Nature's Fuel

With the Cabinet approving the National Policy on Biofuels, there is renewed hope for a cleaner environment in the not-too-distant future. 

- Anupama Airy

THE UNION CABINET’S approval to the National Policy on Biofuels earlier last month triggered both hope and hesitation. While the industry eagerly awaits the implementation of this policy, it is also cautious, considering our history with biofuels. What does this new policy mean for India and its economy, and have we learnt from the mistakes of our past?

Biofuels, unlike fossil fuels, are a much cleaner, greener and cheaper fuel produced using biomass or biowaste. In this day and age when air quality is highly questionable and global warming most definite, biofuels are our rescue wagon. While it burns similar to a fossil fuel, contextualizing it with our current scenario – a substantial switch from crude oil to biofuels – will largely reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and control air pollution especially in the way it is produced and harnessed.

Thus, the National Policy on Biofuels was a long time coming. If looked at carefully, two major points in the new policy stand out. The first is the aim of the policy to expand the scope of raw materials used towards the generation of biofuels, while the second is the accompanying Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme.

CASTING A WIDER NET

Talking about the ‘scope of raw materials’, the policy looks to allow the use of sugarcane juice, sugar containing material, starch containing material and, most importantly, damaged crop like wheat, broken rice and rotten potatoes, which have been deemed unsuitable for human consumption, for ethanol production. Ethanol is the most common biofuel worldwide.