Cities are experiencing the unpredictability of climate change; summers seem hotter and more prolonged. Everyone is talking about carbon emission pollution and urban smog. . Can we actually switch to alternative technologies en masse? If so, what will we achieve? For one, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if governments switch to alternative technologies, renewable energy could account for 80 per cent of the world’s energy use within 40 years. And, even more important, the necessary investment will be less than 3 per cent of the world’s annual GDP. For Chennai, it could mean greenhouse gas levels contained to less than 450 parts per million.
However, while it is simple to theorise about urban transformation from petrol and diesel to solar, biomass and wind, in reality, such a transition will be much more complex, given the political, cultural and economic aspects. A change of this magnitude requires a combination of both ‘political’ will and ‘civic’ will. A professor in Chicago spoke of how his decision to travel by bus to save fuel was not perceived well although in Berlin, Zurich or Singapore, corporate executives are glad to leave their cars at home and travel by public transport. Cycling in Paris, Cambridge, Berlin or Amsterdam is respected.
It is important to respect these cultural differences. Berlin, for example, has a history of eco-consciousness that ensures its citizens protect trees and keep the city clean. Segregating waste at source and recycling is mandatory. Berliners are willing to pay more for ‘clean electricity’. Sociologists surmise that the Chernobyl nuclear disaster was the root cause of Berlin shifting to renewable energy.
Chennai, on the other hand, is grappling with sudden growth of a different complexity. For us, rising electricity and fuel prices could make solar energy an affordable and attractive proposition.
We might be motivated to use more and better designed windows to save on electricity costs. Our priority could be to find ways to provide large, green civic spaces that are accessible to all.
Enjoying year-round sunshine, Chennai can be ensured of more predictable solar power than European nations. Incentives to builders to install solar-powered generators and solar common lights could be pilot projects to assess the impact of the shift.
This, followed by water recycling, waste segregation, bio-gas plants, and urban agriculture could create self-reliant neighbourhoods.
However, no amount of awareness campaigns will be effective unless research institutions such as the Centre for Science and Environment, the Indian Institute of Architecture, the IITs, and Anna University provide a reliable backbone as knowledge partners to the city Corporation. Eventually, given the complex cultural landscape of Chennai, the city will evolve its own unique blueprint for an ecological future, which is equitable, decentralised and rooted through citizens’ participation.
The writer is an environmental architect engaged in Climate Policy 2050.
