Boost clean energy drive
The devastating consequences of climate change are driving the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. As a result of climate change, many places are experiencing massive changes in rainfall and intense floods, and the flipside is severe droughts and heat waves. Going green is, therefore, a must as humanity is threatened.
There is a need to shift to renewable energy sources like wind and solar and reduce reliance on coal, oil and gas, which account for the bulk of the greenhouse and carbon dioxide emissions. The key to tackling this crisis is to end reliance on energy generated from fossil fuels.
Electricity distributor Kenya Power, anticipating the inevitability of the switch to clean energy, plans to play a key role here. The utility, which is hosting the second e-mobility stakeholders’ conference and exhibition in Nairobi, plans to spend Sh250 million on purchasing electric vehicles (EVs) and establishing charging stations countrywide. This infrastructure should boost the uptake of electric motor vehicles and motorcycles and also help to ease the utility’s operations.
Two such stations have been established in Nairobi with nine more set to be running by July in the big towns, including Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu and Eldoret. But to pull off the project, Kenya Power must first tackle its internal inefficiencies.
Last year, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) registered a record 2,694 EVs, a significant increase from only 475 cars the previous year. This is an important confirmation that the future of transport is, indeed, electric. It is certainly the way to go and more companies, organisations and even individuals should be encouraged to embrace EVs.
The world must quickly shift from fossil fuels to green energy to beat climate change and its disastrous effects.
