Bioenergy can cover 50% of India's fossil fuel consumption in 5 years: Nitin Gadkari

Bioenergy can cover 50 per cent of India's fossil fuel requirements in the next five years, said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. he urged the Indian automobile industry to undertake research and development on alternative fuels. The minister also said that air pollution has become a major problem, and one of the key contributors to this is fossil fuel. He also pointed out that the transport sector is responsible for 40 per cent of air pollution in the country because of fossil fuels.

Gadkari's comment comes at a time when the automakers in India have been aggressively working on various cleaner powertrain technologies, including battery electric propulsion systems, hybrid powertrains, CNG, etc. Speaking of that, he said that a lot of research and innovation are going on in fuel and automobile engineering. "We need to protect our ecology and environment, and fulfil the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a carbon-neutral country," PTI quoted Gadkari as saying.

He further stated that bioenergy can cover 50 per cent of India's fossil fuel consumption in five years, which is very important because ₹22 lakh crore is being spent on the import of fossil fuel. The minister also said that the country is working on different fuels like ethanol, flex engine, methanol, biodiesel, bio LNG, CNG, electric and hydrogen. Ethanol is already being blended up to 20 per cent in petrol, he reportedly added. "The future of the automobile industry is very good, and today there is a huge potential for all types of new research," Gadkari said further.

Speaking further, he said the domestic automobile sector is an important industry which has created crores of jobs and boosted exports. "This is the industry which has a maximum export of ₹3 lakh crores, which is economically very important for our country. It has already created 4.5 crore jobs for young talents," Gadkari said. Players like Bajaj, TVS, and Hero export 50 per cent of their production, he added.

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