Energy

Discussion on R&D needs in Jatropha and need or possibility for an EU role. First Hans-Joerg.Lutzeyer lined out the reasons why the EU might be interested to link or to support R&D activities in Jatropha. Next, a round was made in which participants could comment. The participants were requested to mention their views on networking and R&D topics. Diego Breviarion noted that from preliminary R&D, it is found that the genetic variation of Jatropha is not so wide, however the phenotypes are quite different in character. He suggested that gene expression studies are needed. Since…

1. The Jatropha plant; 2. The Jatropha activities (1987 – 2007) of Mr. Henning; 3. High yielding plants; 4. Ecology Aspects; 5. Economic Aspects; The objective of the presentation of Mr. Henning, besides introducing the plant and worldwide Jatropha activities, was to show how the economic feasibility depends on the selection of high yielding plants for Jatropha plantations. It is very clear, that plants from seeds have a large biological variation and that it is necessary to select high yielding plants and to multiply them vegetatively (by cuttings) to get an economic feasible production rate…

The Ecuadorian government has devised a novel, albeit idealistic, plan to prevent gas and oil development in the Yasuní National Park in hopes of protecting biodiversity and combating climate change. The proposal, known as the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, would leave untouched nearlyone billion barrels of oil that lie beneath the national Park in Ecuador. But since Ecuador is a country dependent upon its oil exports for revenue, the government must also devise an alternative way to raise revenue--$350 million for each of the next 10 years to be exact. And this is where the idealism comes in. Under…

Arid and semi-arid regions : Arid and semi arid lands occupy one third of the earth's surface. Indian arid zone occupies an area of about 0.3 million sq. km. 90 percent of which about 2,70,000 sq. km.) is confined to north west Indian covering most of Western Rajasthan, part of Gujrat and small portions of Punjab and Haryana. India with its vast expanse of wasteland unsuitable for agricultural production (nearly 180 million ha) could be considered for economically viable production of bio-fuels, medical and conservation and improvement of biodiversity work on bio-fuels was initiated around…

Food vs. fuel But critics of biofuels are as vocal as their advocates. One concern is that, globally, there will be a trade-off between using land to grow food and using it to grow fuel. "If biofuels take off, they will cause a global humanitarian disaster," said environmentalist and writer George Monbiot in a November 2004 article in UK newspaper The Guardian. Monbiot argued that vast tracts of agricultural land in developing countries would be used to produce biodiesel for car-loving nations instead of food for the poor. "People who own cars have more money than people at risk of starvation…

BIO-ENERGY POTENTIAL OF SEMI-ARID REGIONS OF RAJASTHAN Ashwani Kumar and Vijay Rani Kumar Energy Plantation Demonstration Project Centre Department of Biotechnology Project Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan Jaipur - 302 004 India Fax : 0091-141-565905 E-mail : msku31@yahoo.com ABSTRACT At the global level, according to recent estimates by FAO the annual tropical deforestation rate for the decade 1981 to 1990 was about 15.4 million ha (Mha). According to the latest data published in 1994, for the assessment period 1989-1991, the total area under forests is 64.01 Mha accounting…

Concern over the growing levels of greenhouse gases and climate change has been building up for the last decade. Any measure or project reducing the release of greenhouse gases would get a “credit”, regardless of the location of such measure or project since climate is a global phenomenon. The dependence of over 70 percent population in India on the biomass for their daily energy needs has accelerated the depletion of forest resources which according to some estimates now stand as low as 10 percent of the total area. At present there is hardly 0.4 percent forest below 25cm rainfall zone and 1…

India has over 180 million of wasteland out of which 90 million ha is uncultivable. The degraded and denuded lands arise due to soil erosions as well as secondary salinizations. However Calotropis procera is a potential plant for bioenergy and biofuel production in semi arid regions of the country because it is able to grow on such lands. The plant has a growth potential of 2 dry tones to 40 dry tones per ha depending on the agro climatic conditions of it’s growth. The plant has high level of regeneration potential and could be harvested up to 4 times a year. The plant yields valuable…

Jatropha curcas has now being extensively grown in India under the Department of Biotechnology supported micro mission projects with an object to identify, characterize and multiply high yielding strains and study their growth and productivity under different agro climatic conditions. In Rajasthan, Jatropha grows wild in south east Rajasthan which lies on south east side of Aravalli hill range which roughly divides the state in semi-arid and arid regions. Banswara, Bhilwara, Udaipur, Pali, Rajsamand, and Sirohi these districts of Rajasthan have huge strands of Jatropha growing under natural…

 Future Prospects of BIOMASS FOR ENERGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Ashwini Kumar Energy Plantation Demonstration Project Centre Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur - 302 004. India Phone : 0091-141-654100 Fax : 0091-141-565905 Email : msku4@hotmail.com INTRODUCTION The annual photosynthetic production of biomass is about eight times the worlds total energy use. Indian arid zone covers an area of about 0.3 million sq.km. The state of Rajasthan has total land area of about 3,42,274 Km2 out of which about 96,100 km2 is arid and rest semi arid. 90 million ha of area in India…