India has taken an important step towards transitioning to clean energy by establishing the ethanol plant in Panipat on World Biofuel Day. The plant built by indigenous technology will produce three crore litres of Ethanol annually, which will help the country immensely in keeping her promise of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases by a million tonnes within 2030. At the same time, the technology used in the plant will discourage farmers from burning straw at the end of every farming season, a major source of pollution especially in the northern part of the country. Instead, farmers will be able to sell straw to produce ethanol, thus turning waste into wealth and in the process will also reducing pollution considerably. As per estimates, if two lakh tonnes of rice straw is used in the plant, it will be equivalent to taking 63,000 vehicles run by fossil fuel off the roads.
Unfortunately, over the years India has emerged as one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. Thus, the country is duty-bound to reduce emission levels as much as possible in the quickest time possible as global warming is no longer just a threat, but has become a reality now. If we closely examine climate patterns for the last few years, we will find that nature has become hostile and human settlements in many parts of the country are in danger of either being washed away by flash floods or landslides. The problem has further been compounded with fossil fuel emissions causing various respiratory diseases. It is time now for India to reduce her dependency on fossil fuels by developing sources of non-conventional energy. India has already achieved success by meeting the target of supplying petrol mixed with 10 per cent ethanol and has now set a new target to supply petrol mixed with 20 per cent ethanol by 2025.
Although India is trying hard to keep the commitments that she has made to the world, there is still a long way to go to achieve that target. The short-term success sounds good, but the real challenge is to ensure sustainable development. Panipat is just the beginning and we must continue to build such second generation ethanol plants in all states of the country, especially in the southern and eastern parts where rice straws are available in plenty. The blending of ethanol with fossil fuel can be a game-changer. Moreover, transition to clean energy will also help the country make steady economic progress as India has to spend valuable foreign exchange to import fossil fuels in-order to meet domestic needs. Use of biofuel will save a substantial amount of foreign exchange that can be used to build necessary infrastructure and projects in the country. We must remember that we are engaged in a battle to ensure the survival of life on our planet.