Path to Decarbonization (Free version)
This is the e-book version of Path to Decarbonization booklet by The Energy Consortium, IIT Madras.
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
PATH TO
DECARBONIZATION
SPECIAL
ISSUE
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
ccording to a recent McKinsey study (2022), India is the third-largest emitter of CO2
coming in at 2.9 GtCO2e (4.9 percent of global emissions) which amount to about 1.8 tons
CO2e per capita (versus the United States at 14.7 and China at 7.6). These emissions will
only increase as the country is going through a growth phase in multiple manufacturing
sectors of the Indian economy. And these sectors will be consuming power which will
only add to the emissions burden.
Collective action is critical to reducing these emissions while keeping the longer goal
to reach net-zero by 2070. Forums like this are key to getting India to reach that goal.
But the pathway is not easy. There are dauting factors to consider including accelerated
innovation in technologies, reducing transition costs, mobilizing capital, reskilling the
workforce, and re-thinking the land use issue, just to name a few.
The G20 summit that concluded recently focused on key climate issues such as
the agreement to pursue tripling renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and the
acceptance and need to phase-down unabated coal power. Like any other country India
will need technology development through R&D, economic support from private and
public sectors to deploy technologies, and enabling policy as the three pillars that must
be shored up to realize the goals to decarbonize.
As the rich collection of articles in this magazine highlights, significant technology
advances are being made through applied R&D that are helping in the decarbonizing
process. The manufacturing sector that includes cement, aluminum, and steel
industries contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. The articles highlight
new and innovative ways to reduce these emissions, including process optimization
through effective models that include use of power electronics, electrification of calcined
clay in cement manufacture, waste heat recovery, energy storage, and , innovative use
of hydrogen in steel manufacturing. The articles also cover issues related to minimizing
emissions in the building sector, and policy related changes and modeling to achieve net-
zero emissions. Also addressed are innovative uses of materials such as carbon black,
and assessment of critical raw materials and their impact on the circular economy.
All these technologies have the potential to decarbonize and transform many
sectors of the economy. In terms of technology, R&D forums like the 2023 IIT Energy
Summit have the potential to highlight the most recent advances being made in solar,
wind, geothermal and other renewable sources. For India to achieve its goal, Small
Modular Reactors for nuclear deployment that the US and other countries are pursuing
must be actively investigated. And in terms of both funding and policy, India needs to
commit in a similar manner to the US , where they passed the Infrastructure Law, as
well as the Inflation Reduction Act, which in turn is spurring an unprecedented push to
decarbonize the electricity sector by 2035 and the economy by 2050.
We hope that this summit will catalyze this community and the country to speed the
path to decarbonizing the industrial and power sectors and help India meet or beat its
goals.
Bhima Sastri* PhD,
Vikram Rao PhD,
Director, US Department of Energy,
Excutive Director,
Washington DC, USA
Research Triangle Energy Consortium
* The opinions expressed in this journal are my own and do not in any way reflect the
positions taken by the US Department of Energy.
Foreword
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
ransition to a low carbon society requires action on energy
use in multiple domains such as transportation, industries,
commercial and residential energy systems. It is also imperative
to achieve these transitions in an equitable and sustainable
manner without creating additional challenges. India’s energy
sector is currently dependent on fossil fuels and our panchamrit
goals (COP27) envisage a rapid infusion of renewables and
other measures to reduce the carbon intensity of our economy.
The challenge is to manage the transition while maintaining
affordability, accessibility, and other externalities such as urban
air quality issues. There are also issues related to high prices of
oil and PV module imports, concentration of lithium resources,
stranded assets of coal power plants and losses of the distribution
companies. These are global challenges that have a local impact,
which require innovative, cost-effective solutions and contextual
technologies such as renewable integration with storage, hybrid
energy systems, use of analytics and artificial intelligence,
cyber-physical and connected systems, green hydrogen etc. For
management of legacy and base-load systems during transition,
technologies for mitigating carbon emission such as carbon
capture and storage, underground coal gasification, renewable
natural gas (RNG) need to be developed.
