Short Note on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) Vehicles Initiative in Delhi

Rising levels of pollution have been a major cause of concern in the National Capital Delhi, which has been put in the list of 20 most polluted cities of the world by World Health Organization. Main issues related to the environmental pollution are air pollution caused due to the vehicular and industrial pollution and water pollution in Yamuna River. The number of private and public vehicles has increased many folds in the recent past. This has polluted the environment and made people, especially children and old vulnerable to multiple diseases in the city.

Reacting to the court order which was result of a PIL, the government made it compulsory to introduce the CNG vehicles and make the pollution check mandatory for all private vehicles. The introduction of the CNG vehicles has resulted in the reduction of the environmental pollution in the city. Similarly, the Delhi government has been force to shift the polluting industries out of the city and launch the Yamuna River cleaning operation. Moreover, taking action as per recent orders of the Supreme Court of India to check it, Delhi Government is planning to push Hydrogen-enriched CNG buses on its roads. From just five lakh vehicles in 1981, the increase in the number of vehicles has tremendously proliferated. According to Delhi traffic police, around eighty thousand vehicles travel through Delhi every day between 8 pm and 6 am indicating that its fleet On 28th July 1998, the Supreme court ordered all commercial vehicles to be mandatorily converted to CNG vehicles especially taxi, buses and three wheelers.

Advantages of CNG

CNG may be generated and used for bulk storage and pipeline transport of renewable energy and also be mixed with biomethane, itself derived from biogas from landfills or anaerobic digestion. This would allow the use of CNG for mobility without increasing the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere. It would also allow continued use of CNG vehicles currently powered by non-renewable fossil fuels that do not become obsolete when stricter CO2 emissions regulations are mandated to combat global warming.

Limitations of usuage of CNG

The use of CNG vehicles faces several limitations such as fuel storage and infrastructure available for delivery and distribution at fuelling stations. CNG must be stored in high pressure cylinder only and this cylinder takes up more space than gasoline or diesel tanks. Other limitation include relatively priced and environmentally insensitivity.

Due to burning issues like climate change and estimations that non-renewable fuels like crude oil will get exhausted in near future, exploring new fuels like CNG is a boon. Thus the Government shall now take more initiatives so that alternative fuels can be commercialized.

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