generation requirements,
either in electricity, households or transport sector. Thus, more than 20

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Gigatons of GHG is a direct result of meeting our energy requirements
through fossil fuels.

Let me now talk about the global energy independence vision by 2030,
which is another 20 years from now.

Energy Independence Vision 2030

The Energy Vision 2030 has to be three dimensional. First, ensuring

affordability in access to quality energy for all. Second, ensuring that
the dependence on depleting fossil fuels is minimized thereby giving
stability to the energy supply. Third, it has to be balanced against the
environment aspect, by stressing on development of green thereby
giving cleanliness in our energy. The Energy Independence Vision has
to be global in its implementation and a priority of all nations in the
world.

1. Improving energy efficiency in industrial, transport, residential

and commercial sector to reduce the energy demand growth rate
by 50%

2. Dependence on fossil fuels as primary energy source to be

brought under 50%

3. Replacement of petroleum as a primary fuel source for transport

by less carbon emitting or completely carbon neutral renewable
fuels

4. International collaboration on promoting green energy

development methods with seamless flow of ideas and
technologies

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 5. Reducing the net emission per unit energy consumption to 25
percent of the current rate

1. Improving Energy Efficiency

Currently, the global primary energy consumption is growing at about

200 GW per year which is adding the demand on fuels and adding onto
the emissions. This growth can be stemmed by using energy efficient
techniques in generation, transmission and consumption. Let me
discuss some of them.

Distribution Efficiencies: Apart from generating power and running

power stations efficiently, it is equally essential to transmit and
distribute the power with minimum loss. The loss of power in
transmission and distribution is very high in many countries. Globally,
the transmission losses account for about 15% for a variety of reasons.
This is the result of transmission loss and unaccounted loss. We need
to urgently work on improving the global transmission efficiencies to
ensure that energy wastage is minimized and thereby the demand for
energy is also brought down.

Intelligent buildings and corporate: Buildings use of 50% of global

energy and account for comparable of heat trapping emissions.
Integrated design with multiple energy efficiency measures can reduce
energy use at least half of the conventional building and gains of
greater than 80% have been achieved. The emerging trends of
intelligent buildings and green buildings entail the use of modern
technology, smart materials and eco friendly designs. For example, I
have seen the hollow building material made out of fly ash, not only is
more environment friendly, but also a better insulator of heat and cold.
Such eco-friendly, cost-effective material can make the building more
energy efficient.

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I would recommend all of you to read an article “Carbon Neutral City is
my Dream” (Published in Times of India, 19th September 2010), which
myself and Srijan have jointly written highlighting the evolution of a
Carbon Neutral city planning and its different components.

2. Alternative Sources of Energy

Let me discuss about the profile of renewable energy systems. Firstly I

would like to talk to you on Solar Energy.

Solar energy in particular requires unique, massive applications in the

agricultural sector, where farmers need electricity exclusively in the
daytime. This could be the primary demand driver for solar energy. Our
farmers demand for electric power today is significantly high to make
solar energy economical in large scale.

Shortages of water, both for drinking and farming operations, can be

met by large scale seawater desalination and pumping inland using
solar energy, supplemented by bio-fuels wherever necessary.

Terrestrial Solar Power: The current high capital costs of terrestrial

solar power stations can be reduced by grid-locked 100 MW sized Very
Large Scale Solar Photovoltaic (VLSPV) or Solar Thermal Power
Stations. In the very near future, breakthroughs in nanotechnologies
promise significant increase in solar cell efficiencies from current 15%
values to over 50% levels. These would in turn reduce the cost of solar
energy production. Our science laboratories should mount a R&D
Programme for developing high efficiency CNT based Photo Voltaic
Cells and also advance in the Solar-Thermal Technology.

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The potential of the Terrestrial Solar Energy on the global arena is
impressive. It is documented that concentrating solar power plants
built on less than 0.3% of the desert of North Africa and Middle East to
generate sufficient energy to meet the local electricity needs of these
regions and that of entire European region.

