Sustainable energy: India’s focus for a greener tomorrow

Student Reporter, Jan 11, 2025, 12:12 PM IST

With a sharp rate of decline of non-renewable sources in the global energy landscape, every nation is facing the challenge of coming up with alternative solutions to tackle the issue. As India resolves to head towards sustainable development, current research projects have shed light on certain renewable sources of energy.

 According to the Year End Review 2024 of the Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), India is the 4th leading country to surpass the renewable energy capacity of 214 GW, globally. The 2024 Interim Budget aspired to drive 50% cumulative installed electricity generation from non-fossil fuel sources in the next six years and target net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. 

Dr Sampad Kumar Das, a Senior Research Fellow at Jadavpur University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kolkata, has been actively contributing to the research and scientific experimentation of availing this green energy. Along with his team, he played a pivotal role in central government-funded experiments under the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology (SERB, DST). His projects involve the study of biomass gasification and pyrolysis for plastic feedstock circulation. 

Biomass gasification: A cleaner energy source

Das opines that with a visible collapse in the environmental-biological equilibrium, the world is suffering from serious issues of environmental disasters like global warming, deteriorating air quality, and rising water levels. “The world’s demand is rapidly increasing due to the increase in population as well as technology. Therefore, we are in massive need for utilisation of energy, specifically electrical energy,” said Das.

 To mitigate environmental concerns, his team focuses on developing a cyclical mechanism for sustainable clean energy sourcing. Biomass has been identified as a renewable source for consistently producing green energy. It is the carbon-neutral product of natural resources like wood, sugarcane, grass, sewage sludge, etc. Biomass gasification, a process that significantly extracts energy from organic waste, has also curbed environmental pollution, he added.

Polymer to bio-oil: Recycling plastic feedstock

Municipal solid waste contains a staggering 80% plastic, which is non-biodegradable and can persist for over 50,000 years. Das discovered the plastic accumulation crisis plaguing West Bengal’s municipalities during his team’s on-field research. “It’s a long polymer, and it’ll not break down. The only way you can save the groundwater level is by extracting this plastic and converting it into heat energy,” he pointed out. By applying the method of heating mass waste without oxygen, called pyrolysis, no smoke is released into the environment. Instead, the yield transforms into a diesel equivalent of gas and bio-oil, which can be used in transportation, automobiles, and various industrial sectors

Recently, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the country needs to switch to non-conventional energy — that is biomass gasifier energy, within the next two or three years. Several cars have already started operating with 100% bio-oil, and now further engine developments are being studied, Das added. 

He also mentioned that the Government of India is already introducing a 10% biodiesel blend, a 9:1 ratio of alcohol added to diesel. He said that the alcohol production from Uttar Pradesh’s abundant sugarcane bagasse and bio-waste is environment-friendly.

Turning toward non-fossil options

 The experiment involving biomass initially employed a Downdraft Biomass Gasifier, which availed tree waste, rice straw, rice husk, and animal manure waste gasified through a sawdust pellet. Das elucidated that India’s rich agricultural land fosters the growth of high-rising trees like Eucalyptus, which develops into a big tree within three to five years. Besides plentiful rice plantation lands as a source of rice straw, there are five to six categories of tested plantations that can be forested to harness green energy.

His research shows that production of the mentioned biomasses is easier for Asian countries like India, Vietnam, and China because the tropical climate favours huge crop production.

Zero carbon and green electricity

Das stressed that during replantation, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in the previous years due to gasification will be absorbed by the trees thus harnessing ‘zero carbon energy’ sustainably. He said, “For each plantation, there will be corresponding 10 more surrounding it. So you can ensure 100% sustainability.”

One of his research experiments was implemented in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali village, catering to 3000 people. Its results showed that the cost of green electrical energy generated from biomass was lower than that of conventional grid power. The experiment reduced grid connection expenses and minimised associated hazards. “Therefore without using grid energy, we are going for the decentralisation of energy. In terms of Indian rupees, it is nearly around Rs 7 per unit,” he stated.

Comparing the benefits of decentralised green energy over traditional grid energy, Das opined, “India with its population must go for renewable energy. Not only in India but throughout the world, they should move towards renewable energy. That is the ultimate choice to restore the climate as well as restore the Earth’s temperature.”

He added that political international turbulence might lessen the funding in the next five years, but also hopes that the ongoing projects will achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within 10 to 20 years.

Written by: Aatreyi Bose, School of Communication and Media Studies, St Joseph’s University, Bengaluru