New Delhi [India], March 1 (ANI): The Ministry of Petroleum organised a special green hydrogen bus ride for American Physicist and Professor of Mathematics and Physics, Columbia University Brian Greene, Kearney Advanced Mobility Institute Global Head Christian Gasparic, Senior Lecturer In Martin Trust Center For Mit Entrepreneurship At Mit Sloan School of Management Jonathan Fleming, Venture Capital Investor Namit Choksi, Indian Oil Executive Director Umesh Shrivastava.

The delegates travelled onboard a green hydrogen bus from their hotel to Bharat Mandapam on Saturday. Delegates praised India for pushing green hydrogen technology and wished success for the technology initiative.

Speaking to ANI, Christian Gasperic said, “I mean, renewable energy has been really one of the goals for almost all countries in the world. Different technologies have been explored. Electric hydrogen fuel cell has been one of them, buses, cars, also trucks. Many countries have been really working on this. The availability of green hydrogen and the charging and refueling infrastructure has been really the thing that you needed to unlock. So, it’s great that India is pursuing this goal and pushing this technology.”

On his experience about travelling in green hydrogen bus, he said, “I have ridden on some hydrogen buses in the world a few times, so it’s great to be able to do it here in India. I’m very happy to be part of this, and I wish the technology initiative a lot of success.”

He noted that transportation is one of the leading causes of greenhouse emissions and stressed that anything that can be done to contribute to it is a very important thing. He expressed happiness that there is a big push towards green hydrogen in India.

He said, “Well, it’s definitely something we have to pursue. It does make a big difference. The transportation is one of the leading causes of greenhouse emissions, so anything that can be done to contribute to it is really a very important thing to do, and again, very happy that in India also there is a big push towards this, and green hydrogen could be a promising solution for this.”

Speaking to ANI, Brian Greene welcomed India’s use of green hydrogen buses and said that moving around the streets of Delhi using this renewable energy source is “enormously impressive.”

He said, “Well, it’s wonderful to see this cutting-edge technology being put into practice, the fact that we’re actually moving around the streets of Delhi using this renewable energy source is enormously impressive.”

About the future of green technology in India and the world, he said, “Well, look, we have got to wean ourselves off of the traditional fossil fuels. That’s obvious. Which of the renewables is going to be the fuel of the future? I don’t know. We have to see hydrogen certainly is a viable possibility, and so it’s wonderful to see that India is really striving to take the lead in this technology.”

He said that nobody knows what the future is going to be, whether it is going to be wind, solar, battery, or hydrogen. However, he noted that the only way to find out is to push these technologies to their limit.

On being asked about the future of hydrogen technology, he said, “How much is it going to use hydrogen technology? Well, look, nobody knows what the future is going to be. Is it going to be windy? Is it going to be solar? Is it going to be battery? Who knows? But the only way to find out is to push these technologies to their limit, and for that, you need a population of well-trained, energetic scientists and technologists, and that’s what is happening here in India. So, it’s really wonderful to see this stuff being pushed forward.”

Stressing the importance of holding discussions on green energy needs, he said, “We have to Green energy needs to be at the forefront of our conversations, the forefront of policymaking. We have to save this planet. Clearly, we need energy sources to live on this planet, and those two ideas have got to be compatible. How do you make them compatible? You have to have renewable green energy resources. That is the future. We should be using renewables across the board, not just in transport, but we are a species that lives and dies by energy sources. And so, if we can find a renewable energy source that has wide applicability, that is the way we should be pushing forward. This should be everywhere”.

Jonathan Fleming said that it was his first time travelling onboard a hydrogen bus. He expressed hope that this bus gets multiplied by 100, by 1,000, by 10,000 and mentioned the use of buses in India.

