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First Fuel: India's Energy Efficiency Journey and a Radical Vision for Sustainability
‘A vital read’ Saurabh Kumar , Executive Vice Chairman, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd Group
‘Authoritative’ Arunabha Ghosh , CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, India
‘A must-read’ Ashok Sarkar , Senior energy specialist, World Bank
The historic oil crisis of 1973, which permanently altered significant economic policies worldwide, marked a turning point in India’s energy odyssey, putting the country on the path towards energy efficiency. A young energy researcher at the National Productivity Council at the time, Padu Padmanabhan soon found himself at a juncture that would lead him to the many watershed moments of this journey.
Drawing on his extensive subsequent experience at the United States Agency for International Development in India and the World Bank, Padu takes us from the Nehruvian years of idealism, through the five-decade-long quest for fuel efficiency and energy conservation that ultimately paved the way for the shift towards energy-efficient practices. Simple yet highly effective, energy efficiency has come to be known as our first fuel – an inexhaustible source of energy that may be one of the most viable means of combating the consequences of climate change and the indiscriminate use of natural resources. Through lessons gleaned from the implementation of past energy-efficient technology, Padu shows us how this ‘fuel’ can be harnessed for a sustainable future.
First Fuel is an invaluable account for not only energy-sector professionals but anyone interested in understanding what it takes to achieve energy efficiency and why we need to urgently adopt such practices. It recommends vital policy and regulatory changes and, in so doing, presents a radical new vision for energy and all its users living in the most critical of times.
‘Authoritative’ Arunabha Ghosh , CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, India
‘A must-read’ Ashok Sarkar , Senior energy specialist, World Bank
The historic oil crisis of 1973, which permanently altered significant economic policies worldwide, marked a turning point in India’s energy odyssey, putting the country on the path towards energy efficiency. A young energy researcher at the National Productivity Council at the time, Padu Padmanabhan soon found himself at a juncture that would lead him to the many watershed moments of this journey.
Drawing on his extensive subsequent experience at the United States Agency for International Development in India and the World Bank, Padu takes us from the Nehruvian years of idealism, through the five-decade-long quest for fuel efficiency and energy conservation that ultimately paved the way for the shift towards energy-efficient practices. Simple yet highly effective, energy efficiency has come to be known as our first fuel – an inexhaustible source of energy that may be one of the most viable means of combating the consequences of climate change and the indiscriminate use of natural resources. Through lessons gleaned from the implementation of past energy-efficient technology, Padu shows us how this ‘fuel’ can be harnessed for a sustainable future.
First Fuel is an invaluable account for not only energy-sector professionals but anyone interested in understanding what it takes to achieve energy efficiency and why we need to urgently adopt such practices. It recommends vital policy and regulatory changes and, in so doing, presents a radical new vision for energy and all its users living in the most critical of times.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 23, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 27, 2023
For such a grandstanding title of this book, it really failed to deliver on any "radical" vision or future for green energy, the environment, paint any useful picture to tell us where we stand or where we should go.
The book is less about the future of sustainable energy, and more about the past - how in the past, specifically Padu Padmanabhan's career journey, shaped HIS views on energy conservation. The book has many useful insights on the importance of efficiency (the "first" fuel is efficiency), how efficiency was improved constantly after WW2 globally, how Bharat showed glimpses of leading the world in the past (but sadly, no mention of it doing so in the future outside a single line mention of our solar panel exports).
Sadly, instead of focusing the narrative on the technologies, on the people who were positively impacted by them, on the innovators who made it happen, etc, Padu keeps the focus on himself; his innovation, his projects, his career (none of which was his alone doing, it was always a team, he was always the executive).
The book also has underlying political snides, like calling "rural India" as "Bharat" (a view parroted from Lalu Yadav btw). These can be ignored but are subtly present.
The last 4 chapters focus on this "radical view", but they honestly read more like commonsensical knowledge. Even Varun Sivaram on Ted mentioned industrialising Bharat using green energy - an idea much more radical in 10 mins than this book in 258 pages.
Bharat already is on the cusp of big breakthroughs with green energy, it just needs those right nudges at the right place today. Sadly, post-2012, very little finds a place in the narrative of this book.
Clean energy is a topic that affects all young people as our lives depend on it; long after the old are dead. As such, we would like to see this topic taken up more passionately and deeply. This is something the youth universally agree upon for their future.
It would be nice if the older generation understood this as well 🙂.
For more reviews, follow: @cokedupreviews on Instagram!
The book is less about the future of sustainable energy, and more about the past - how in the past, specifically Padu Padmanabhan's career journey, shaped HIS views on energy conservation. The book has many useful insights on the importance of efficiency (the "first" fuel is efficiency), how efficiency was improved constantly after WW2 globally, how Bharat showed glimpses of leading the world in the past (but sadly, no mention of it doing so in the future outside a single line mention of our solar panel exports).
Sadly, instead of focusing the narrative on the technologies, on the people who were positively impacted by them, on the innovators who made it happen, etc, Padu keeps the focus on himself; his innovation, his projects, his career (none of which was his alone doing, it was always a team, he was always the executive).
The book also has underlying political snides, like calling "rural India" as "Bharat" (a view parroted from Lalu Yadav btw). These can be ignored but are subtly present.
The last 4 chapters focus on this "radical view", but they honestly read more like commonsensical knowledge. Even Varun Sivaram on Ted mentioned industrialising Bharat using green energy - an idea much more radical in 10 mins than this book in 258 pages.
Bharat already is on the cusp of big breakthroughs with green energy, it just needs those right nudges at the right place today. Sadly, post-2012, very little finds a place in the narrative of this book.
Clean energy is a topic that affects all young people as our lives depend on it; long after the old are dead. As such, we would like to see this topic taken up more passionately and deeply. This is something the youth universally agree upon for their future.
It would be nice if the older generation understood this as well 🙂.
For more reviews, follow: @cokedupreviews on Instagram!
June 30, 2022
Energy Efficiency is the key to climate change solutions, yet it is an overlooked aspect in much of the talks related to the climate-related debates. The author aptly titled the book FIRST FUEL, to express his support that it should be the first fuel in sustainability.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews