Page 28 - Apmor 2018

energy technology

The authors assumed grid electricity prices; within a few minutes — expensive, polluting, electric cooktop as well as on a gas cooktop.
my independent calculations confirm this and noisy, if you lived close to where it was Moreover, the electric cooktop is easier to
assessment to be true even for a solar+battery- located. keep clean!”
based solution. In their strategy paper, Dr. Panagariya echoes I gifted my induction cooktop to a colleague —
Affordable, Technically Feasible, and my experiences exactly, “During 40 years of a fond goodbye — when I left IIM in December
Ethnic Cooking Compatible living abroad, one of us has had the option to 2016. (Courtesy of renewableenergyworld.
choose between gas and electric cooktops and com)
he always chose the latter. This never came Mahesh P. Bhave, Founder, BHAVE Power
in the way of cooking dishes from any parts Systems, San Diego
of India. And, yes, chapattis do puff up on an
Grid independent, electricity-
based cooking is affordable and
economical based on projected
trends in battery pricing. Further,
the market for electricity for
cooking is both urban and rural,
and thus all families in India, at
least 270 million! It is in India’s
national interest to promote grid-
independent, electricity-based
cooking, and eliminate even
LPG as the cooking fuel. This will
reduce the foreign exchange drain,
promote health, and contribute
to offsetting global warming
emissions, consistent with the 2015
Paris Climate Accord.

To the objection often raised, but is Indian
food amenable to flame-free cooking? In my
experience, it is. When I joined IIM Kozhikode
as a visiting professor in 2011, I had the option
of signing up for a LPG cylinder. The hassle of
forms to be filled, deposit paid that later has
to be reclaimed, delivery coordination of the
heavy cylinder, the need to purchase a new
burner…made me explore electricity-based UNIVERSAL -
options, with trepidation. I was used to the
ease of LPG or piped-gas based cooking, and SIMPLE - Single person can install and operate
had only rarely used resistive electric cooktops.
My induction cooktop was a big relief, it could FLEXIBLE - Can be installed in any environment
do everything I wanted. It worked on grid
electricity. It could easily have been powered TRUSTED - Excellent false alarm rejection
by rooftop or balcony-based solar panels and
Li-ion batteries. Cooking is thus possible, and
what a relief this is, whether grid power is
available or not. T +44 (0) 1462 444 740
The IIM campus lost power often, at least E sales@ffeuk.com
three times a day, on mornings occasionally W www.ffeuk.com
and invariably in the evenings. When this
happened, the diesel generator kicked in

28 | AFRICAN POWER Mining & Oil Review Vol 21, Issue 20, 2017