The years to come would see significant challenges as
the world transitions to newer ways of decarbonising energy
systems while ensuring adequate availability for societal needs.
Understanding transition pathways, availability of solutions and
the technology gaps is very critical to focus our attention on the
immediate needs as well as those of future. While these need
research along specific thrusts, typical applications require
interaction of multiple domains. The goal of the Energy
Consortium would be to integrate the various research
thrusts within its research hubs to benefit decarbonization
and industrial needs and we will continue to present
exciting developments from the world on the transitional
pathways from leading members of the industry and
academia. On this front, I am thrilled to see the launch of
the first edition of Path to Decarbonization by the Energy
Consortium containing glimpses of the opportunities to
reduce the carbon intensity of our infrastructure sector.
Happy reading!
Prof. Satyanarayanan Seshadri,
Head, Energy Consortium, IIT Madras
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Applied Mechanics,
IIT Madras
Editor’s Note
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
he Energy Consortium at IIT Madras was conceived with the
ambition of accelerating technology development and aiding
their translation, to effectively enable the global energy transition
towards low carbon sources. The aspiration was to become
the thriving ecosystem for experts from around the world to
collaborate with the demonstrated expertise in the energy domain
at IIT Madras, that had been already engaged in conducting
ground-breaking research and path defining inventions in energy
generation, storage, conversion, distribution and utilization.
Path to Decarbonization is a special issue with invited
contributions from consortium affiliated faculty, industry
founding members and knowledge partners. It showcases how our
researchers are pushing the envelope on the state-of-the-art and
devising strategies that will lead towards significant mitigation of
green-house gas emissions. And all this, while working in some of
the toughest sectors out there, those that have remained stubbornly
dauting and economically very challenging for energy transition
away from fossil fuels and more towards renewable sources of
energy. The deep technological approaches presented in all the
articles are very inspiring.
The eleven articles in this special issue have been compiled by 35
authors based in 5 countries and representing over 15 organizations.
The mixture of perspectives from academia, industry, government,
non-profits, and policy think tanks will be amply appreciated, and
it is the breadth offered by approaches - in research, technology,
innovation, product development, and policy – that will find a
positive resonance with our readers. The opening article on Net Zero
buildings sets the context starting with the modern lifestyle that has
so far in the developed world, and now more so in the developing
world, being essentially driving energy demands. We then have a set
of articles exploring how net zero can be incorporated by the hard
to abate manufacturing of Cement, Aluminium and Steel industries
and the Supply Chains therein. Following this we have articles
addressing Future Materials, Future Molecules and the Future that
is replete with Electrons and Photons – renewable energy – and
power electronics that is increasingly becoming pervasive.
It is a pleasure to release the Path to Decarbonization
at the Energy Summit 2023!
My deepest acknowledgements to all the authors
who have responded so beautifully for this call for
scientific articles on such an important topic, to the
design ideas from Srivatsan S that very aptly amplify
the essence, my co-editor, Prof Satyanarayanan
Seshadri for teaming up on this exciting initiative,
and a heartfelt thanks to the Energy Consortium
and IIT Madras for helping us realize this. I expect
this to only grow bigger at the 2024 energy summit
edition to be organized in Melbourne, Australia!
Nikhil Tambe, PhD
CEO – Energy Consortium, IIT Madras
Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Applied Mechanics,
IIT Madras
Academy Expert – India Energy Storage Alliance
Editor’s Note
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
Contents
Net Zero Buildings
Developing futuristic, vibrant,
net-zero infrastructure in cities
Cement Industry
Electrification of calcined clay: Path
to decarbonization of cement industry
Energy savings through
sustainability audits and process
optimization of cement plants
Supercritical Co2 power cycles
for waste heat recovery
Aluminum Industry
Aluminium industry net zero roadmap:
Challenges and opportunities
Green Steel
Green steel at scale needs synthetic
iron ore
Future Materials
The path toward zero
emission carbon materials
Future Molecules
Chemical energy carriers in energy
transition: Key role of molecules in
energy storage, transport and end-use
Supply Chains
Assessment of critical raw materials
and application of circular economy
for supply deficit minimisation in India
In search of the truth:
An analysis of recent hydrogen
supply chain evaluations
Renewable Energy
Feedforward control of grid-tied
inverters for harmonic elimination
using MSRF PLL
Copyright @IIT Madras.
