Biofuels: an opportunity for India

We can use 170 million tonnes of agricultural waste out of the 800 million tonnes generated to be used for ethanol production in the current situation

This could easily be ramped up to 250 million tonnes per year, to produce between 31-47 billion litres of ethanol by 2020

31-47 billion litres is a radical increase from the current production of 2 billion litres

This will lead to a huge reduction in stubble burning because of an economic incentive available to remove and give the crop waste to biofuel plants

Sewage treatment plants (STPs) can also contribute as India generates around 70 billion litres of waste water every day

By building biogas generation and upgrading facilities at the STP sites, the output can potentially substitute 350 million litres of diesel, 2.3 gigawatt hours of natural gas fired power and over 8 million LPG cylinders of 14.2kg each

We have started with some encouraging pilots for biofuel-driven buses in cities like Nagpur

In Nagpur, the government has allowed special purpose vehicles to own and operate these buses along with the plants and the depots required to fuel the buses

According to a study, the increase in ethanol production alone has the potential to create over 700,000 jobs when targeting only the base potentia

States with a combination of high agricultural activity and large fuel consumption like Maharasthra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh would be the best positioned to exploit this opportunity

Countries like Sweden and a developing country like Brazil have used ethanol in a big way to achieve their environmental and economic objectives

We need measures, which are available today and at affordable costs

This one measure of pushing for biofuel buses for public transport within a specific timeline like 2020, would help transform our public transport services, improve the health of our citizens, provide economic impetus and create jobs

Surely a win-win proposition at a fraction of the cost associated with the subsidy-driven push being planned for E-mobility