It is the same day 11 years back when I was struck and shaken with reality, it was Diwali the festival of Lights, the day that marks the homecoming of Good after victory over evil, the day we worship the Goddess of Wealth and pray for prosperity for the world. It was that day back in 2009 when a phone call to my Grandmother changed the course of my life. It was the day that gave birth to the idea of h2e and gave me the sole purpose to live; To make 24×7 clean, green, reliable and affordable energy available to all.
The world has come a long way since 2009, and 10 years later, we got the CORONA curse, and we Humankind were suddenly grappled with a miniscule virus that threatened our existence. While the world was already fighting to save our Planet, we had to look for ideas to save us from extinction. Over the last 10 months scientists and Pharma Entrepreneurs across the world have worked relentlessly to develop a vaccine that can bring us back to the Normal we once privileged ourselves with.
2020, reminds me of the movie Independence Day, where staring at a certain defeat, the leader of the free world, while marshalling his warriors said,
“We will not go quietly in the night;
We will not vanish without a fight;
We’re going to live on;
We’re going to Survive;
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day”
And with the efforts of all involved in the COVID-19 fight, we the world are so ready to celebrate our Independence Day, free from the Virus and back to the world we knew. But as we get ready to walk into a new world, we have another big fight at our doorstep, Climate Change! Unfortunately, we do not have a Planet B, nor the benefit of wearing a mask and washing our hands regularly to prevent the calamity that is approaching. We have to take in as aggressive an approach we have for beating the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Climate Change pandemic is real, unless each and every individual pledge to take small steps, we will not be able to save our Planet.
We have new leadership in the United States, committed to the Climate initiative and with a mandate to bring the change; not to mention, the unique opportunity the Biden Administration has to change the course of history by changing the way we produce and use our energy, by ensuring that America leads by example in the Climate war. On the other side of the Atlantic, Governments in Europe have almost declared Hydrogen as a cure not only for Climate Change but also COVID-19, with aggressive economic packages focused on the Hydrogen economy. Not to stay behind the Asian leaders have stamped their commitment on Clean Energy, countries like Japan, South Korea and even China leading the race. One of the largest energy consumer in making, India is getting serious with Climate Change, the Prime Minister heading the International Solar Alliance and the Clariant call for Energy Independence, India is on the cusp of becoming a force in the energy business by taking on the Hydrogen Economy as a focal point of its energy strategy.
Hence I say “Finally, There is Light”, we the world have long witnessed the dark tunnel and in the Post COVID-19 world, we are approaching the end of the tunnel, where there is light, where there is prosperity and where there is happiness. Prosperity generally comes as a result of good health, economic stability and mental happiness. Energy, is the key to satisfying all these three needs for a better world. God created our world as a source of energy, our body is energy; the convergence of different forms of energy will bring energy justice and energy independence to our world.
Yes there is Light, with companies like Serum Institute, Astrazeneca, Pfizer etc. coming close to 90% efficacy for their vaccine candidates, there is Hope that the biggest vaccination exercise the world has ever witnessed will become a reality, by 2021 we would have defeated COVID-19, fair and square.
Yes there is Light, with the new age development that is making distributed energy technologies like Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, Power to X, Salt Batteries etc. affordable and available to the developed as well as developing nations. Distributed energy generation may result in small counties becoming producers of e-Fuels and taking care of their needs for electricity and mobility. We are fast moving to a connected world, ready to alleviate our generations from Energy Poverty.
Going back to 2009, when my Grandmother on a phone call told me that she celebrated the festival of lights, without LIGHT. To her and many more across the world, your Son’s and Daughter’s are working hard to make sure that no lady suffers the soot of fossil fuel while cooking, no farmer will commit suicide because he does not have access to affordable and reliable energy, no mother to be will suffer the summer because there is no air conditioning and no one from our future generation will suffer illness and uncertainty that climate change will cause. We are marching into the Light, we are marching into a new world. We are moving towards Light!
Happy Diwali May the New Year bring lot of cheer and happiness to us all.
