US scientist sees green opportunities in India’s infrastructure development

India has the advantage of making use of green techniques in developing a more environment-friendly infrastructure, which the country is yet to develop, a top US-based environment scientist has said.

Outlining the importance of developing new infrastructure in the country, Amory B Lovins, chief scientist and chairman emeritus, Rocky Mountain Institute, Colorado, said there existed substantial opportunity for India to choose the green path.

Speaking at an interactive meeting hosted by the CII Green Building Council (GBC), Lovins said, the US has an opportunity to generate 70 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy sources by 2050, which would result in a 150 per cent expansion of the economy and savings of about $5 trillion.

Lovins said fostering and promotion of efficient and effective energy management practices across the sectors, retrofitting of existing buildings and focusing on distributing renewable energy could open up similar opportunities for India as well.

This will go a long way in bringing down our dependency on oil, he underlined.

He appreciated the catalytic role played by CII-Godrej GBC in spearheading green business practices in the country. Rocky Mountain Institute has said that it will extend all possible support in all of GBC's activities and initiatives.

India is among the first few countries in the world to have established a ministry overlooking the use and promotion of non-fossil fuel energy in the 1980s. But even after three decades, renewable energy share in the total power generation pie in the country has barely reached 30 GW.