Jackson School Associate Professor Sunila S. Kale discusses energy politics in India and her book “Electrifying India” with two Rice University anthropologists in Cultures of Energy, a media station for The Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS).
During her interview, Kale examines the colonial legacies that shaped the making of India’s power system and the important regional differences that explain why some states in India only have 30 per cent of homes with reliable access to electricity.
Kale’s latest research focuses on how India is coping with a growing abundance of expensive green electricity, innovation in “demand side” management and a new political emphasis on increasing competition in the electricity market.
Founded in 2013, CENHS is part of Rice University’s landmark Energy and Environment Initiative, an effort to involve all the intellectual resources of a research university in addressing today’s most pressing energy and environmental challenges.
NOTE: In the podcast, the interview portion with Kale begins at 10 minutes, 30 seconds.