Blogs

To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and lower carbon emissions, many pathways are being investigated, one of which is the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy vector. Although hydrogen is the most abundant element, it doesn’t exist independently. For hydrogen to emerge as a clean fuel contender, it is critical to evaluate how hydrogen is produced (to check emissions) and its use across sectors. Colour-coded (green, blue, grey, etc.) hydrogen is based on its production process.

Grey hydrogen is produced from natural gas whereas blue hydrogen, although produced from...

Dinesh, a 31-year-old farmer from the Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh grows a variety of crops on his farm. His educational background in agriculture helps him understand the benefits of crop diversification for maintaining the soil health of his farmland while minimizing risks from crop losses. However, growing tomatoes is often a gamble even for well-informed, progressive farmers like Dinesh due to high input costs, sensitivity to climatic variations such as frost, rainfall, temperature, the perishable nature of the crop, and uncertain market returns.

These factors increase the...

This blog was first published on WRI.org on February 23, 2022.

India is an emerging economy at the cusp of sizeable growth: over the next three decades, its gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to triple and the population is expected to increase by another 200 million people...

As per the 2021 CAG report, groundwater extraction in India increased from 58% to 63%, between 2004-17, exceeding the groundwater recharge rate. Climate change effects such as intermittent rainfall further alters the recharge potential, posing a huge threat...

To meet climate goals, a global transition towards low carbon pathways strongly propagates the idea to shift to green hydrogen.

But the dominance of fossil-based grey hydrogen remains a reality to be acknowledged and addressed. Despite efforts to transition from fossil-based hydrogen, it is expected that grey hydrogen will play a critical role in meeting rising cross-sectoral demand until the green hydrogen value chain matures to commercialisation.

Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) and Coal Gasification are currently the two key processes contributing to most of the hydrogen...

Electrification of public bus transport ranks high on India’s sustainable urban mobility agenda. Pivoting away from Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) driven buses to a pure electric format will have several benefits, including accelerating the pathway to meet the country’s 2070 net-zero target.

To unlock these benefits, e-bus rollout at scale is paramount. Thanks to the financial support available under the Government of India’s subsidy scheme, Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric vehicles (FAME), public transit agencies, primarily State Road Transport...

Tata Motors recently unveiled a comprehensive range of 21 new commercial vehicle models across different segments with an emphasis on its ‘Power of 6’ program. In line with this strategy of low-emission and high productivity, they are working on developing multiple small electric...

The blog first appeared in the special issue of BMPTC (Nirman Sarika). It was then reprinted on NIUA.org on November 25, 2021.

What is common between Mumbai, Berlin, Austin, Cape Town and Rio de Janerio? These are members of the Cities Race to Zero....

The need for a spatial planning tool

Most energy planning exercises focus on the supply side. WRI’s Energy Access Explorer (EAE) provides additional demand side data to inform supply side decision-making. Planning for energy access must be demand-driven and informed by nuanced settlement characteristics such as resource availability, socio-economic indicators, and so on. And this is where EAE becomes relevant.

EAE is an online, open-source, interactive, geospatial platform that will provide...

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill, but if there was any silver lining to this catastrophe, it was the slowdown in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions experienced during the second quarter of 2020. Across the globe, as clear blue skies ruled the COVID-19 lockdowns many countries glimpsed the potential benefits electric vehicles (EVs) can provide with zero tailpipe emissions.

India, being home to 21 out of the 30...