All rights reserved.
This special issue may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission.
Editorial
Board
Satyanarayanan
Seshadri
Nikhil Tambe
Srivatsan S
Creative
Head
Francis J
Photo
credits
Authors
J Sathya
Pexels
iStock
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PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
DEVELOPING
FUTURISTIC,
VIBRANT, NET-ZERO
INFRASTRUCTURE IN CITIES
Ashwin Mahalingam,
Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras,
Chennai, India
Net Zero Buildings
Introduction
Nearly half a billion people
live in India’s cities and towns
today. Over the next 25 years,
this number will increase
substantially. Conservative
estimates suggest that another
300 million people will move
into urbanized areas by 2047.
Many of our cities are already
bursting at their seams and are
facing considerable challenges in
delivering basic urban services.
Not everyone has access to safe
drinking water, and even fewer
are connected to wastewater
networks (nearly 60% of urban
sewage is untreated). Large
urban agglomerations generate
considerable amounts of solid
waste that municipalities
struggle to collect and safely
manage. Travel times are starting
to increase in several cities due
to traffic congestion on the roads
and the lack of reliable mass-
transit options.
The development of our
existing cities has also happened in
a haphazard manner. In contrast
to planned development where
infrastructure services precede
the development of residences,
commercial and industrial
facilities; low land costs have
led to development outpacing
the delivery of infrastructure in
the periphery of cities leading
to the phenomenon of urban
sprawl in many Indian cities.
Such development has several
environmental and social
consequences and has resulted
in the loss of agricultural land,
open green spaces and water
bodies. Furthermore, several of
our cities are characterized by the
rise of informal settlements and
encroachment of water bodies,
especially among low-income
residents. All of this decreases the
resilience of cities to withstand
shocks and stresses and leads to
cities becoming prone to disasters
such as flooding and places
an ever-increasing burden on
municipalities to deliver water,
transport and other services. How
do we fix our cities? How will we
simultaneously cater to a massive
increase in the population of cities
over the next 25 years? These are
key questions to ponder.
One of the challenges that
India’s urban settlements have
faced stems from a fragmentation
in the governance framework
for urban management. While
cities such as Paris and London
have elected Mayors who are
vested with powers to coordinate
services across the city, our
municipal governments are
not vested with sufficient
responsibilities or resources
– both human and financial.
Decision making is in the hands
of multiple authorities. Take
for instance the management of
water resources in the city of
Chennai. Various responsibilities
pertaining to water sources,
distribution and management
are divided between multiple
agencies such as the Public
Works Department, the Chennai
Metrowater Sewerage and
Sanitation Board, The Chennai
Metropolitan Development
Authority, the Greater Chennai
Corporation, and the Chennai
River Restoration Trust to name
a few. This scenario persists in
other sectors and in other cities
as well. Policies for each of
these agencies are often made
independently, coordinating
these policies is extremely
challenging and the result is
often policy incoherence leading
to haphazard growth.
Further, our planning
processes are often outdated
and assume predictable growth
in cities. Masterplans are often
reduced to zoning plans which
do not take into consideration
the nature of cities as dynamic,
complex systems. We lack a
scientific understanding of
critical parameters of our cities
– trends in land-use and density
changes, the hydrology of cities
and so on. In some cases, the data
for scientifically understanding
the state and evolution of cities is
not available, while in other cases
the data is dispersed and hard
to aggregate. As a result, while
several cities across the world
have used Urban Simulation
models and other sophisticated
methods to understand and
plan for urban growth, these
techniques are at a very nascent
stage of adoption in India.
