Feb 19 2011
The former Director General of Maharashtra Energy Development Authority (MEDA) and IAS officer, G M Pillai has revealed that the future transportation in India would involve electric mobility mainly because of the many limitations of the alternative fuels like biofuels, which they could never substitute fossil fuels like petrol and diesel.
According to Pillai, the government’s decision to set up a National Council on Electric Mobility really indicates the necessity of promoting electric vehicles. During the inaugural session at a two day seminar at the Hiraben Nanavati Institute of Management and Research (HNIMR) on ‘Sustainable development: challenges and opportunities’ Pillai spoke on the council’s holistic view of the hybrid and green car sectors and plans of providing incentives for maximum impact.
The common view was that biofuels were green, but in actuality biofuels though produce less carbon than fossil fuels, give out a huge amount of nitrous oxide, which was a deadlier gas than carbon, and hence Pillai disclosed that biofuel driven vehicles were not really good for the environment. For production of biofuels, huge volumes were necessary and enormous areas of land were needed. All this made it an unviable option. Pillai states that if undue exploitation of the existing resources is not carried out, then India has the capacity for producing any amount of electricity.
According to Pillai, if cities could be scaled down and decentralized, an urban to rural migration could be achieved. He felt that the future may not necessarily be dreary and lackluster, just that it might be different form the rampant consumerism and profligacy found currently. Also measures such as recycling would dominate as it would be necessary to make sure that proper usage of the various materials is done once fossil fuels are not available.
A Forbes Marshall Group’s Senior Official, A M Kolar talked about the necessity of suitable governance for making sure that sustainable growth could be implemented. India has committed itself to reducing the carbon footprint by 20 to 25% in a recent worldwide conference in Copenhagen. According to him sustainability should go beyond just protecting natural resources.
Sharad Kolte, Former Dean of the University of Pune reveals that India with its challenging problems such as poverty, unemployment, inequality, education, health, infrastructure, agriculture, environment and corruption would need effective governance to handle sustainable development along with the other problems.
Source: http://www.mahaurja.com/