He said, “Well, the first thing is that this is my first ride on a hydrogen bus. I think I’ve ridden on buses powered by every other kind of fuel, and I’m super excited to be on a hydrogen bus because I believe this is really the best technology for buses in many, many applications for the future. And you could see and hope that this bus would then be multiplied by 100, by 1,000, by 10,000. I know that in India, buses are everywhere, and they are beloved, and they are used countless times per day by everybody. And so if you are able to make this technology work, you are going to make a gigantic impact in terms of the amount of emissions that go up into the atmosphere, and you will contribute a lot to making the Earth a safer and cleaner place.”

He called it critical that the world continues to be on this journey to transform industrial society into one that delivers prosperity to all citizens but at the same time does this in a clean way.

On the future of green energy and renewable energy, he said, “First of all, it is absolutely critical that we continue on this journey to transform our industrial society into one that delivers prosperity to all citizens, but at the same time does this in a clean way that means that our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren will inherit an Earth that is as beautiful as the one that was given to us. Yesterday, at the NXT Forum, we heard from two astronauts who told us that it is our job here on Earth to protect this paradise that they were able to view from up in space.

“This bus that we are on right now is a physical manifestation. It is the way that we, as people on Earth, as citizens, can participate in the green energy revolution of the future by riding the bus instead of taking our car, and two, by riding a hydrogen bus instead of taking our car, because now we truly will have, in a very personal way, contributed to keeping the Earth the paradise that we were given,” he added.

He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, calling it “critical and wonderful.” He said that the leadership of PM Modi is “courageous, important and wonderful.”

Praising PM Modi’s leadership for using this type of fuel, Fleming said, “I would say that the leadership of the Prime Minister is critical and wonderful. So, the United States, as you may or may not have known, has really had a very inconsistent approach to this. First, we’re all for it. Secondly, we’re all against it. It’s mostly been left to the private sector to be able to figure out to do however they wish, and there hasn’t really been this strong, consistent leadership at the top to personally put the prestige of their leadership on the line in order to do something that is extremely important but going to be hard. It’s going to take a long time. It’s not going to be easy. It’s probably going to be expensive. And so, those are things that many leaders don’t like to do. And so the leadership of the Prime Minister is courageous and important and wonderful.”

Namit Choksi called the use of green hydrogen buses a “fantastic initiative” and called it the need for generations. He expressed hope that India focuses on research in the next coming years.

He said, “I think in far as NXT and delegates are concerned, I think we’re just absolutely honored to have so many stalwarts within different industries coming together to Bharat, really, and building our idea of India. We’re very grateful to them and I think this is what we really need. You know, we bring the world to our people. As far as the hydrogen bus is concerned, I think again, look, it’s a fantastic initiative. This is what we need for generations. I do think one of the most important factors to consider here would be when can we bring in cost parity. And so I would hope that, you know, we focus on research over the next coming years. As a venture capitalist who does investments, it’s difficult to scale unless you bring the costs down. And I’m grateful to the government of India for kind of pushing the policy in a way that it supports all of this research and development.”

“I mean, it’s the next thing, right? If you want your future generations to breathe cleaner air and feel better about it, green energy is the way to go. How long can you keep burning coal, etc. And again, there are things that we need to discount as a developing country, but overall, I think green energy is the next big thing and we must focus on climate change. It’s real. We’re in Delhi and it was raining here and we are in February. So, if that says anything, I think that should be our focus,” he added.

Speaking to ANI, Umesh Srivastava said that Indian Oil has been working on hydrogen as a fuel for a long time. He expressed happiness that the delegates took a ride on a green hydrogen bus.

Srivastava said, “I come from Indian Oil, the company who has been working on hydrogen as a fuel for a very long time. And today we are very happy that we have our esteemed guests who have taken this ride and we have been able to make a statement to the world that India is transitioning from conventional fuels to the green fuels so smoothly.

“I think it’s with the support and blessings of the Indian government and especially the Prime Minister and all the other players who are there, if the ecosystem gets developed as soon as possible, it will become a reality. And it is a reality even today, but it will be more and more reality as we go forward,” he added. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)