We lack a scientific
understanding of critical
parameters of our cities
– trends in land-use
and density changes, the
hydrology of cities and so on.
In some cases, the data for
scientifically understanding the
state and evolution of cities
is not available, while in other
cases the data is dispersed
and hard to aggregate
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
How do we then approach
this problem? First we have to
rethink our urbanization strategy.
Currently India is in the process
of expanding the boundaries
of many of its cities and is
creating mega-cities. Alternate
options to explore are whether
we can create and strengthen
smaller agglomerations. Can
we make Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities
more attractive destinations
for urban expansion? Can we
develop satellite towns and cities
or industrial townships that
can decrease the requirements
for travel? Should we consider
building new towns altogether and
if so where would we situate them
in relation to existing cities? How
would we motivate investment in
physical and social infrastructure
in these towns in order to entice
communities to form?
Second, we need to think
through how we would design
these cities. What spatial and
technological choices would
we make? For instance, would
we increase urban density by
building vertically in our cities.
If so, how would we deal with
associated challenges such as
the quantum of solid and liquid
waste that would be generated,
the need for parking and so on?
Can we consider decentralizing
these functions through smaller
scale infrastructure such as
decentralized water supply and
treatment plants. Can innovative
technologies be developed in this
area? Can a new-urbanism style
philosophy be applied to urban
design to ensure mixed-use
development leading to reduced
transportation requirements and
congestion. These and a number
of similar issues need to be
thought through.
Third, we will need to relook
at the business and economic
models that underly the growth
of cities. Land economics often
dictates urbanization and low
land prices at the periphery
lead to urban sprawl. Can
mechanisms such as transferable
development rights (TDRs) lead
to more even urban development?
For long governments have been
the primary providers of urban
services. What role can Public
Private Partnerships (PPPs) play
in providing urban services?
PPPs have been extensively used
for developing infrastructure
such as national highways but
their role in developing cities
remains nascent. What PPP
models are likely to work best
for urban infrastructure? What
India ranks #2 in the world on urbanization &
within coming decade will have 590 million people
staying in urban areas (over half of its population)
Autonomous vehicles more likely in countries like India
Can help traffic decongestion but
significantly under served
Resource Starved: Only 138 police
for 100k population makes India 5th
lowest amongst 71 countries [1]
Resource Starved: No data on how
many ambulances run on Indian roads.
Complex large scale operations
demand automation & technology
Biggest challenge is lack of drivers
as many are lost to urbanization.
Driver salary constitutes 2nd largest
cash outflow for a farmer [2]
Transportation Segments Facing Challenges
Ref: SELF DRIVING IN THE CITY OF TOMORROW
[1] “India's ratio of 138 police personnel per lakh of
population fifth lowest among 71 countries”, 13 Jul 2018
[2] Based on previous self study conducted by Nikhil
Tambe on this subject. Icons obtained from open source
Ministry of Transportation, Govt. of India has a pivotal role to play!
Source: Nikhil Tambe
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
other innovative business models
can entrepreneurs come up with
to decongest cities.
To make the cities of
tomorrow function better, we
need to promote policy coherence
(policymakers), develop a better
scientific understanding of how
cities work (academics from the
technological and social sciences)
and develop new technologies
and business models for how to
deliver better services in cities
(entrepreneurs). We therefore
need policymakers, academics
and entrepreneurs to join hands
to build more vibrant cities.
One specific area that
needs attention in this regard
is the way in which we design
and build facilities going
forward to minimize our
environmental footprint. The
process of constructing and
operating buildings is one of
the chief drivers of greenhouse
gas emissions and requires a
systematic re-think in the urban
context. It is to this that we now
turn to in the rest of this article.
