Students called on to adopt renewable sources of energy

M.R. Patil, head of the Civil Engineering Department of KLE Technological University, has called on students to try to move away from fossil fuels and adopt renewable sources of energy to contribute towards a cleaner environment.

M.R. Patil, head of the Civil Engineering Department of KLE Technological University, has called on students to try to move away from fossil fuels and adopt renewable sources of energy to contribute towards a cleaner environment.

He was delivering a talk on “Cleaner Environment through Green and Clean Energy” at ‘Saksham-2025’ programme organised by The Hindu in association with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) at P.C. Jabin Science College in Hubballi on Saturday.

Prof. Patil said that despite having greater potential in solar energy, wind power, hydro-electric power and biomass, the country was yet to exploit the same on a larger scale and the youth had a greater role to play by adopting more renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels. “Also the younger generation has to join hands with the administration and other stakeholders in the economical use of energy,” he said.

Prof. Patil said that the country was producing just 84 GW of solar power and in wind energy only 10% of the full potential had been exploited so far. In hydro-power, the country had so far exploited just 14% and in biomass utilisation it was still a long way to go. Out of the potential of 100 million tonnes of solid waste, not much was being utilised to generate fuel, he said.

Mentioning that transportation is the biggest contributor to air pollution, Prof. Patil elaborated on how various effluents were affecting human beings, flora and fauna, and also various residential and commercial structures.

Prof. Patil said that across the globe focus was on ensuring extensive adoption of cleaner energy sources, and the best available sources for clean energy were renewable sources of energy. He also called on the students to avoid using motor vehicles whenever possible, maintain their vehicles properly to reduce carbon emissions, and switch to walking and use of bicycles.

Santhil Dayal, plant manager, LPG, BPCL, said that throughout the world efforts were on to reduce carbon emissions and petroleum companies in India, including BPCL, were taking various initiatives in this regard.