Madhav Mehra: The pursuit of green energy will unleash the biggest innovation

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(Free-Press-Release.com) June 18, 2009 -- Bangalore, June 6 With a growing need to boost employment across the globe, ‘greening’ the environment could provide a huge potential. The only way to achieve sustainability is to speed up innovations and investment in R&D for cleaner fuels and technologies.

“The pursuit of green energy will unleash the biggest innovation in the history of business,” says Dr Madhav Mehra, President, World Council for Corporate Governance.

According to him, the future of humanity lies in solar harvesting. Imagine this: One per cent of sunlight received by the earth can meet the humanity’s demand for power for another 20 years.

With such a vast potential waiting to be tapped, the focus, he feels, should be to make solar harvesting the main driver of growth and change. “The Government could allocate funds for unemployed youth to take up solar harvesting, and also give them benefits of entrepreneurial leadership,” he says. Besides, every home should have a solar panel.

With India’s crippling energy deficit, going aggressively for solar energy could well be the answer to our ‘power’ crisis.

The country’s installed generation capacity is 1,47,959 MW, points out Dr Mehra, while that of China’s is about five times more. Renewable energy generated in our country is about 8 per cent of our installed capacity. “Our focus should be to increase it to 80 per cent,” he says.

Low carbon future


Dr Mehra adds that the conclusion of a comprehensive global climate change agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012 is essential.

“If well designed, it will ensure the long-term competitiveness of Indian business and unlock the potential of a low-carbon future. A robust agreement will create a market for low-carbon technologies that could be worth $1 trillion in the first five years of its implementation,” he says.

Another significant source of energy could be bio-fuels such as agricultural waste. With about 600 million tonnes of agricultural waste in India, it is possible to produce cellulostic ethanol equivalent to 80,000 MW, “which is 60 per cent of the country’s installed capacity”, he says. This means creating 30 million new jobs.

“All we need to do is the technology to turn waste into power. Countries like the US and Brazil have the technology,” says Dr Mehra.

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