Green Urban Initiatives
Climate change is adversely affecting Guwahati. The rapid increase in the temperature leads to major Climate challenges in the North-Eastern region of India. Guwahati, the fifth-fastest growing city of India in terms of urbanization, witnessed many changes which resulted in many environmental problems to the ecosystem. The city of Guwahati is bounded on three sides by hills and the other side by the mighty river Brahmaputra, the horizontal expansion is restricted, for which many multistoried buildings have come up in recent years just to accommodate the ever-increasing population. The poor and marginalized communities face the dual challenges of low socioeconomic development and extreme vulnerability to climate change. Extreme events associated with climate change disrupt the existing electricity supply, leading to the demand for alternate or backup electricity sources. Decentralized solar energy solutions are increasingly considered for bringing reliable electricity to community facilities, especially in climate-vulnerable areas. To mitigate the dependence on fossil fuel-based electricity generation and encourage environment-friendly Solar Electricity Generation, The Assam Energy Development Agency recognizes the great potential in Solar energy in meeting the energy needs of people. Introducing the "14 MW Grid Connected Solar Rooftop Programme in Assam", which provides abundant technical benefits, such as utilization of available vacant roof space, lower transmission and distribution losses, long term energy, and ecological security by a reduction in carbon emission, minimal technical losses as power consumption and generation are colocated, etc. Significant growth has already taken place during the last decade due to this. The Grid Connected Solar Rooftop Programme is already making a lot of transformation in Guwahati, but it is only applicable to the structures, that already exist. As rapid urbanization is taking place in the city of Guwahati, the advancement of transportation is expanding. People are traveling a lot within the city and the demand for public transit is increasing, from railways to buses. What also will make a notable change in the Climate challenges is installing solar panels on the roof of public transit, which will help in lowering the carbon footprint, because the transits won't be dependent on fossil fuels to run.