UNEP dir stresses on solar, wind energy

Mumbai: Even as Maharashtra moves towards replacing petrol– and diesel- based vehicles with electric vehicles,  emission from thermal power plants continues to be a problem, given that India is highly dependent on coal for power generation. In such case, UNEP director Erik Solheim has highlighted the need for cleaner sources such as solar and wind energy.

“There are two issues here, and it’s important to see the connection because it’s simply not good enough to shift to clean, electric vehicles, when the power that charges the batteries is in itself dirty. That’s why it’s important to look at the move away from the internal combustion engine as part of a wider move away from dirty energy,” Erik Solheim told The Asian Age.

However, the UN environment head also stated that solar power was surging in India, which could soon replace coal in terms of power generation.

“That’s certainly happening in India- solar and wind power are taking root, pushing down prices and bringing more people onto the grid. Clean energy is now perfectly competitive with coal, even without taking into account the public health benefits of lower pollution. So I’m confident that clean electricity supply will increase, as will overall electricity supply. That in turn will help create conditions where an electrical vehicle infrastructure can thrive!” he said.

The Asian Age has been consistently reporting on multiple studies by na-tional and international organisations that suggest implementing emission standards in coal-based thermal power plants to reduce air pollution in India. In addition to this, Mr Solheim stre-ssed on reduction in use of petrol- and diesel- based vehicles.