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This study examines the effect of several site-specific factors on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions stemming from operation of 4G and 5G technology-based telecommunication towers at many locations across India with focus on the assessment of the incremental change expected due to 5G technology adoption. Also, the impact of adopting solar photovoltaics (PV) based hybrid power systems on overall CO 2 emissions from operation of telecom towers. Optimal designs of solar PV-based hybrid systems are obtained using HOMER software for 25 diverse Indian locations for powering both 4G and 5G telecom towers while considering site-specific factors such as solar resource availability, availability and tariff of grid electricity and the unit price of diesel used in the Diesel Generator (DG) of the hybrid system. From the results of the study it is noted that, with the current energy supply mix, a tripling of the carbon dioxide emissions is expected if all of India's 0.71 million telecom towers adopt 5G technology. Adoption of solar PV-based systems along with grid electricity and diesel generator in hybrid mode has the potential to reduces carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 55 % for the existing telecom towers in India. For the case of all telecom towers transitioning to 5G technology, about 58 % reduction in CO 2 emissions is possible with the adoption of PV-based hybrid power systems. From the perspective of the unit cost of CO 2 emissions mitigation, the adoption of solar PV-based hybrid systems is found to be a no regret option. Results of the study have significant policy implications towards designing appropriate strategies for reducing carbon footprint of telecom tower operation in India. • CO 2 emissions from telecom towers to triple in India with 5G over 4G technology. • Solar PV hybrid systems can mitigate 55 % of CO 2 emissions for existing levels. • In case of 100 % 5G adoption, 58 % reduction in CO 2 emissions is possible with solar PV. • Solar PV hybrid systems offer a no-regret option to mitigate telecom CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A preliminary attempt to estimate the potential of solar process heating in producing cotton based textiles in India as well as the amount of greenhouse gases likely to be mitigated consequently has been made. To begin with, all the processes involved in the production of cotton based textiles (yarn and cloth) that require thermal energy have been identified. Also an assessment of availability of solar radiation as well as the ambient conditions at various locations with clusters of cotton based textile units in the country has been made. Subsequently, the solar collector area required for meeting the process heating demand has been estimated. Further, corresponding useful thermal energy delivery of solar industrial process heating systems at identified locations has been estimated. The process heating potential in term of useful thermal energy requirements in cotton based textile production is estimated at 191 PJ annually. The estimated values of annual solar fractions for the identified locations with clusters of cotton based textile units range between 0.22 and 0.32 for systems without storage and in between 0.20 and 0.60 for SIPH system having provision of thermal storage for collection of energy that would otherwise be dumped. Solar process heating in cotton based textile industry in India have a potential to mitigate 2457–7648 thousand tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually depending on the location and the provision of a storage component or otherwise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt to estimate the potential of solar industrial process heating (SIPH) and corresponding mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in dairy industry in India is presented. An assessment of availability of solar radiation as well as of the ambient conditions at various locations with milk processing plants has been made. The effect of the choice of design value of direct normal irradiance on the annual performance of solar process heating systems has been studied using model developed for hourly simulation of the performance of solar process heating system. Further, state wise estimates for useful thermal energy delivery and corresponding solar fraction have also been obtained. The total process heating potential in term of useful energy requirement in dairy sector in India has been estimated at 6.40 PJ/annum which reduces to 4.50 PJ per annum if the process heating requirement is restricted to only pasteurization stage of milk processing. The corresponding solar collector area requirement for process heating in dairy industry in India is estimated in the range of 1.54–1.83 million m 2 with the average solar fraction estimated in the range 0.18–0.32. The use of solar energy for meeting milk processing related thermal energy demand is expected to mitigate (32–144 thousand tonnes) of CO 2 emissions annually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple framework to estimate the potential of solar industrial process heating (SIPH) and corresponding CO 2 emissions mitigation in paper industry in India is presented. Geographical locations with clusters of paper mills have been identified and the annual process heating requirement for paper production (based on raw material use) at each cluster has been estimated. The total process heating potential for the paper industry in India has been estimated at 25.2 PJ/annum. Using the estimated performance of a commercially available parabolic trough based SIPH system with collector area requirement of 1.11 million m 2 annual solar fraction in the range of 0.25–0.30 have been estimated. Annual energy delivery of SIPH systems estimated at 4.34 PJ per annum. Finally at 8 main locations with clusters of paper mills in India considered in this study, adoption of SIPH without storage is expected to mitigate 0.34 million tonnes of CO 2 emissions annually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]