The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Bio-fuel `is no solution'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 26, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bio-fuel `is no solution'

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Bio-fuel crops are environmentally unfriendly and bio-fuel production can lead to increased carbon production, Colin Pritchard of the University of Edinburgh, said on Wednesday.

Delivering a public lecture on "Energy and development: bridging the gap," organised here by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and The Hindu Media Resource Centre, he said he was sceptical of bio-fuel as a solution to the energy crisis.

Again it was a myth that bio-fuel was cost- effective, as there was no accepted model to prove that the cost of bio-fuel was less than that of conventional fuel.

End-use efficiency

Stressing the need for end-use efficiency, Mr. Pritchard said it was very low at 20 per cent or less in the case of bio-energy. Further, energy crops such as jatropha had to compete for land and water resources with food crops.

Already, the pressure of growing population in many countries was threatening to deny poor people access to basic requirements such as food, water and energy. This was likely to be exacerbated by climate change. The urgent need was to ensure water, food and energy to the poor, he said.

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