Critical issues presentations/Biodiesel - An Indian Perspective

From Wikimania 2016 • Esino Lario, Italy
Submission no. 153
Title of the submission

Biodiesel - An Indian Perspective

Author of the submission
  • Atul Kaushal
Country of origin

India

Topics

Governance, other, Outreach, Policy, Projects, Research, Technical

Keywords
  • biodiesel
  • India
  • fuel
  • crisis
  • solution
  • potential
  • international
  • Britain
  • USA
  • World
Abstract

Hello, I hail from India, which is a country that is located as a major bit of population in the tropical zone. Also, the nation houses 17.5% of the world population that dwells within its borders. We are likely to overtake China in terms of population by the year 2022 and become the most populous nation in the world at the current rate.

Speaking on economic, social, strategic, technical and scientific terms, this is a silent alarm bell for the entire world to realize the looming fuel problems in the world. Unavoidable wars threaten the elimination of civilization as we know it if at all it survives the much probable (and probably already going on in a covert manner) 'fuel wars'.

Fuel demands and needs are skyrocketing in India (and hence 'the world') with each child born. There is a rising need of a dependable alternative fuel source for which we don't need to bring about a revolutionary change in our engines. This need has become a raging requirement in the current world scenario where the words 'oil & petroleum' are easily substituted by the words 'liquid gold'.

The situation seems very volatile where maybe a single war for fuel among two nuclear-enabled nations of the world might start the third and final world war which might be detrimental for the entire planet leading to a nuclear winter and the probable cataclysmic event of destruction. Various religious scriptures, which talk about the Judgment Day, may not be entirely imaginative after all.

This automatically calls for a solution to the rising fuel crisis and biodiesel may seem a very practical solution - at least, it may act as a buffer for the existing fuel crisis and the future of fuel, which needs to be thought upon very intensively. It has already been encouraged in many parts of the world as the majority of the world think tanks have estimated the exhaust dates of various natural oil reserves.

Speaking of biodiesel possibilities in India, possibilities in this nation are endless and are already being exploited to some extent by the government (the use of B10 biodiesel blend by Bengaluru Metro Transport Corporation in few of its buses and B20 biodiesel blend on New Delhi-Mumbai railway line for example). Also, internationally work is being done in this field.

However, its delimiting factors include the following:

1. Lack of Technology Internationally

Let's face it together; most of the world's biodiesel technology is dependent upon few variants of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae that can help turn seemingly useless biological (waste) products into liquid gold. Also, quite sensible is the obvious talk about few long looming questions about fuel production from organic sources. Why would and how could any technology - however strong it may be - turn biological (waste) products into decently usable products? Also, to what extent do we need to alter our engines for the fuel hence produced? And most importantly, will the technology be as conveniently available as I dream of it here?

2. Lack of Willingness Internationally

Other to-be-embraced questions are 'Why would people be willing to adopt new ways of fueling their lives?' and 'Why would pre-existing oil giants let it happen at the cost of their profits?' There are similar questions that need to be seriously taken care of before we can start working on biodiesel. The most important question is 'By what date at the latest can the technology for biodiesel production be perfected?'

I want to share such ideas and discuss the possibilities with the world on a technological basis. There won't be any better platform than WikiMania 2016.

Result

Not accepted