Address:
International Energy Initiative,
Asian Regional Energy Initiative,
80-B Spencer Road, 2nd Cross, Fraser Town,
Bangalore 560 005,
India

Telephone:
+91 80 2555 3375

Fax:
+91 80 2555 3375

 E-mail:
ieiblr@vsnl.com
  The Asian Regional Energy Initiative of the IEI
Energy efficiency financing mechanisms:

 Environmental Reform in the Power Sector - China and India:
The Regional Energy Iinitiative - Asia, IEI, was invited to participate in a collaborative research project on Asian environmental policy, with special reference to innovation, transformation, and challenges. While the other contributors worked on a range of topics to which environmental issues pertain, (e.g. urban infrastructure development, water governance and catchment management, etc.), we have studied the growing electricity sector and its environmental impacts. We have focused on environmental policies in China and India, the continent’s largest and arguably most dynamic countries.

Our analytical framework consists of identification of environmental policies and regulations affecting electricity generation, assessment of problems faced when implementing these policies and regulations, and finally recommendations for surmounting the barriers encountered. We have noted that environmental issues in the electricity sector have been addressed both directly, through laws and governmental orders, and indirectly, through policies on alternative technologies and efficiency improvement. However, successful environmental regulation has been hampered by the compelling need for energy in these large developing countries, and the consequent rapid increase in electricity generation. Solutions to these problems therefore lie in combinations of cleaner and more efficient generation, appropriate control equipment, and more efficient end-use devices. Among factors which facilitate effective adoption of these solutions are state prioritisation, fiscal and financial incentives, appropriate technological choices, institutional involvement, integrated planning, public participation and international commitments.

For the manuscript submitted to the Journal of Environment & Development, please[Click here]. The published article, “Environmental Reform in the Electricity Sector: China and India”, Journal of Environment & Development, (A Review of International Policy), Volume 15, Number 2, June 2006, pp.158-183, is available at - http://jed.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/15/2/158?etoc