A proven technology, ready investors, enthusiastic farmers, willing banks and a supportive Government - they are all there for bio fuel projects to take off. Yet despite years of talk biofuel use is yet to reach commercial scale.

With the price of fossil fuels spiralling upwards, alternative fuels such as oils from plant sources, biofuels, and ethanol are considered among the most promising options to cut costs and reduce dependence on imports. Biofuels and ethanol can be blended with diesel or petrol to help bring down the costs.

The environmental benefits such as reduction in emission of green house gases and economic benefits such as agro-based investments, rural employment, increased incomes to farmers are seen as additional incentives.

Major users of diesel such as the Railways and State-run public transport corporations are all looking forward to commercial availability of biofuels. But for all the promise India is yet to see commercial projects take off.

As of now over one-lakh hectares of Jatropha crop, the plant that has drawn most interest as a source of biofuel, has been established in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh alone. A few companies have expressed intention to set up processing facilities to buy the Jatropha seeds, extract oil and process it into biofuel. Some have tied up with banks for funds but the money is yet to be disbursed.

More corporate involvement

According to Mr Lucas S. Rosario, Chief Executive, Rojac Consultants, accredited service providers under the Prototype Carbon Fund of the World Bank, the corporate sector needs to evince greater interest. The industry is now on a threshold, and the entry of more promoters and a concerted policy initiative by the Government would help.

Mr Jayanta Ghosh, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Southern Railway, says that they are fully convinced about the feasibility of using biodiesel - biofuel blended with conventional diesel. A pilot plant put up by the Railway produces about 300-500 litres of biofuel a day and it is being used in their locomotives and road vehicles. It has proved that it is possible to produce transport fuel of high quality from the seed level.

The need is for promoters to bring in investments. The Railways is interested in buying biofuel. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand State Governments have been providing incentives for biofuel production.

At a recent discussion of industry representatives on the use of non-edible grade of vegetable oils for power production, the focus was on use of biofuels to generate power. Though use of biofuels in transportation has hogged the limelight, industry representatives feel that a more immediate need is the use of biofuels in power production.

According to Dr P. Radhakrishna, Regional Director, Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy, Chennai, the group has recommended that State-level biofuel boards be set up to ensure availability of oils for on farm agricultural activity and power plants. Engines suitable to handle vegetable oils, without further processing to biodiesel, may be developed to keep cost of power production low.

World's key deserts in danger from climate change

Deccan Herald, Monday, June 05, 2006

LONDON, Reuters:

Far from being barren wastelands, the deserts that occupy one quarter of the earth's land surface could be key sources of food and power, the United Nations said today.

But these vast open spaces, home to rare and useful plants and animals, are at risk from climate change and human exploitation, the UN's Environment Programme said in a report published on World Environment Day.

Deserts are prime potential locations for solar power generators that do not pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, and plants that can thrive in desert conditions could provide food when water runs short.

One such, a plant called Nipa found in the Sonoran desert of western Mexico, produces a grain the size of wheat but is drought resistant and even thrives on seawater.

''It is a strong candidate for a major global food crop and could become this desert's greatest gift to the world,'' the report said.

Rainfall patterns are changing, glaciers that feed important rivers are melting as the planet warms and irreplaceable water from deep desert aquifers is being squandered.

Rainfall in Iran's Dashti Kibri desert dropped by 16 per cent a decade between 1976 and 2000. In South Africa's Kalahari and Chile's Atacama deserts it fell by 12 and 8 per cent respectively, the report said.

The Rio Grande river in the United States has dwindled to a saline trickle from a freshwater torrent, and South Africa's Orange river is also shrinking.

FIGHTING FOR WATER

''The answer to desert water is to stop using it stupidly,'' said specialist Andrew Warren of University College London.

''Saudi Arabia exports water in the wheat it grows using irrigation ... Jordan exports much of its water in the form of tomatoes,'' he added, noting that as over-exploited water sources retreated, the water became more salty and less useable.

It said that in China's Tarim River basin more than 12,000 square km of land had been salinised over the past 30 years.

The energy-intensive desalination plants which turn salt water into fresh water in some energy-rich countries in the West Asia are not generally attractive in an era when energy prices are rising rapidly.

As well as biodiversity, human societies are at risk. The cultures of desert dwellers around the world are threatened by reduced rainfall and over-exploitation, and dwindling resources could generate local wars, the report warned.

''There is going to be a fight for water -- there already are such fights,'' Warren said.

Pakistan, already one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, is facing even more problems as groundwater levels fall and glaciers retreat.

''There will be increased competition for water resources,'' Warren said. ''It is not the most stable region. There will be really nasty implications.''