This report from the Biofuels task force of the World Energy Council reviews the debate between supporters and opponents of Biofuels, against the backdrop of rapidly increasing energy demand. Skyrocketing prices of crude oil in the middle of the first decade of the 21st century accompanied by rising prices for food focused political and public attention on the role of biofuels.
Large-scale production of crop based (first generation) biofuels may not be feasible without adversely affecting
global food supply or encroaching on other important land uses.
New Delhi: Indian Railways has planned to set up four bio-diesel plants to reduce its carbon footprint and take forward its experiment with non-conventional form of energy. It is already planting saplings of jatropha, one of the sources of bio-diesel, on pilot basis in partnership with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Mass planting of jatropha as a biofuel crop could benefit poor
areas as well as combating global warming, but only if a number of
scientific and production issues are properly addressed, a review has
warned.
Recent increases in production of crop-based (or first-generation) biofuels have engendered increasing
concerns over potential conflicts with food supplies and land protection, as well as disputes over greenhouse gas reductions. This has heightened a sense of urgency around the development of biofuels produced from non-food biomass (second-generation biofuels).
After CNG, the Indian Railways now wants to tap bio-diesel potential to cut down on its operational cost. The Ministry has decided to set up an integrated bio-diesel plant at Chennai. The plant will have a production capacity of 30 tonnes per day.
Algal biofuels have many
advantageous characteristics that would lower impacts on environmental degradation in
comparison to biofuel feedstock and in some cases improve the well-being of developing and developed communities.
ITANAGAR, June 18: Governor Gen J J Singh, who is also the President of the NERIST Society, would inaugurate the Integrated Bio Diesel Reactor System of 250 litres capacity per day, sponsored by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, at NERIST on June 22 next.
