| |AUGUST 20219sources of renewable and clean energy and rightly so are hydro, wind and solar. Despite the Government support and initiatives hydro and wind have limitations to growth and viability due to capex, geographical restrictions and are thus plateaued in capacity addition. Solar has seen an unprecedented growth at multiple levels, be it rooftop power for home use or commercial level. Biofuels based power generation has failed despite government incentive for obvious reasons such as distributed source of biomass and logistics related shortcomings.Industrials: India is witnessing a sea change in clean environment efforts from the industrial segment in the past decade. Except for the cement and steel, all other industries have opted for biofuels replacing the traditional polluting fossil fuels. This drive has been a combination of cost savings for furnace oil users, better adherence to pollution for coal users and stricter implementation of pollution norms defined by the Government. Biofuels are made from agri residue and are thus carbon neutral and produce almost nil greenhouse gases. Additionally, they augment farmers income and generate rural employment, hence contributing to CSR initiatives for a corporate. This clearly offers a win-win and is reflected in the growing popularity of biofuels. Agri residue (parali) burning is an ongoing problem in the North India. Of the many ways to dispose this residue, the most viable and relatively easy to implement would be converting it into biofuels to be used in industrial boilers. Recent phenomenon is even more interesting as pellets ­ a refined form of solid biofuels, is replacing diesel and LPG at small applications ranging from frying, roasting to plastic moulding. The cost benefit of using pellets is to the tune of 50 percent. Increased Reforms to Lead in Acceleration of Growth in Clean EnergyFor greater ethanol usage, India should allow ethanol making directly from sugarcane - like Brazil. The bio CNG needs more participation and resource allocation from private players for research & development.As we have seen above, most user segments have adopted clean energy in various forms, the drive needs to be stronger, and the Government must play the role of an enabler. To accelerate the adoption of clean energy, the most beneficial and socially advantageous move would be promoting the use of biofuels replacing fossil fuels. Apart from stricter implementation of pollution norms and restriction on use of polluting fuels such furnace oil and raw wood, the Government also needs to support the biofuels supply side. Biofuels manufacturing is deeply attached to the rural economy, and any support directly leads to its strengthening. This can be directly achieved by promoting entrepreneurship in biofuels by way of capital subsidy and many other ways such as procedural relaxations to set-up manufacturing. A bold step can be waiving-off GST on biofuels to make it lucrative alternative to coal.We strongly believe that with proliferation of biofuels, most industrial areas would emit lower SOx, NOx and thus definitely improve the quality of air we breathe in nearby cities. We at Biofuels Junction are crusaders of use of biofuels and work towards as partners in greener tomorrow. To accelerate the adoption of clean energy, the most beneficial and socially advantageous move would be promoting the use of biofuels replacing fossil fuels
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