The Hindu Business Line : A green revolution for energy

Soaring crude prices have made it imperative for us to make a conscious effort to drastically reduce our dependence on petroleum and its by-products. What better course can one take than to tap "green" sources, which can also create employment and spread well-being to our rural sector besides being environment-friendly, asks S. Venkitaramanan, drawing from Brazil's experience with ethanol and Shell's Imogen project.

THE rapidly rising and volatile prices of crude have sounded alarm signals throughout the world. Even the world's richest (?) economy, the US, is concerned about energy security, and a comprehensive Energy Bill is on the US Administration's agenda. It promises to strengthen the incentives for energy efficiency and "green" substitutes for petroleum fuels. The rush for energy security is on in the most affluent countries. Can we afford to slip behind?

While the Government of India has rightly shifted its attention to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes — witness the recent landmark agreement with the US unshackling Indian nuclear power generation from constraints imposed by the safeguards regime — this is not enough.

India needs to participate prominently in the global quest for efficient and economically viable alternatives to petroleum fuels, such as bio-fuels. A holistic approach to the issue of energy security is lacking in India. The time seems opportune for a comprehensive research initiative, similar to the one started by Homi Bhabha when he started the TIFR, Vikram Sarabhai when he started the ISRO, and Dr M. S. Swaminathan when he started the Green Revolution in the 1960s.

The Mid-Term Appraisal of the Planning Commission makes all too brief a mention of bio-diesel. It does not unfold a unified vision of what it would take to make an effective dent on the energy scenario.

A recent review article in Newsweek, August 8, 2005, highlights the latest significant developments in what it calls "green gold" — "fuels from the farm". It points out that ethanol is one of the new bio-fuels, although it has been around for some years in Brazil and the US.

China has just constructed the world's largest fuel ethanol facility at Jubilin. Thailand is building over a dozen ethanol plants using sugarcane and rice husk. Chinese bio-fuel distilleries are also experimenting with cassava and sweet potatoes, besides sugarcane and corn.

Brazil has, of course, been a pioneer and is a leader in the international use and trade of ethanol.

Japan has entered into a deal for 15 million litres with Brazil. The European Union is thinking of mandating 6 per cent of bio-fuels in its diesel gasoline Bill. And Malaysia is expanding its bio-diesel plants, expressly intended to feed the European market.

On the question of costs, the article points out that Brazil produces and sells ethanol at a price equivalent to 25 dollars a barrel, less than half the current cost of crude. What is more, since parts of the sugarcane crop from which ethanol is extracted are used both to fertilise the sugarcane and fire the distilleries, Brazil uses much less fossil fuel to produce ethanol than other countries would.

The way forward for India is to encourage research in use of sugarcane and other crops for the production of ethanol and its use in automobiles, with or without modification of the engine. Brazil has made compulsory over the years the use of an admixture of alcohol with gasoline — to produce gasohol.

There was an initiative in this direction in the days when Mr Ram Naik was Minister for Petroleum. But that initiative lost its way and the Government does not seem interested in the project.

Automobile companies in Europe are themselves taking an initiative in using bio-fuels. Volkswagen is financing an entity called Choren Industries, which is developing a process to take leftover straw from surrounding farms and turns it into ethanol. Indeed, it makes premium quality diesel from cellulose in trees and straw.

Commercialisation is reported to be well on the way and is expected to be complete by 2007. The key to its success is that it uses the entire plant instead of parts, as in the case of sugar from sugarcane. Given this "massive" usage, the land use will be substantially reduced from sugar-based ethanol.

The success of the project depends on innovative technology, which enables the use of genetically engineered enzymes that can convert cellulose in straw into glucose, and which, when fermented, can produce ethanol.

It is not often recognised that Rudolf Diesel himself ran his first eponymous engine in 1897 using peanut oil. Bio-fuels only signify a return to green fuels, which is entirely appropriate today, given the "push" by the Sheiks of Arabia in the wrong direction. The perverse consequence of the OPEC price rise may be the decline of the empire of petroleum itself.

