• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Oct. 4

COMMENTING on the Mashelkar Committee report on the National Auto Fuel Policy, which recommends enforcing Euro-III emission norms by 2005 and Euro-IV norms by 2010 to reduce vehicular pollution, Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) has advocated that India should move on directly to Euro-IV norms by 2005.

"We recommend a faster approach, as going from Euro-II to Euro-III and then Euro-IV is a waste of resources and time," Mr R.K. Pachauri, Director, Tata Energy Research Institute and Chairman of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, said.

With Europe targeting to reach Euro IV norms by 2005 and Asian countries targeting for 2006-07, it makes sense for India to advance the date too. Further, Indian refineries from time to time need to export transportation fuels and will therefore have to match specifications within the same time-frame to remain competitive.

Also, it would logically appear more cost-effective to upgrade from Euro-II to Euro-IV directly at least in refineries having catalytic reformer or a hydrocracker instead of following a two-step approach of upgrading from Euro-II to Euro-III and then to Euro-IV as considerable savings in cost and time can be achieved, he said.

In certain cities, early phasing in of Euro-IV fuel quality will yield significant results even without matching Euro-IV vehicle technology. The Euro-IV vehicle technology can be brought in as and when the vehicle manufacturers are ready, Mr Pachauri said.

Earlier indications from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) were that by 2007-08, Euro-IV vehicles (other than two and three-wheelers) can be introduced in the country. While it is recognised that maximum emission benefits of Euro-IV fuel will accrue only with Euro-IV vehicle technology, its use with current vehicle technology will also yield emission reduction benefits, he said.

Further, its should be noted that the use of post-combustion emission control devices such as diesel particulate filters, when equipped in a current diesel engine and used with Euro-IV fuels will also yield significant particulate matter (PM) emission benefits as compared to PM emissions from heavy duty CNG applications as per experiments in the US and UK, he said.

Mr Pachauri further emphasised that for the purpose of achieving the best air quality it is not necessary for the Government to mandate the use of any specific fuel or engine technology. This gives the flexibility to absorb latest technologies and location-specific solutions as and when they develop, he said.

Meanwhile, criticising the plan to convert the entire vehicular fleet in Delhi to CNG mode, Mr Pachauri said that the cost of shifting to CNG mode in Delhi till now has been around Rs 900 crore and a complete shift will mean about Rs 1,300 crore.

Shifting to Euro-IV will be cheaper as the infrastructure is already there, he said. With limited availability of domestic natural gas/LPG there will be consequent dependence on more expensive imported LNG/LPG to meet the domestic demand of gas in all the sectors, he said.

Meanwhile, recognising that CNG/LPG are not feasible options for the entire country, Mr Pachauri said that lessons need to be learnt from Delhi's experience. "Proper planning and adequate capacity of the infrastructure is essential to avoid long queue and traffic disruption," he said. There should be a multi-pronged approach to detect and prevent fuel adulterations too, he added.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
Comment on this article to BLFeedback@thehindu.co.in

Stories in this Section
Cement units want Rlys to review freight rates

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line