More than 70 per cent of India's electricity is produced by coal-fired power plants. Most of them do not have modern technologies and use low-grade coal that is low on energy content and high on waste. As a result, the coal power sector is one of the most polluting and resource wasteful. These are the findings of a two-year study by non-profit Centre for Science and Environment that rated the plants on environment and energy performance. The best performing plant could get only an average Three Leaves Award by scoring about 50 per cent marks, while awhopping 40 per cent of the sample scored less than 20 per cent. Since coal is crucial to meet the energy needs of the country, its use will grow. This will intensify pollution and resource conflicts unless the industry shapes up and regulators improve pollution standards and scrutiny. A report by Chandra Bhushan, Priyavrat Bhati, Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan, Angeline Sangeetha Suresh, Soundaram Ramanathan, Abhishek Rudra and N Sai Siddhartha