Geetanjali Krishna: All credit to carbon credits

PEOPLE LIKE THEM

I might sound politically incorrect, but hearing about affluent Westerners buying carbon offsets and carbon credits somehow bugs me a little. Think about it, all these years, they've heedlessly spewed carbon all over the place while having a jolly good time or making a lot of money or doing both. Now, they want to assuage their consciences by funding third world projects that reduce carbon emissions, while their own lifestyle and travel choices remain largely unchanged.

Anyway, the other day, I decided to do some internet research on the projects that benefit from carbon offsets. That's how I met Chandigarh-based Ramesh Nibhoria, winner of the 2005 Ashden award, who's designed a stove that is fuelled by biomass briquettes (crop waste compressed into bricks). After talking to him, I've to admit that if some of these offsets benefit projects as deserving as this one, there's some good we can derive from the West's conspicuous consumption.

The sanjha chulha isn't only an environmentally sustainable alternative to LPG stoves, it runs on biomass briquettes which are much cheaper. These briquettes are a renewable energy source, and by using them as fuel, the carbon and methane that would have been emitted during their natural decomposition are also saved.

Nibhoria is looking for places or institutions where food is cooked in bulk, or for commercial purposes, for as of now, his stove is quite large. "I wanted to target government-run residential schools like Navodaya Vidyalayas, but felt that the initial cost of the stove (about Rs 1.5 lakh) was too high," he says. So, he developed a unique Instal, Operate, Save and Pay mantra for the sanjha chulha. He'd take monthly instalments which users paid from the savings they made in fuel costs.

As a result, the Navodaya schools have purchased 250 sanjha chulhas till now. By and large, the schools find that they save at least Rs 16,000 by switching over from LPG to briquettes. From these savings, Nibhoria's company Nishant Bioenergy takes 15 monthly instalments of Rs 10,000 each, over about 18 months.

The potential, says Nibhoria, is tremendous: "Sanjha chulha can be used anywhere in the world where crop waste is available. Also, I've designed smaller and cheaper versions now, including one for a tea seller in Chandigarh that cost barely Rs 4,500. The savings it entails, both in terms of money and greenhouse emissions, are considerable," he says.

In the early years, although many were convinced that Nibhoria was on to a good thing, money wasn't exactly pouring in. And when he sold a stove, he had to wait eighteen months for complete payment. Bank loans weren't forthcoming either. "They all wanted collateral, which I didn't have," he says. He received a government grant, but money issues still dogged his footsteps.

What kept him afloat was the money he received from carbon offsets. "Climate Care, a UK-based company supported me, paying me upfront for all the carbon emissions each stove saved in five years," says Nibhoria. This roughly amounted to about Rs 10,000 per stove, which was enough to actually stay afloat and keep his Instal, Operate, Save and Pay mantra going.

Today, Nibhoria has more orders than he can handle. He's designed different models of the sanjha chulha, all aimed at different consumers. "I'm planning to set up a factory so I can expand production further," he says. And the credit for all this, he adds, goes to carbon credits which sustained him in the difficult years. Talking to him, I realise I shouldn't be bugged with carbon offsets "" for they go to show that even guilt can have a positive effect sometimes.