India to lead the world in energy innovation: Report

14 April 2008

India is one of the most energy efficient economies in the world and now stands to become the global leader in energy innovation says a new Emerging Economy Report released by the Centre for Knowledge Societies (CKS).

The report finds India aas the top energy efficient economy among the leading emerging economies that include Brazil, China and South Africa. It also points out that per capita, not only China and India but most emerging economies remain far below the energy consumption as well as carbon emission levels of industrialised economies.

China's CO2 emission of 2.6 thousand metric tonnes per 1,000 people is far below the 10.16 thousand metric tonnes per 1,000 people for Germany.

Similarly, Indonesia's per capita energy consumption of 21.5 million Btu is higher than India's (12.6) but it is almost negligible when compared to its more economically developed neighbours like South Korea (170.2 million Btu per capita) and Taiwan (181.5).

The report forecasts that confronted with the high costs of energy as well as the prospect of climate change, emerging economies will become energy innovators in future.

"Many emerging economies have tiny carbon footprints in comparison with industrialised economies,'' says Dr Aditya Dev Sood, founder and chief executive officer, CKS. ''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."