Going green is the new war cry, both for companies and consumers. It has turned the world slightly upside down. And, it is evident from the fact that over 69 million people across the globe have engine-searched going green on Google alone.

Environmentalists to automobile enthusiasts, aircraft-makers, auto-fuel marketing companies and policy makers have one thing in common: they are all humming the green tune. India also seems to be on the green expressway. The country has taken a pledge to go green and decided to reduce emission intensity of GDP by 20-25 per cent in ten years. An expert group will shortly unveil a road map to achieve low-carbon growth.

In this green campaign, industry at large, and transport industry in particular, has been weighing options for making our movement environment-friendly by taking recourse to alternative fuels. Green or bio-fuel is an alternative to fossil fuel and produces less air pollution. Vehicles using bio-fuel has very low noise too. Bio-fuel has a cetane number of over 100. It is used to measure quality of fuel’s ignition.

Nobel laureate and director of New Delhi-based, The Energy and Resources Institute, RK Pachauri told Financial Chronicle, “India is in a serious situation with regard to energy security. If we don't make very rapid moves in improving energy efficiency and shifting to renewable energy sources, we are going to face a serious crisis.”

“Our projections indicate that by 2031-32, if we continue business as usual, India would be importing 750 million tonnes of oil and 1,400 million tonnes of coal. If we don't bring about a shift to a more sustainable pattern of energy consumption and supply, India is going to face a supply crisis. I hope whatever has happened in Copenhagen will act as a trigger for us to look at our own energy concerns and bring about a rapid change” Pachauri adds.

Sarthak Behuria, chairman of IOC said bio-fuel would play a vital role to meet growing energy demand. “Fossil fuels will exist but bio-fuel will help to meet the increasing demand of countries including India,” Behuria added.

Dilip Chenoy, director general at Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said, since independence, India has registered 101 million vehicles, out of which, 74 per cent are two-wheelers, 12 per cent passenger vehicles and the rest are commercial vehicles. “But, these are registered numbers, as it is tough to get figures for vehicles on road, as many vehicles keep on getting off the roads because of policies such as ‘more than 15-year-old commercial vehicles cannot be on the road’,” Chenoy added.