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From Houses to Powerhouses: The Story of Transitioning India to Smart Buildings
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Ms. Sumedha Sharma*
Email: sharmasumedha.16@gmail.com
In the midst of a hot summer afternoon, a nation that is bustling with technological and economic development came to a standstill.
India witnessed the biggest blackout ever in history on June 31, 2012, which crippled its power system and left millions (precisely, 9% of the world’s population) stranded in darkness, in broad daylight. At the same time the northern part of India was witnessing a heat wave and extremely high temperatures which, like every summer season, significantly increased the use of coolers and air conditioners. The electric load was further escalated by the excessive utilization of irrigation pumps for agriculture, owing to delayed monsoons. This event was not just an engineering failure, it was a reminder that our own activities have derailed us and that we are on the verge of a global
climatic crisis; that global warming demands immediate attention; that climate change is for real and it’s high time we do something about it! I wondered, “So, how are these even related?” Well, the economic growth of a nation gives higher purchasing power and better living standards to its citizens, promotes urbanization and leads to higher penetration of consumer electronic goods. This builds up to higher consumption of electricity, most of which is generated using coal in India, emitting high amounts of greenhouse gases. Moreover, fuel consumption in automobiles, industries, buildings also contribute significantly to the emission of greenhouse gases, which proactively trap heat; driving us towards a state of a global climatic crisis!
* Ms. Sumedha Sharma, PhD Scholar from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, is pursuing her research on “Development of Optimization Algorithms for Energy Management in Smart Buildings”. Her popular science story entitled “From Houses to Powerhouses: The Story of Transitioning India to Smart Buildings” has been selected for AWSAR Award.