India may yet find a silver lining around the dark clouds of the Gulf war. As the conflict strains cooking gas supplies across the country and causes panic, it is an opportune time to redouble efforts to develop more sustainable alternative energy sources, especially biogas, and reduce dependence on LPG. The need is even more urgent as the crisis is forcing many Indians to return to cooking over wood fires, threatening forests and worsening pollution.
Consider the numbers. India consumes 3.1 crore tonnes of LPG annually, three-fifths of which is supplied by imports. A fifth comes from the epicenter of the war, the Strait of Hormuz, the sinking of which has forced India to identify sources other than Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In fact, the most expensive imports from the US, Argentina and Australia have increased.
In sharp contrast, biogas systems offer an affordable and sustainable low-tech alternative. Installed in 1987 at the Dudhsagar plantation in Goa, it has replaced LPG ever since, using only kitchen waste and cow dung to produce the gas that runs its kitchen. Today, about 43.1 lakh households across India have biogas systems. Current production is 207 crore cubic meters per year; but experts claim that there is enough potential to increase it to 4,800 crore cubic meters.
