An increasingly grim picture of climate change is seen in recent days. The warming climate, drying water bodies, increased deforestation, and the need to destroy the environment for innovation is driving yet another upheaval in the name of Tech, innovation, and transformation.
It is the due season now to divert our focused attention from “Technology” to “Clean Technology”. With the alarming carbon emission and rising global warming, companies are now switching from hazardous infrastructure to clean resources, fuels, energy, and Electric vehicles (EV).
At the recent COP26 held at Glasgow, top stakeholders around the world termed the current situation as “Code Red for Humanity” as the climate has risen to the top of the global agenda. COP26 will continue to work on implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting global temperature increase to “well below” 2.0 degrees Celsius on pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The question arises is what exactly are the stepping stones to reach this goal?
The world is targeting net-zero carbon emission by 2050 but is it proceeding in the right direction? Cleantech has a very crucial role to play in this. The transformation begins at the very moment when companies start adapting to renewable energy, green materials, alternative mobility, low-carbon construction, and sustainable automation.
What does the future hold for Clean Technology?
Clean technology aims to eliminate or reduce pollution and waste whilst improving productivity and efficiency at the same time. Many industries and business giants are making this transition of adapting to either clean energy or tech. Business giants – such as Ikea, which upped its clean energy spend to €6.5bn in 2021 – have the financial capabilities to invest in dedicated renewable energy infrastructure that will ensure their operations will always have a reliable energy supply. On the contrary, there are companies that don’t feel the situation is alarming and don’t want to invest in green technology. In 2022, we need to ensure that solutions to current problems make sense for businesses at all scales. We can’t let the businesses escape from the back doors instead decision-makers have to provide them with optimum solutions to avoid the mess.
For instance, if we take the example of automotive, we have vehicles with flexible fuels to access the most accessible fuel at a given time. This seems like a pretty solution that will ultimately drive the populace to adopt alternative fuel options like CNG, electricity, green hydrogen, and Biofuels.
Clean technology is not only erasing the fog of pollution or managing the waste but reserving resources for the future generation.
Bringing up EV with Clean Tech
Automobiles are the primary source of pollution and 261 tons of CO2 is emitted by the transport sector every year in India only. Think about the numbers in the world? It becomes pivotal to adopt a better alternative for our transportation. Researches show that adapting EVs can reduce carbon emissions by up to 77% from vehicles. The continuous effort to reduce the generation of electricity from the resources like coal and natural gas and use renewable resources like solar and wind energy for the same can be one massive step toward the change. The majority of the Evs today run on Lithium-ion batteries which are high in cyclability, and high in energy efficiency and the best is they are rechargeable. With the little drawbacks but it can erase all of them as this sector is full of immense green possibilities.
Their green credentials are not the only thing that convinces people to go electric. A lot of EVs now offer really advanced tech that further reduces running costs and helps save you energy. Lots of models, such as the Nissan Leaf, turn off the engine when stopped, and actually charge the battery when you brake – this is called ‘regenerative braking. This technology is also seen in hybrid models and it helps to power the electric motor without needing to plug it in to charge, so you can go further without using the petrol engine. In terms of control, you can pre-condition the car’s temperature, set the charge start and stop time, enjoy heated seats and steering wheels, and even decide on a battery percentage so that your car knows exactly how much it needs to charge before you drive it.
Cleantech innovation with EV
As the technology is still in its infancy, there are loads of innovations going on in the sector. John Goodenough, the co-founder of lithium-ion batteries is himself claiming that solid-state batteries will be the next big thing. There are more in the row sulfur batteries, and graphene batteries which can be organic, though the coming down point is that as long as these batteries are highly capable, increases range, and reduces the cost of EVs, they are the biggest innovation of cleantech.
Improved battery tech will be a crucial step for increasing EV demand, but EV manufacturers will need to ensure production keeps up and continues making improvements too. In particular, EV manufacturing will need to become quicker, more efficient, and suitable for rolling out more car models.
With the indefinite challenges rolling on the floor for the EV industry, it is still the best alternative to bring out the revolution towards a better environment, future technology, increase efficiency, and a green abode.
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