{"id":57642,"date":"2025-08-01T10:37:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=57642"},"modified":"2025-08-02T10:51:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T05:21:40","slug":"green-tech-needs-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/green-tech-needs-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Technologies &#8211; Why the World Needs It For a Sustainable Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Green Technologies Latest News<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amid rising energy demands and climate concerns, experts are calling for a shift toward more efficient and scalable green technologies beyond conventional silicon photovoltaics and green hydrogen.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The world is racing to meet its climate commitments amid the growing urgency of energy self-sufficiency, carbon emission reduction, and geopolitical uncertainty.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While green technologies like <\/span><b>silicon photovoltaics<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/green-hydrogen\/\" target=\"_blank\">green hydrogen<\/a><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0have catalysed a global energy transition, they are no longer sufficient in their current forms.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The future demands not just more renewable deployment, but smarter, more <\/span><b>efficient, diverse, and scalable green technologies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that better serve a resource-constrained world.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Limitations of Current Green Technologies<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Silicon Photovoltaics: Dominant Yet Inefficient<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Invented in 1954 by Bell Labs, <\/span><b>silicon photovoltaics (PV)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have become the backbone of renewable energy worldwide. However, their limitations are becoming apparent:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Typical <\/span><b>efficiencies range from 15% to 21%<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with lower actual field performance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Land-use intensity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is high due to low energy conversion rates; a doubling of efficiency could halve the land required.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over 80% of silicon solar panels come from China, raising strategic and supply chain concerns.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India, with ~6 GW of production capacity, is expanding its silicon PV output, but must also prepare to leapfrog toward <\/span><b>next-generation solar technologies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like gallium arsenide thin-film cells, which have demonstrated up to <\/span><b>47% efficiency<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in labs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>The \u201cGreen\u201d in Green Hydrogen is Relative<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Green hydrogen<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, produced by electrolysis using renewable energy, is a promising clean fuel. However, it suffers from key drawbacks:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><b>Energy inefficiency<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Electrolysis consumes more energy than the energy value of the hydrogen it produces.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><b>Storage and transportation challenges<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> due to hydrogen\u2019s low density and leakage issues.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><b>Conversion losses<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in creating and later separating hydrogen from green ammonia or methanol.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, while green hydrogen is technically clean, its <\/span><b>overall lifecycle efficiency is poor<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, especially when powered by low-efficiency PV systems.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Rethinking Fuel Production and CO\u2082 Utilisation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To overcome these hurdles, researchers are exploring <\/span><b>Artificial Photosynthesis (APS)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, mimicking plant-based CO\u2082 recycling to produce fuels like <\/span><b>green methanol and green ammonia<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> directly from sunlight, water, and atmospheric gases.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While APS is currently confined to lab research, it represents a <\/span><b>breakthrough pathway<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for truly sustainable fuel production.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, <\/span><b>Europe is pushing ahead with Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBOs)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which avoid biomass and use pure renewable inputs.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India, too, must pivot toward such futuristic innovations to reduce its <\/span><b>85% dependence on imported energy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which includes oil, coal, and natural gas.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Land Scarcity and the Efficiency Imperative<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Land scarcity is becoming a significant constraint:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Urbanisation and biodiversity conservation limit the availability of large tracts for solar installations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With rising <\/span><b>CO\u2082 concentrations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (from 350 ppm in 1990 to 425 ppm in 2025), current green technologies are <\/span><b>not scaling fast enough<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to reverse climate trends.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, doubling down on <\/span><b>high-efficiency technologies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> becomes essential, not just to generate more power per square metre, but also to enable complementary decarbonisation solutions like green hydrogen and RFNBOs to succeed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Policy and Investment Implications<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Governments must now shift from deployment to <\/span><b>diversified innovation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. India\u2019s energy roadmap should include:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Increased R&amp;D spending<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on next-gen energy systems<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Public-private partnerships<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to accelerate commercialisation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strategic support for <\/span><b>deep-tech innovations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like APS and RFNBO<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Redesign of subsidies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and incentives to favour higher efficiency, land-saving, and lifecycle-optimised technologies<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As <\/span><b>geopolitical instability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> threatens global supply chains, energy independence through innovation is no longer optional; it is urgent and essential.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source :<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/education\/how-green-hydrogen-can-make-a-difference\/article69544347.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TH<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With global energy demand rising, existing green technologies like silicon photovoltaics and green hydrogen need upgrades to improve efficiency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":57773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1942,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-57642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-green-technologies","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}