Green goals vs. Development

BY CAPTAIN MAHMOOD AL MAHMOOD

We need more petrol. At least we need more petrol stations. In many parts of Bahrain the number of petrol stations are so far between that cars run the risk if sputtering on empty if they miss a fuelling.

Many petrol stations are undergoing an upgrade these days.

Are they also adding EV charging facilities and q solar panels? After all Bahrain has been very eager to reduce its carbon footprint and these are the steps to take to achieve this.

The year started off promsingly for EVs but today, all over the world, there are fewer takers for electric cars simply because we have a very scanty infrastructure to serve the EV owners.

In this context, the debate in Parliament about licensing of additional car wash facilities is interesting.

Undoubtedly, there are plenty of new cars on our roads which need profes - sional care and infrastructural support, whether it is petrol stations or car wash facilities.

But we have to balance our growing needs for modern requirements with how we maintain our environment.

The transition to lesser fossil fuels and less water-intensive methods of maintaining our automobiles than automatic car washes is necessary.

Let us draw up a blueprint as set green goals for ourselves.