India should use bio-diesel to meet needs: Kalam

Stressing the need for a comprehensive national bio-diesel policy, President APJ Abdul Kalam today said efforts should be made, through public-private partnership, to achieve a target of 60 million tonnes of bio-diesel production per year by 2030 for meeting the country's growing energy needs.

The price of oil is on the rise and is over $70 per barrel at present.

In the scenario of dependability on fossil material-based systems with its uncertainty, it was essential that an energy policy be evolved with new energy avenues, Kalam said after inaugurating a conference on "Bio-diesel: Towards Energy Independence" at Rashtrapati Nilayam here.

Saying bio-diesel had the potential to transform the oil sector, he outlined a roadmap for achieving energy independence and asked policy makers and researchers to focus on research and development, both in production and processing of bio-fuel plantations, large scale involvement of private sector and self-help groups and hassle-free support from financial institutions.

"Our mission should be to realize 60 m tonnes per year of bio-diesel by 2030. As a first step towards reaching this capacity, let us plan for 6 million tonnes production by 2010 "" that is 5 per cent of the present import of oil. Progressively, we need to aim at improving the plantation and yield towards achieving 30 million tonnes of bio-diesel by 2020," he said.