4
H. Tyagi et al.
This chapter presents an outline of the whole monograph, along with collection of
the abstract of each chapter. The whole monograph has been divided into five parts.
Each part deals with a unifying theme. The monograph begins with Part I where the
overall usage of energy is put into context, especially with a focus on the progress of
developing countries (such as India, China, Brazil). It also includes chapters which
highlight the usage of solar energy-based technologies in remote areas of India, and
also the optimum usage of energy in buildings for thermal comfort. This part consists
of four chapters (including this Introduction chapter). The abstracts of each of these
chapters are as follows.
Chapter 2: Sustainable Development Goals calls for a substantial increase in the
share of solar energy in the global energy mix, as well as for a more efficient use
of energy. With the considerable cost of degradation in the environment at USD80
billion annually, which is equivalent to 5.7% of GDP in 2009, a major constraint in
sustaining future economic growth could be the environment. In this present work, an
attempt has been made to outline and focus on the goals set by BRICS countries with
the aid of the major financial institutions and the socio economic groups for these five
countries and the action plans taken as an initiative for the sustainable development
of the energy sector at large and solar energy in specific. India is planning to increase
the production of renewable energy by 40% within 2030 and in turn reduce emissions
intensity by 33–35% over 2005 levels. China on the other hand intends to reduce
emission intensity by 60–65% over 2005 levels by increasing its solar energy capacity
from 43 GW at the end of 2015 to 127 GW by 2020. Russia’s current emissions are
around 40% lower than 1990 levels which are greater than the target set of 25–30%
over 1990 levels. More emphasis is given in developing sustainable renewable green
energy. Brazil is arguably in the best position to achieve its goals in renewable energy
sphere, as in 2015, 74% of its energy came from renewable sources. South Africa
has a very far way to go in the field of renewable energy as at present more than 90%
of the energy are still generated from fossil fuels though the country has targets to
commission another 17.8 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2020.
Chapter 3: The solar energy is available at free of cost and cleanest source of
renewable type energy that can be utilized as a better substitute to the fossil fuel
energy. These days lot of research is going on in extracting maximum possible heat
energy from the solar irradiation. From solar systems practicability and remotely
located societal upliftment point of view, it’s a big challenge to erect and run continuously or effectively the solar energy systems in remotely located or hilly areas
of Himachal Pradesh, India. This chapter discusses various applications of the solar
concentrating collector technology that may help remotely located people get rid of
their day to day problems e.g. water freezing, water pumping, cooking, drying of
agricultural products, air conditioning etc. The challenges to be faced by the community people to meet household and agricultural demands and ways to get better the
performance of solar-energy based systems along with opportunities for solar energy
systems to meet the requirements of remotely located people are also discussed in
this chapter.
Chapter 4: Energy efficiency and conservation measures in buildings are the focus
in today’s design and construction practices. One of the major reasons for energy
H. Tyagi et al.
This chapter presents an outline of the whole monograph, along with collection of
the abstract of each chapter. The whole monograph has been divided into five parts.
Each part deals with a unifying theme. The monograph begins with Part I where the
overall usage of energy is put into context, especially with a focus on the progress of
developing countries (such as India, China, Brazil). It also includes chapters which
highlight the usage of solar energy-based technologies in remote areas of India, and
also the optimum usage of energy in buildings for thermal comfort. This part consists
of four chapters (including this Introduction chapter). The abstracts of each of these
chapters are as follows.
Chapter 2: Sustainable Development Goals calls for a substantial increase in the
share of solar energy in the global energy mix, as well as for a more efficient use
of energy. With the considerable cost of degradation in the environment at USD80
billion annually, which is equivalent to 5.7% of GDP in 2009, a major constraint in
sustaining future economic growth could be the environment. In this present work, an
attempt has been made to outline and focus on the goals set by BRICS countries with
the aid of the major financial institutions and the socio economic groups for these five
countries and the action plans taken as an initiative for the sustainable development
of the energy sector at large and solar energy in specific. India is planning to increase
the production of renewable energy by 40% within 2030 and in turn reduce emissions
intensity by 33–35% over 2005 levels. China on the other hand intends to reduce
emission intensity by 60–65% over 2005 levels by increasing its solar energy capacity
from 43 GW at the end of 2015 to 127 GW by 2020. Russia’s current emissions are
around 40% lower than 1990 levels which are greater than the target set of 25–30%
over 1990 levels. More emphasis is given in developing sustainable renewable green
energy. Brazil is arguably in the best position to achieve its goals in renewable energy
sphere, as in 2015, 74% of its energy came from renewable sources. South Africa
has a very far way to go in the field of renewable energy as at present more than 90%
of the energy are still generated from fossil fuels though the country has targets to
commission another 17.8 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2020.
Chapter 3: The solar energy is available at free of cost and cleanest source of
renewable type energy that can be utilized as a better substitute to the fossil fuel
energy. These days lot of research is going on in extracting maximum possible heat
energy from the solar irradiation. From solar systems practicability and remotely
located societal upliftment point of view, it’s a big challenge to erect and run continuously or effectively the solar energy systems in remotely located or hilly areas
of Himachal Pradesh, India. This chapter discusses various applications of the solar
concentrating collector technology that may help remotely located people get rid of
their day to day problems e.g. water freezing, water pumping, cooking, drying of
agricultural products, air conditioning etc. The challenges to be faced by the community people to meet household and agricultural demands and ways to get better the
performance of solar-energy based systems along with opportunities for solar energy
systems to meet the requirements of remotely located people are also discussed in
this chapter.
Chapter 4: Energy efficiency and conservation measures in buildings are the focus
in today’s design and construction practices. One of the major reasons for energy