All this spurt of activity on the global bio-fuel front means that it is the right time for India to catch up. The effort required is massive. It is entirely in order for the Indian oil majors themselves to take an interest in this, although it might look like a counter-initiative to plot their own partial elimination.

It is, however, enlightened self-interest, especially with an energy crisis looming. Not for nothing has Shell itself invested $46 million in the Imogen enterprise to complete a bigger facility that will produce 2000,000 tonnes of ethanol per year.

Suffice it to say that there is a lot going for this new `Green Revolution' in energy. For one thing, green bio-fuels do not add to carbon-dioxide emission because they utilise material, such as sugarcane or straw, which use embedded carbon-dioxide trapped from the air through the process inherent in plant growth. Thus, there is no addition to CO{-2} emission from bio-fuel use. This is good news from the point of view of carbon trading. Countries like India have an added incentive to switch over, at least partly, to bio-fuels. Obviously, bio-fuel enthusiasts are aware of their limitations. It is a far cry to expect that there can be total elimination of dependence on petroleum fuels.

But, to the extent to which bio-fuels reduce the burden of imports, there will definitely be a significant impact on our BoP and our savings will be available for development.

One interesting tailpiece to the story comes from the Brazilian pioneer aircraft manufacturer, Embraer. It has many customers waiting for its ethanol fuelled planes. There is a two-year wait-list. Surely, when ethanol is all set to `fly', isn't it high time we used it to drive our cars? One other aspect of bio-fuel development is that it may even make hydrogen cell development unnecessary.

Hydrogen cell development is already quite delayed and will be costly. Back to the land seems to be a better way to drive our cars and planes than resorting to hydrogen-powered fuel cells. India can at least join the global game of running a clean bio-fuel economy — if it makes up its mind soon enough and sets up the necessary institutional machinery and organises the human and other resources.

Brazil is fast becoming the Saudi Arabia of the ethanol industry. It would be good for India to copy at least some of Brazil's successes in this regard. Multinationals are entering the fray. Shell has become the world's largest distributor of ethanol through its global service network.

It is, of course, to be examined whether the sugarcane route or the straw and fibre route (Imogen variety) is the option to take considering the pressure on land and water.

Jatropha also offers a good prospect as its seeds make good bio-diesel. The proposition can spell prosperity for the rural poor, while liberating India from the crude oil crunch! The issue of introduction of bio-fuels is one that cannot brook much delay. It can make a vital contribution to our BoP — the imports of crude and PET products, which tot up around $29 billion a year.

A conscious effort has to be made to diminish our dependence on petroleum and its byproducts. What better course can one look forward to than a "green" source, which can incidentally spread employment and well-being to our rural sector besides being environment-friendly?

This can be compared with our Chandrayan mission. While the effort to send a man to the Moon is, no doubt, praiseworthy, it is equally pertinent to initiate an effort to organise a knowledge revolution to make the country secure in terms of energy needs consistent with our farm potential, land and water resources. True, questions will be raised and have to be answered about the efficiency of converting sugarcane produce to ethanol. Does it not involve too much water use, too much fertilisers, too much land?

I am sure there are alternatives that involve the use of whole plant masses — including the fibre in the stem, such as Imogen is experimenting with. But the journey to this objective of increased freedom from dependence on petroleum has to begin with a simple but courageous decision of starting a mission for such an objective. That mission can be as significant as Bhabha's TIFR and Vikram Sarabhai's ISRO. Experts of related disciplines, both from India and our diaspora, ranging from automobile engineering to fermentation and bio-genetics, need to be involved.

Dr Manmohan Singh will have notched up yet another record for India's economic freedom and its liberalising economy if he initiates this New Green Revolution.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Power and profits in the wind

Education de-reserved

Crisis in Niger — Acute poverty in a world of plenty

Where is world oil headed?

Introspection day

A green revolution for energy

Wholesale gains from FDI in retailing

Crude prices

Mumbai floods