Time to go for alternate fuels

It has become customary for India to worry a lot when the global crude oil prices go up and to have a sigh of relief when the prices come down. This kind of attitude towards crude oil price fluctuations would not help in any manner.

It is high time for India to look for a permanent and sustainable solution for this problem. We can tackle this problem in several ways. One way is to increase the percentage of the blend of ethanol or methanol in petrol and diesel. There are ways to produce ethanol from bagasse, bamboo and municipal waste. The majority of the raw materials for ethanol and methanol come from the agricultural sector, which would increase the income levels of farmers. Brazil, a developing country like ours, is very successful in using ethanol and other biofuels, which are far cheaper compared to petrol and diesel.

Another way is to manufacture the vehicles with flex-engines, which can run on petrol or ethanol in the same engine. These types of vehicles are very successful in the US, Brazil and Canada. There are many benefits to adopting these methods. It would reduce the fluctuations of Rupee, resulting in a strong currency, which increases the confidence of investors in the Indian economy. It reduces the current account deficit by reducing the crude oil imports, which account for almost 80 per cent of total oil consumption in the country. In addition, the pollution in the country would come down, and the cheaper fuel reduces the burden on the common man. - Mejari Mallikarjuna, Nadigadda Kuravapalli