{"id":261349,"date":"2023-09-22T20:29:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T14:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=261349"},"modified":"2023-09-22T20:29:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T14:59:55","slug":"ethanol-a-saviour-that-gives-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ethanol-a-saviour-that-gives-savings\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethanol \u2013 a saviour that gives savings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cEthanol \u2013 a saviour that gives savings\u201d <\/strong>published in the \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d <\/strong>on 22nd September 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS3- Indian Economy – Energy<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– The article explains the case of ethanol blending in India<\/p>\n

Why are biofuels the need of the day?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Global crude oil price<\/strong>s are on the rise again. It is near the $100 per barrel mark<\/strong>. India’s reliance on crude oil and related products for imports reached 87.3% in FY2023<\/strong>. It constitutes 25.8% of the nation’s total import expenditure. <\/strong><\/p>\n

India has the world’s third-largest demand <\/strong>for crude oil and its derivatives. There is substantial potential<\/strong> for further growth in consumption.<\/p>\n

Data from the International Energy Agency<\/strong> indicates that over the past decade, as much as 20 percent of India’s overall primary energy supply<\/strong> has been derived from biomass.<\/p>\n

What are efforts made by the government for promoting ethanol blending?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India initiated its ethanol blending program <\/strong>in 2003. However, progress was limited for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

In 2022, India’s blending program achieved a significant milestone by reaching 10 percent ethanol blending<\/strong> in petrol.<\/p>\n

Plans are to increase the blending ratio to 20 percent (E20<\/strong>) by the fiscal year 2025-26. In 2022, ethanol producers supplied nearly 430 crore litres of ethanol.<\/p>\n

What are the challenges in case of ethanol blending?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Approximately 60 percent of India’s petrol demand<\/strong> is attributed to two-wheelers. The remaining 40 percent comes from four-wheelers.<\/p>\n

In a 2021 study focused on urban India by the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water, <\/strong>nearly 55 percent of respondents expressed a desire and need to own a four-wheeler.<\/p>\n

A report from NITI Aayog<\/strong> also predicted a 45 percent growth in petrol demand by 2030 <\/strong>compared to 2021. In such a scenario, blending alone can only achieve a minor reduction<\/strong> in overall petrol demand.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of India’s ethanol supply for the blending program is derived from first-generation production<\/strong>, utilizing sugars from food crops.<\/p>\n

Investments have been slow in case of second-generation (2G) ethanol production technologies<\/strong>. There are 12 such facilities in various stages of planning and construction,<\/strong> but they are unlikely to contribute significantly to the demand for ethanol.<\/p>\n

The cultivation of food crops relies on fertilisers and water. It requires heavily subsidised energy, <\/strong>such as natural gas and electricity, for production.<\/p>\n

Climate chang<\/strong>e concerns suggest that both rainfall and crop yields will <\/strong>experience significant variations. It will make\u00a0 India vulnerable to supply disruptions. <\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the way forward?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India needs a well-defined research and development strategy for second-generation (2G) technologies <\/strong>before scaling up ethanol production.<\/p>\n

The primary policy focus<\/strong> should be on slowing down overall petrol consumption<\/strong> in the economy and addressing private demand for petrol. <\/strong><\/p>\n

A targeted promotion of electric vehicles in public transportation<\/strong> and pricing mechanisms<\/strong> for the use of private vehicles in urban areas could facilitate the transition to higher levels of biofuels.<\/p>\n

Investments and the capacity<\/strong> is needed to allocate the necessary raw materials<\/strong> for domestic ethanol production.<\/p>\n

Biofuels and flex-fuel vehicle<\/strong>s, which can primarily run on biofuels, need to be considered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cEthanol \u2013 a saviour that gives savings\u201d published in the \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 22nd September 2023. Syllabus: GS3- Indian Economy – Energy News– The article explains the case of ethanol blending in India Why are biofuels the need of the day? Global crude oil prices are… Continue reading Ethanol \u2013 a saviour that gives savings<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,8184,10500],"class_list":["post-261349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-economy","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}