Fuelling the future

Rishi Rathod throws light on alternative sources for fuel, the adoption and promotion of which will go a long way in making India eco-friendly

- Rishi Rathod

Today, every country is doing something to reduce the impact of economic activities, find ways to go greener, and help our environment heal. For us, the biggest challenge is the fuel that we use for transportation and other economic activities related to it. The emerging new technology that we are going to capitalise on to have a great impact in this regard is biofuels.

India is spending more than Rs. 8,00,000 crore every year on petrol, diesel, and other petroleum products. At the same time, these forms of fuel are creating maximum pollution hazardous for human health. With the advent of ethanol-biofuel, the scenario is changing. Ethanol is a type of alcohol, like methanol. Throughout human history, various kinds of alcohol have been used to fuel engines. The reason why everybody is interested in ethanol today is that it can be created from biomass, which means crops like sugarcane and corn can be used to generate fuel that can burn in your car and power it.

The following are a few unique advantages of ethanol, bio-CNG, and bio-gas, and how they will be a game-changer for India:

Less pollution

When petroleum products such as gasoline are burned for energy, they release toxic gases and high amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment, which adversely affects our climate. Unlike petrol, ethanol mixed with petrol adds less or very little greenhouse gases such as CO2 or carbon monoxide. However, the combustion of ethanol made from biomass (such as corn and sugarcane) is considered atmospheric carbon-neutral because, as the biomass grows, it absorbs CO2, which may offset the CO2 produced when the ethanol is burned. It is much cleaner than using only petrol or diesel.

Emergence of a new industry