A safe solution to problems caused by pollution and an alternative to fossil fuels like petroleum and coal was ‘hydrogen,’ and India has now launched its mission to produce, use, and export it, Krishna N. Ganesh, Professor and Director, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati, said on Wednesday.
While delivering the Inaugural Address at the 4th Dr. Paarivendhar Research Colloquium (DPRC) 2023 at SRM Institute of Science and Technology Kattankulathur, Prof. Ganesh said only science-based solutions could find alternatives to problems of pollution caused by fossil fuels, whose resource was also fast depleting.
Future Science & Grand Challenges:
Prof. Ganesh, who was bestowed with Padma this year, while speaking on ‘Future Science & Grand Challenges,’ said addressing energy-related challenges with the current availability of global infrastructure was one of the main problems today and science alone could design effective strategies and new technologies to find solutions and ensure sustainable development.
Recipient of the coveted Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, Prof. Ganesh said that solar power had several constraints and considering the amount of energy that goes into manufacturing and maintenance of its infrastructure, it would take 10 years to get back the energy invested.
Hydrogen, safe, clean alternative:
Under these circumstances, Hydrogen energy was the finest and the best-emerging solution and a safe alternative. While it was generated at the time of the burning of fossil fuels, it was not pure, and the pure source of hydrogen was from renewable sources of water.
He said India’s recently unveiled National Green Hydrogen Mission envisaged harnessing hydrogen and its derivatives through its production, use, export, and decarbonising major sectors. “We must explore the possibilities of using hydrogen as a source of power in sectors like cement, steel and transport where solar power cannot be used,” remarked Prof. Ganesh.
Inter-disciplinary education to train young scientists:
Prof. Ganesh said there were several other problems facing India and the rest of the world, like solid waste management. He added that the recent fires at garbage dump yards in New Delhi, and Kochi reflected the lack of scientific management. He said such problems and challenges had to be addressed by people involved in chemistry. These challenges include developing new technologies and materials to conduct reactions and processes at room temperatures, reducing rising costs of energy and many more.
For such things to be implemented, work has to start in classrooms of educational institutions, which at present was compartmentalised. “This has to go. We need holistic solutions for all these problems, which cannot be solved with one or two disciplines. We require knowledge of several disciplines, and to train a new generation of scientists, we need an inter-disciplinary system,” Prof. Ganesh said. He added that the contribution of private universities like SRM, established by visionaries to the cause of science education and research, was immense.
In his welcome address, Prof. C. Muthamizhchelvan, Vice Chancellor, SRM IST, said DPRC was a forum to invite research scholars from SRM Group to present their papers. In the past 3 years, SRM IST has published 4,100 collaborative papers and 45 papers in the past 5 years in Nature indexed journals. Over the past 10 years, SRM IST has received Rs. 200 crorein funding for its various research projects.
Dr. R.Sankaranarayanan, Outstanding Scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Hyderabad, was the Guest of Honour, was felicitated on the occasion. Lt. Col. A Ravikumar, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Medical), Dr. S.Ponnusamy, Registrar, Dr. M.Vairamani, Dean, School of Bio-Engineering, and Dr. T.V. Gopal, Dean, College of Engineering and Technology were also present. Prof. B.Neppolian, Dean (Research), SRM IST, thanked the gathering.