Nuclear Power: Nuclear power generation has been given a thrust by

the use of uranium based fuel. However, there would be manifold
requirement due to increase in nuclear power generation even to
attain a reasonable degree of energy independence. We would need to
develop technologies for wider spectrum of fissile material found
around the world. For example, India has one-fourth of the world
Thorium reserves. Therefore, it is essential to pursue the development
of nuclear power using Thorium, reserves of which are higher in the
many nations. Also, Nuclear Fusion research needs to be progressed
with international cooperation to keep that option for meeting the
large power requirement, at a time when fossil fuels get depleted.

3. Replacing Petroleum

Bio-fuel - Jatropha: Let me now talk about the use of biofuels. One
such bio-fuel crop is that of Jatropha. Once grown, the crop has a life of
50 years. Moreover, the plant can grow in wasteland and hence does
not create substitution of food crops. Each acre will produce about 2
tonnes of bio-diesel at about half a dollar per litre. Biodiesel is carbon
neutral and many valuable by-products flow from this agro-industry.
Intensive research is needed to burn bio-fuel in internal combustion
engines with high efficiency, and this needs to be an urgent R&D
programme. India alone has a potential to produce nearly 60 million
tonnes of bio-fuel annually, thus making a significant and important
contribution to the goal of Energy Independence. Indian Railways has

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already taken a significant step of running two passenger locomotives
and six trains of diesel multiple units with a 5% blend of bio-fuel
sourced from its in-house esterification plants. What is needed is a full
economic chain from farming, harvesting, and extraction to
esterification, blending and marketing. Apart from employment
generation, bio-fuel has a significant potential to lead towards energy
independence.

Algae Oil: One of the best and most efficient bio-fuels available is
Algae Oil. Algae Oil is far superior in terms of yield per hectare and
compared to conventional bio-fuel crops like corn, which generate
about 172 liters per hectare, Algae Oil can generate more than a
hundred times that yield. Moreover, it can be grown in marshes and
shallow regions of the sea which are otherwise un-utilized. The
challenge is to develop better technologies which can bring down the
cost of generation of Algae oil.

4. Reducing Emissions
Friends, the vision for energy independence will not be complete
without stressing on the need for reducing the emissions and thereby
protecting the environment. With my team I calculated that currently
the emission per unit of energy used through various means comes out
to be around 1.3 Kg of CO2 per Watt of power per year. Through a
multipronged effort this should be brought down to under 0.65 Kg of
CO2 per Watt in the next twenty year which will also bring down the
global emissions of GHG. This will include development and
implementation of bio-fuels and alternative sources of energy and also
improvement in the efficiency of energy usage.

5. Energy Independence as a Global Mission

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The challenge of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and
conserving the environment is a global challenge which would
necessarily require global platforms for evolving and implementing
solutions which are efficient and economical in all the nations across
the world. Energy Independence thus, has to be shared mission of all
the countries and societies each working according to their core
competence. Integrated international platforms for research,
development and implementation of solutions for energy
independence using green sources need to be evolved. Joint research
missions need to be carried across different countries towards finding
common solutions which are not only effective but also economical.
Global corporate should aggressively seek opportunities to support
green enterprises as a viable business model and the young students
should be encouraged to take up entrepreneurial ventures which help
spread the mission of energy independence.

We can further consider the creation of a World Energy Independence

and Environment Platform which would facilitate the research,
development, marketing and deployment of all aspects of alternative
and green energy and lead to sustainable environment. Such a
platform can have global participation from governments, corporate,
academic institution, social organizations, R&D agencies as an
integrated international social and environment responsibility mission.
The contribution towards this program could be a nominal 0.1% of the
GDP of every member nations which will enable mobilization of over
$60 billion at the current GDP estimates.

Friends, let me now discuss on a futuristic space solar power mission

which may be the answer to our need to replace dependence of fossil
fuels as the primary source of energy.

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Space Based Solar Power:
On the 30th May 2010, I addressed the International Space
Development Conference (ISDC) where I talked about the possibilities
of harvesting energy from space through space based solar power.
This conference was attended by many of the experts from the space
community, who got interested with the presentation I had made. This
led to further discussions and formulations which culminated into the
evolution of the idea of Kalam-NSS Energy Initiative with the focus on
convergence of competencies from different nations towards the
realization of a futuristic mission for green energy from space. Three
days ago, on the 4th of November 2010, this initiative was declared to
the global audience by National Space Society of United States and
was participated by representatives from Indian Space Research
Organization and Artemis Innovation Management.

