Construction Industry News
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said India needs to "decarbonize" its transport sector quickly, as the country has the potential to become a world leader in biofuels. Speaking virtually at the sugar and ethanol conference hosted by Chini Mandi, he said that 80 percent of the energy needs of India's transportation sector were covered by imports of fossil fuels like petrol, diesel and so on, costing the country more than Rs 1600 trillion per year.
“This is an economic and environmental problem. The transport sector is also responsible for 90 percent of carbon emissions. There is an immediate need to decarbonise the transport sector. The Union government is pursuing biofuels and compressed biogas in mission mode to reduce these imports in a cost-effective, pollution-free way," he said.
“The government is encouraging policy frameworks for biofuel production and creating a sustainable ecosystem around it. The center is giving a huge boost to ethanol as a fuel, especially the production of surplus and damaged food grains such as rice, maize and sugarcane. We can be a global torchbearer are in biofuels," he said.
The efficient use of surplus sugar, rice and corn and the production of second-generation ethanol from bamboo and agri-biomass such as cotton and straw could completely change India's fuel landscape, said the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways.
“India is the only country to set up four commercial biofuel plants, three of which are based on indigenous technology. Each plant will help two million farmers and reduce three million tons of carbon emissions. There is a need for research and development in green hydrogen and diversification of the agricultural sector in energy and power," he claimed.
Gadkari claimed that the ethanol industry has a promising future and urged the sugar industry to convert its excess production into bioethanol, which will boost the country's rural and agricultural economies.
