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The various wars fought for oil, the strategic move by nations and many
other such instances have amply demonstrated how important fuels are to
a nation’s progress and development. The reliance has been primarily on
fossil fuels for almost the entire past century for satisfying the primary
energy needs. However, the ever progressing scientific and technological
development and the ever growing population have led to the danger of
extinction of these fossil fuels. It has been said that the reserves of these
fuels are merely sufficient to meet the needs of the world for the next fifty
years. However, these claims are scientifically debatable but still the
shortage is apparent from the ever increasing prices of crude oil that
doesn’t increase in percentages now but in multiples. The cost factor is
not the only factor that increases the need for alternative fuels. The
climatic conditions sufficiently exhibit the need for adoption of alternate
less polluting sources of primary energy. It is a matter of physical survival
for some countries to reduce levels of emission to reduce global warming
and its side effects in the form of increasing sea levels, changing annual
weather patterns and catastrophes.
Specifically in the Indian perspective, the country has been a net importer
of the fossil fuels over the years. Of the total imports of the country, the
oil imports constitute nearly 30% percent of the total import bill. The
proportion of the oil imports to the aggregate of imports has been growing
from about 26.3 % in 2003 – 04, it has gone up to about 30.5 % as per the
available numbers for 2008 – 09. This means a lot of foreign exchange
outgo. The low crude oil prices for a major part of the year coupled with a
somewhat lower demand kept the proportion low which would have been
a few percentage points higher. The strengthening worldwide demand,
after the downturn, has led to the crude oil prices in the upward direction
again. The industrial activity in the country has also been accelerating as
evident from the IIP figures. These aspects would further inflate India’s
import bill.
The above discussions make a strong case for the increased adoption of
alternate sustainable fuels which are less polluting than the conventional
fossil fuels and can be made available from a wide variety of sources. The
economic growth in the country has led to the belief that India can
emerge as Numero Uno in the world. In the coming paragraphs we discuss
how sustainable fuels can play a part in this quest of India becoming the
Numero Uno.
Sustainable fuels
Sustainable fuels are alternate fuels that are derived from a wide variety
of sources. These are sustainable as they are non exhaustible and are less
polluting leading to less strain on the environment and its conservation for
the future generations. These fuels can biofuels obtained from biomass
fermentation, alcohols, algal oil extractions or even waste vegetable oils.
The biomass mentioned above may be oilseeds like sorghum or jatropha,
corn, may be fermented bagasse or rice bran, etc. There are innumerable
such sources and new research has helped in continuous augmentation of
the number of such sources.
Self Dependency
Reduction in pollution
The increasing global warming has led to countries to adopt means for
reduction in pollution. With the growing industrial activity and being the
second fastest growing economy in the world, India would be required to
curb its emissions owing to the pressure from various international bodies.
This point, no doubt, is debatable based on the bargaining power of the
country. However, reducing pollution is more of a social responsibility of
the country as a whole. This also leads to a better name of the country in
the international scene. It was estimated for 2007 that about 450 MMT out
of 1100 MMT of CO2 emissions in India were from fossil fuels. Sustainable
fuels help in achieving these objectives by significantly lower emissions on
burning as compared to their conventional fossil counterparts.
The Kyoto Protocol had laid down targets for the reduction of emissions to
lower levels. It made the reduction of the carbon footprint of countries
mandatory to levels fixed at the carbon emission levels at some earlier
point in time. The Protocol defined certain mechanisms for the reduction
in emissions or at least mitigating them. The mechanisms included ways
in which the developed countries can emit in their own land and
compensate for the same by either establishing projects in developing or
emerging economies like India or buying Carbon Credits from them which
are equivalents to the quantum of the carbon emissions of these
countries. Thus, the emission reductions help in generating Carbon Credits
which help earn foreign currency. The establishment of projects by foreign
companies at times involves transfer of advanced technology to the
country which is very valuable to the country as a whole.
The above mentioned means are some of the various macro benefits of
using sustainable fuels. However, in some cases sustainable fuels have
assisted certain small clusters in becoming self sustaining and have led to
their development in a very big way leading to a huge social impact and
their upliftment. Thus, there are innumerable benefits of sustainable fuels.
Production Characteristics
China
India
According to the IEA’s Medium Term Oil Market Report 2009, the
production of biofuels in India reached 1.08 billion litres of ethanol and
about 0.24 billion litres of biodiesel in 2008. The current share of biofuels
in total fuel consumption is extremely low and is confined mainly to 5%
blending of ethanol in gasoline, which the government has made
mandatory in 10 states (MPNG, 2004). While this ethanol blending is
mandatory, it is still subject to availability and market fluctuations, so
exact figures of the amount of ethanol that goes into blending are not
documented. The only available estimate is for the production surplus of
molasses-based ethanol and for the demand of ethanol required for
blending the total gasoline consumed in the country. Domestic ethanol
production is currently sufficient to provide the ethanol required for 5%
gasoline blending. However, even at 100% efficiency and with all
available molasses being used for ethanol production, molasses cannot
support the long-term demand of ethanol for gasoline blending if the
blending levels are increased significantly.
Currently, biodiesel is not sold on the Indian fuel market, but the
government plans to meet 20% of the country’s diesel requirements by
2020 using biodiesel (Planning commission, 2003). Since the demand for
edible oil seeds exceeds current production, the government promotes
the use of nonedible oils from Jatropha curcas and Pongamia pinnata as
feedstock for biodiesel production.
Policy Targets
China
According to the goals set in the “Mid-Long term Development Plan for
Renewable Energy” by the National Development and Reform
Commission, by 2020, the use of biofuel ethanol will reach 12.7 billion
litres, automotive ethanol gasoline (E10) usage will be 100%, and annual
consumption of biodiesel will reach 2.3 billion litres (NDRC, 2007a). The
plan further acknowledges that it is necessary to proactively develop
biofuel technology taking cellulosic biomass as raw materials. The Ministry
of Finance stated that “for the production of alcohol out of cellulose, the
state encouraged the combination of production, study and research, and
the expansion of the industrialisation pilots. The State financial and
taxation support policy will integrate and use the existing funds channels,
focusing on a number of key technology breakthroughs.” However, clear
support polices for second-generation biofuels have yet to be introduced.
India
Participation
Areas of Improvement
As is evident from the comparison above, the differences between the
initiatives in the different countries, there are areas in which India can
adopt better measures for the development of sustainable fuels.
Firstly, there is a lack of a collaborative effort. All the projects are carried
out in a scattered way spread across different areas of the country. This
has led to cost inefficiency. As a result, the sustainable fuels prove to be
expensive in application. It is only through a collaborative approach and
large scale projects that economies of scale can be achieved and it can be
made more economically feasible to produce and use biofuels.
There are other aspects which are also important like roping in more
private companies, and establishing a proper monitoring mechanism for
the funds allocated. It is through increased involvement and control of the
authorities that the development in the field of sustainable fuels can take
place that can help India to reach the Numero Uno position or at least
near to that by reducing woes related to conventional fuels. It should be
realised that it is not the fault of policies that holds development back but
it is the implementation of these which makes a difference.
Bibliography / References
Weblinks :
www.mnre.gov.in
www.oilgae.com
www.biofuelsmissionmp.com
www.bpedia.com
www.jatrophaseeds.com
www.agricultureinformation.com