LOW CARBON AND LEAN
CONSTRUCTION FOR URBANIZATION AND HOUSING
hile estimates vary, there is no doubt that India will have to augment its built environment
stock – housing, infrastructure and so on - considerably over the next few decades. Just looking
at urban areas, the Mckinsey Global Institute predicted a USD 1.2 Trillion spend by 2030 and
suggested that we need to build ‘a new Chicago every year’1. What would happen if we undertook
this development in a ‘Business as Usual’ fashion? For one, our projects would be heavily delayed
and over budget. A joint study by the Project Management Institute and KPMG pointed out that 89%
of construction projects across sectors do not meet their scheduled completion date, often exceeding
expected durations by 79%. 69% of projects exceed their budgets by a factor of 2.5x on average2!
This is not all. Earlier, projects were benchmarked primarily on time and cost performance.
This should (and often is) no longer (be) the case. Projects are meant to create social, economic and/
or environmental value. Delays or overruns that result in value creation must be acceptable in the
context of India’s growth. Emphasis therefore needs to be paid to factors such as quality, resilience,
sustainability, and safety. Sadly, the scorecard appears grim here as well. The quality of construction is
often so poor that maintenance costs exceed the capability of users – particularly low-income residents
– to pay. It is also very well known that buildings and the built environment contribute significantly to
global carbon emissions, both in terms of the energy they consume during operation, and the energy
required to produce raw materials that are used in construction. In a simulation-based study at IIT-
Madras, we estimated that if the population of the city of Chennai alone grows at a rate of 3%, carbon
emissions due to the building stock that will need to be built and operated to account for this population
may account for 230 Million tons of CO2 by 2042, if conventional techniques are used! This does not
include the consequent augmentation of infrastructure, and Chennai is merely one out of several
cities in India that are likely to experience rapid growth over the next 2 decades. The environmental
consequences of unfettered building could be disastrous!3
All of this indicates that we need to radically change the way infrastructure and housing projects are
conceptualized, built and used. Luckily, it is not all doom and gloom. Several solutions are available.
First, we can choose our construction materials more carefully. Different materials have different
levels of embodied energy and there are alternative materials available that provide the same structural
performance, with lower levels of embodied energy. Take for instance regular cement-based concrete
versus, fly-ash based substitutes. Furthermore, there exists considerable scope to reuse construction
materials, particularly construction and demolition waste as aggregates.
Second, we should rethink our existing construction processes. To combat time and cost overruns, a
number of ‘Rapid Construction Technologies’ have been developed and proven in India. Several of them
have been endorsed by the BMTPC4 and guidelines for construction as well as schedules of rates are
available. Many of these rely on principles of prefabrication and assembling at site which reduces project
duration and improves the quality of construction.
10
PATH TO DECARBONIZATION
Third, our project management systems are archaic, and often non-existent. While digital
technologies have made significant advances in many fields, the adoption of such technologies in the
construction industry is still in its nascent stages. Tools such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) or
Digital Twins that are becoming commonplace internationally, and which allow us to ‘Virtually Design
and Construct’ need to be adopted to ensure that we monitor projects in a more professional fashion.
Complementary project management paradigms such as Lean construction can also be adopted to ensure
time, cost, safety and quality compliance.
Fourth, buildings need to be designed both actively and passively to reduce their energy loads during
operation and more renewable forms of energy need to be deployed to meet these operational needs.
While all these technologies and systems exist, why are they not being adopted? The construction
industry is a notoriously slow adopter of innovation worldwide due to its deeply fragmented nature where
large numbers of highly specialized firms need to come together to execute a project. Several attempts
at vertical integration at the level of the firm have met with failure, primarily due to the cyclical nature
of demand in this industry. Since innovation propagates slowly, supply chains are often underdeveloped
leading to a cost disadvantage in comparison with conventional methods. Take for example the Glass Fibre
Reinforced Gypsum (GFRG) panel technology championed by IIT-Madras. Low demand led to high supply
side costs as manufacturers faced little competition and were also not achieving economies of scale as
their factories were not manufacturing these panels at full capacity. Workers did not see value in skilling
themselves on this technology, leading to a shortage of labour and high manpower costs, all of which
negated the advantages of high quality, prefabricated materials. Given that our procurement systems work
on a ‘lowest cost’ basis, this technology has not proven to be competitive and has remained in pilot stage!
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