In India, based on our ancient Sanskrit text called ?Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad?, there is a chant that says, ?Tamaso-Ma-Jyotir-Gamaya?, meaning lead us from darkness to light.  There is plenty of light around us that is given to us by our nature and more specifically derived from planet Sun but still we choose to be in darkness when it comes to harnessing these free resources.  The energy consumption around the world is seeing a steady increase year over year, of which the contribution from Solar energy is perhaps less than 3 percent.  And as consumption increases unabated, so are the side effects due to the burning of hydrocarbons, e.g., global warming, floods, seasonal shifts, loss of agricultural crops, etc.  Population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2040 and the increase in energy consumption is expected to rise 40% from the current levels.   

These numbers show a non-linear trend in terms of energy consumption, primarily driven by growth in technologies. Solar power harnessing is present in many countries including India, however, their contribution is a small percentage and given the current commitment to improve tapping of solar energy, this is not likely to gain any significance.  One of the main arguments that goes against the solar farms is the land area that is required to harvest solar energy.  However, technology has improved in this context that space efficient solar trees have been tested successfully to generate power at a higher efficiency. 

The solar farms if implemented in a vertical manner as opposed to horizontal layout would lead to more compact systems for power generation.  This may be viewed similar to vertical farming where the crops are cultivated on floors of a building as stacks.  One way to improve the spread of solar energy implementation is to offer more subsidies that would attract more investment.  This in turn would result in savings for households over a longer period of time with little or no maintenance.   Switchable power options are available in some parts of India where during the wet season, the household could switch between solar and other sources due to limited availability of sunlight. 

Given the way the power is consumed in India and especially with a view of bringing light to the rural parts which are in permanent darkness, our only way would be to depend on solar power.  These rural areas are subject to plenty of sunshine and still the governing bodies are yet to wake up to this realization, given some units for solar power in rural parts.  If this spreads to all villages in India, then the country could even run as a power surplus state similar to the situation in Germany. 

The realization of the importance of solar power should start from schools in villages where the children are educated on the advantages of using solar power.  For higher levels in schools, small scale projects could be made mandatory for the completion of their studies.  This would not only bring power to their households but also immensely help in farming.  Such opportunities should be tapped in the larger interests of the nation and if India could convert even a small portion of 40% of non-agricultural lands to solar parks, it would be a great benefit to the power hungry nation. 

But this takes more than just words as power lobbyists in the fossil fuels arena see this as a threat to their businesses.  The larger interests of the nation and our future should weigh in more in such circumstances.  Given the increased motivation levels in youths driven by environmental friendly organizations such as Tunza, hopefully the future should bring some solar power that would drive away the darkness. 

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