Tamil Nadu   

Promoting a clean and green environment

K. Shankar

He has more than two decades of experience in industrial capital equipment (sales and marketing) such as machine tools, meteorology equipment, power plant machinery and plastic processing machinery. K. Shankar based at Bangalore has been associated with more than 30 industrial segments such as automobile, auto-ancillary, sugar, cement, power, renewable energy, paper and pulp, chemicals, railways, space and aviation research, defence research and development.

His areas of expertise include corporate planning, corporate communication, trade and marketing, contracting and documentation and general business administration. At present, he is into management and safety consultancy services. During his recent visit to Coimbatore, he spoke to

K. Jeshi about the need to promote a clean and green environment.

"In Tamil Nadu, though a large quantity of commercial and industrial wastes is generated, there is no technology available for professional disposal of garbage. Solid waste collection, segregation and disposal still pose a challenge to major cities and towns," he says.

"We produce around 210 million tonnes of agro-products of which at least 15 per cent comes out as residues which can be used as fuel for renewable energy projects. We need to speed up establishment of such projects."

On globalisation, he says that the process of integrating Indian economy in the global village needs to be done in a balanced manner integrating the rural and urban economy. "Currently the situation in rural areas and the city is not encouraging as there are no signs of globalisation readiness visible. To integrate with the global supply chain, industries here should study the needs and wants of the global economy. We will have to conform to certain standards. For instance, focussing on methods to promote a clean, green and safe environment, awareness campaigns should be conducted at schools," he says.

Mr. Shankar adds that the potential of solar energy is untapped.

"Power industry is responsible for most of the carbon emissions and this can be set right only by concentrating on generating power from solar energy. Sunlight is available almost 90 per cent of the time through the year. By 2012, the power requirement of the country will be around 200,000 MW and hence the need to tap the potential of alternative energy sources becomes important. Right now power generated from renewable energy is less than three per cent. This should be increased to 15 to 20 per cent by focussing on solid waste to energy projects, waste heat recovery plants in steel, chemical and other industries," he says.

He says industrial safety also needs special attention. "Environment safety, safety from natural calamities and disasters, crowd safety, fire safety and flood safety should be paid attention. Every district must conduct safety risk analysis on the issues arising out of dangers and accidents and fix solutions accordingly," he adds.

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