The imperative need for drawing up a time bound schedule for introduction of alternative fuels in the interest of India’s Energy Security was brought out during the meeting of the Energy Think Tank (ETT) at PetroFed on June 13, 2005 at New Delhi.

ETT Chairman and former Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Sh. T N R Rao, noted the need for active Government support to take the alternative fuels programme forward.
Presentations were made on the occasion by Sh. R.K. Malhotra, GM, IOCL (R&D) on ethanol blending, bio diesel and hydrogen and fuel cells for transportation. A detailed presentation on bio-diesel was also made by Sh. D.R. Teredesai, MD, Lubrizol (India) Ltd.. The concept, advantages and feasibility of LNG through ‘virtual pipeline’ was presented by Sh. Alex P. Verghese, GM-LNG, IBP.

Among the invitees present on the occasion were Sh.M.S. Ramachandran, former Chairman, IndianOil, Dr. N.G. Kannan, MD, IBP and Director – Mktg., IOCL,Sh. BM Bansal, Director (R&D),IOCL,Dr. D.K. Tuli, CEO, Indian Oil Technologies Ltd., Sh. A.K. Sinha, Director (Finance), IBP and Sh. Jai Uppal – Advisor (Renewable Energy), Winrock International.
Among the Energy Think Tank members present were Sh. J.S.Oberoi, Convenor, Sh. B.C. Bora and Sh. S.K. Manglik, former CMDs ONGC, Sh. B.D. Gupta former President, J. Morgan Stanley and former Director (F) IOCL, Sh. P.P. Bagchi, former ED-OCC, Dr. I.B.Gulati, former Director, IIP, Sh. G.K. Pandey, former Chief of News Bureau, Times of India and Sh.A.K. Arora, Director General, PetroFed.

Bio-diesel, it emerged, needed to be aggressively pushed by mandating, if necessary, two to five per cent blending with petro-diesel in a specified timeframe with subsidies to oil companies, producers and support to farmers as in some other countries.Several countries in the European Union provide a subsidy ranging from $200 to 625 per metric tonne (MT) as tax incentive on bio-diesel. There is no tax applicable to bio-diesel in China and Brazil. United States provides one cent reduction in diesel excise tax for each percent of bio-diesel blended in it up to 20%. In UK there is 20 pence per litre Duty incentive for bio-diesel. Bio-diesel is renewable , environment friendly and a five per cent blend has been successfully used in trials at several places in the country.

Similarly 68% of the World production of ethanol is used as fuel. A five per cent blend with gasoline is allowed by BIS and is widely used in US and Europe. Hydrogen and fuels cells are in the development stage but LNG and LCNG system for automobiles provide scope for expansion. IBP’s plan of LNG through virtual pipeline can also be turned into reality.

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