HIGH gas prices are already getting us to cut back on driving, but do we really want to count on prices at the pump to solve our energy problems? A smarter approach is for the federal government to give us tax credits for driving less.

Low-cost biogas, an alternative fuel for cooking, is increasingly getting popular among the people in different rural areas of Lalmonirhat. Biogas is not only used as fuel for cooking foods it is also being used for producing electricity. The people, who never thought of having electricity in their remote areas, are now using electric bulbs, operating radio and television thanks to biogas plants. Currently, more than 250 rural families in the district are using biogas instead of firewood to cook foods and to electrify their houses, local sources said.

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, will inaugurate the first corn-based ethanol plant in the coastal Andhra Pradesh at Gandepalli village in Kanchikacharla mandal of Krishna district on Tuesday. The Chief Minister will arrive at Kanchikacharla at 10.15 am and inaugurate the plant which was built at a cost of Rs 130 crore. The plant provides direct employment to 350 people and indirect employment to another 1,000 people. The value-added agro-processing unit will manufacture ethanol from coarse cereals, which is an additive to petrol.

by Larry Rohter When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry's most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon - and so did Senator Barack Obama.

When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry's most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon

Government efforts to explore new vistas of alternative energy and overcome energy crisis has been further strengthened with a bio-diesel project launched by the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB). A pilot project to electrify a village using bio diesel on the basis of self-generation is underway in Goth Umar Din Arain of Ghora Bari taluka, Thatta district. According to the AEBD website, the Economic Coordination Committee of the Federal Cabinet has approved a policy to introduce the use of bio diesel as an alternative fuel.

MUMBAI: Union Minister for Petroleum Murli Deora on Monday approved a price increase for ethanol in Maharashtra which will now be sold at Rs 21.50 a litre. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has been pushing for an increase in the rate for ethanol after a demand from the State's sugar cooperatives and had met the Prime Minister in this regard last week. This decision was taken after a meeting between Mr. Deora and Mr. Deshmukh here on Monday. Proportion