Abstract: NIAS has completed the first phase of the project entitled “An Evidence-based Approach to Access Energy Transition in Clean Cooking” of 9-month duration funded by the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme of Loughborough University, UK. The project's core objective was to Evaluate Energy Transition Readiness in the Residential Cooking Sector among Low and Medium-Income Households in Bengaluru. Through a detailed thematic survey of 910 households, the NIAS team unearthed several not-so-obvious socio-economic realities that dictate lifestyle choices, such as the choices made by households for residential cooking. The research points at several gap areas that need attention from policymakers for the overall upliftment of society through appropriate interventions aimed at low-to-medium-income households. While there are entry barriers at the household level to undergo a large-scale transition, institutional cooking may prove to be a suitable entry point for a new cooking solution. This lecture would present a few key research findings to establish a case for electricity-based institutional cooking in India (e.g., Anganwadi centres). A few plausible interventions will be discussed to make this happen.
About the speaker: Rudrodip Majumdar has been working as an Assistant Professor in the School of Natural Sciences and Engineering at NIAS since August 2019. By training, Rudrodip is a Nuclear Engineer with a PhD from North Carolina State University, USA. Rudrodip's professional research interests centre around Sustainability, encompassing Renewable and Clean Energy, Nuclear and Plasma Fusion Energy, Industrial Applications of Plasma, and Analyses of Energy-efficient Sustainable Systems. His recent work on the evaluation of energy transition-readiness in low-to-medium-income households in Bengaluru has been highly appreciated by the Office of the PSA to the GOI. By nomination, Rudrodip has been selected as a Review Editor of the Energy Storage section in Frontiers in Energy Research Journal. Apart from academics, Rudrodip takes a great interest in Wildlife Conservation, Nature Photography, Creative Writing and Indian Classical Music.