The sun, as you all know, radiates about 10 trillion times the energy
which human consumer across the world today. If we are able to
extract even a small portion of this energy from the sun, it would be
sufficient to secure the energy demands of our future.

Friends, space based solar power has many advantages over

traditional terrestrial based solar plants. First, the level of Solar
Irradiance is about 1.5 times in extraterrestrial level than at the
surface of the earth. Second, in case of surface based solar power
plants the panels can collect solar power for about 8-10 hours a day,
whereas, in the case of space based power plant, the collection time is
full 24 hours. Also, the space based solar power plants are not affected
by the weather conditions, which may bring down the efficiency in case
of terrestrial power plant. Thus space based solar power plant would

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be far more effective in their efficiency and power generation than the
land based systems.

There are three major focus areas in the space based solar power
plant. First component is the space based solar power plant. Second, is
the earth based collection system. And the third important aspect is
the medium of transmission from space to earth.

The aspect of safety and efficiency has to be paramount in the way

energy is transmitted from space back to earth – either through
microwave or any other technology. Careful research of the impact and
safety concerns would have to be conducted. One way to increase
safety and improve efficiency could be the evolution of nano-packets,
which are reusable, and can move like small batteries carrying charge
back and forth from space solar station to ground reception. Another,
approach could be to make the reception centres as pre-designated
offshore sites to reduce the safety issues.

Another important factor is the cost of the space based power plant,
which given the current launch technologies, would be very high and
needs to brought down. The largest cost of installing a space based
solar power plant will be in the form of the launching cost of the
components into the orbit. The current estimates range from about
$10 billion to more than $100 billion for an average plant size. There is
a need to bring down this cost. The long term cost of a space solar
power plant for time period of 20 years of operation has to be brought
down to under $0.10 per Kw-h to make it economically sustainable. Do
can we do this? It has to come through a multi-pronged approach.

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Hyper-planes, with an efficiency of 15% (payload to overall weight)
from the existing 2% and with the ability to be relaunched multiple
times would certainly be instrumental in bringing down the cost of
placing the solar power station into the orbit from existing $20,000 per
kg to less than $2,000 per kg. By smart designing of the material being
used for solar power plant the weight of solar panel needs to be
brought down from 20Kg/Kilowatt to less than 1 kg/KW. Similarly, the
efficiency of solar collection efficiency also needs to be enhanced using
nano technologies. Lastly, for the transmission of the energy and
component design nano-packets needs to be evolved which can move
back and forth between space and surface of the earth, which I have
already discussed. A combination of these efforts, along with many
other research possibilities, should be capable of bringing down the
cost of the space solar power installation to reasonable limits within
near future.

Conclusion
Today, you all stand at a crucial junction of your life. When you
graduate from this place in another four months from now, you would
have the challenge to shape your own career and the opportunity to
chisel the environment around you. To be successful, all of you would
require to emerge as indomitable spirits, in your thought and action.
Let me share with you an incident narrated in the book about the
Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman. Raman who was in the first batch of
Bharat Ratna Award winners. The award ceremony was to take place in
the last week of January, soon after the Republic Day celebrations of
1954. The then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote to Raman inviting
him to be the personal guest in the Rashtrapati Bhavan during his visit
to Delhi for the award ceremony. He wrote a polite letter, regretting his
inability to participate in the award ceremony. Raman had a noble
reason for his inability to attend the investiture ceremony. He

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explained to the President that he was guiding a Ph.D. student and
that thesis was positively due by the last day of January. The student
was valiantly trying to wrap it all up and Raman felt, he had to be by
the side of the research student, see that the thesis was finished, sign
the thesis as the guide and then have it submitted. Here was a
scientist who gave up the pomp of a glittering ceremony associated
with the highest honour, because he felt that his duty required him to
be by the side of the student. It is this character of commitment to
service and dedication to work that truly builds the human civilization
milestones – whether it is in science, or government, or politics or
corporate.

I am sure, you will definitely succeed in your missions through

creativity, innovation and your work ethics. My best wishes for all your
future endeavors.

May God Bless you all.

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