‘Cleantech’, for an inclusive green future in India

In his address to the nation on Independence Day 2023, Prime Minister has talked about India showing the world how to combat climate change. For this, Cleantech can deliver on development and climate action in the country’s rural areas.

What is Cleantech?

• Cleantech or clean tech is generally defined as knowledge-based products or services that improve operational performance, productivity or efficiency while reducing costs, inputs, energy consumption, waste or pollution.
• Cleantech is differentiated from green technology since it generally refers to the emerging financial industry (as opposed to the actual technology in which the industry invests).
• Cleantech spans many industry verticals and is defined by the following eleven segments:
• Energy Generation, Energy Storage, Energy Infrastructure, Energy Efficiency, Transportation, Water & Wastewater, Air & Environment, Materials, Manufacturing/Industrial, Agriculture, Recycling & Waste.

Need for Cleantech:

• The critical need for sustainable technologies that preserve our resources and environment cannot be overstated, in the drive to support a greener planet.
• Cleantech also extends to process improvement. For example, in manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, and large-scale industrial operations, as these enterprises seek the benefits of process automation.

What are the objectives of Cleantech?

• Clean water: Water is essential to human life, but clean water is not universally available.
  • As the global population grows, industries are looking for ways to clean and reuse water so that new sources are not needed.
  • An example of new technology is the portable filters from Innovative Water Technologies that use solar and wind power to clean water from any location.
• Air quality and pollution: The quality of air directly affects health, wildlife and nature.
  • Tracking air quality and pollution can help determine areas people should avoid at times and determine what will affect the air quality.
• Recycling and waste: Dumping waste into the ocean or on the ground presents a problem because space will run out.
  • Recycling programs are working to address the problem, but plastics can be hard to recycle when mixed with other chemicals and materials during production.
  • Companies are looking at ways to reduce the use of plastic for more recyclable materials, such as bio-based plastics.
• Clean energy: This technology creates energy from renewable energy sources and zero-emission sources.
  • Examples of popular clean energy include solar panels, wind farms and floating solar panels.
  • There are several green energy sources offering competitive rates and growth, including renewable hydrogen and hydropower.

Applications:

• In agriculture, clean tech solutions enable farmers to optimize water usage and maximize crop yields by monitoring soil moisture, wells, valves and weather stations, and precisely targeting irrigation as needed.
• Fish and livestock farms can improve feeding processes and production yield with automation, and reduce driving time and fossil fuel consumption.
• Water districts can identify and correct water waste with real-time water monitoring across their infrastructure.
• Innovative companies today are deploying drones to perform inspections at industrial sites, utilities and water towers to quickly identify issues, while reducing environmental impact and cost.